Montreal Gazette
GOING BACK TO THE MOVIES
Seats have been filling up more and more at three local indie cinemas — a trend that cinephile T'cha Dunlevy reports with surprised satisfaction.
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Aww, shucks: famed oyster bar Maestro SVP is closing in March
The last shuck is coming for the city's first all-purpose oyster bar. Maestro SVP is calling it quits in March after 35 years, the last 32 on the Main. Maestro SVP founder-owner Ilene Polansky, one of Montreal's more colourful local characters, cites...
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FIRE SHUTS DOWN BRIDGE
The Jacques-cartier Bridge was closed yesterday morning while firefighters battled a four-alarm blaze in an adjacent abandoned building, which was at risk of collapse. The fire was mostly under control by noon.
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CAR SLAMS INTO CONDO
A 36-year-old man was in a hospital yesterday after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a condo building at the corner of The Boulevard and Mcdougall Rd. A 47-year-old woman in the building at the time of the incident was treated for injuries,...
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PIECING THEIR LIVES TOGETHER
Rashid Gizitdinov and other tenants had to leave a decrepit Lachine building last year when it was ruled a fire risk. He rents an apartment from the city and tells Jack Wilson `government (housing) is better' than what he saw from private landlords.
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XI WELCOMES STEADY STREAM OF LEADERS SHAKEN BY TRUMP'S NEW WORLD ORDER
Donald Trump's tariff war occupied U.S. allies for much of last year. Now, Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcoming a procession of leaders looking to mend fences with the world's other major economy. South Korea's Lee Jae Myung kicked off the trend...
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CHANGE IS IN THE AIR IN QUEBEC
It will be a year of inevitable change if only because Quebecers must go to the polls in a general election Oct. 5 to elect a new government and a new premier. But after the roller-coaster political ride that was 2025, predicting how the politics of...
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LEGAULT RESIGNS AS PREMIER
Unable to turn back the tide of voter dissatisfaction, Premier François Legault Wednesday announced he is stepping down as premier and leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, a party he founded in 2011. While rumours had been floating for weeks that...
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Mayor says first budget is `rigorous and responsible'
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada says her first municipal budget is “rigorous and responsible” and signals a return to basics for the city after years of overspending. Presenting the city's 2026 budget on Monday, Martinez Ferrada stressed that...
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SHARING THE JOY OF MUSIC
Pianist Dorothy Fieldman Fraiberg set out to make chamber music more accessible to Montrealers with free concerts — an initiative that began 45 years ago and keeps on resonating, Susan Schwartz reports.
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MASTERS OF THEIR CRAFT
Alex Wills was living on the 82nd floor of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, several years ago and was working as an executive in the oil industry. One day he looked out his window, which didn't open, and he thought: 'What...
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TAKING STOCK OF HABS
The Canadiens have reached the difficult part of their rebuild midway through Year 4. The focus is no longer just on the future, but also on the present with the team battling for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 23-13-6 record heading into...
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Jordan and Patrik Laine love `timeless charm' of Old Montreal
It's not every day you get an exclusive sit-down with one of Montreal's most impressive young power couples: mental health activist and wellness lifestyle influencer Jordan Leigh Laine and her husband, Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine, both...
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WILL TOP U.S. COURT END THE TARIFF TURMOIL?
'Tis the season for renaming — everything from a cultural hub dedicated to a beloved slain president to new destroyers to 2025 itself. No, U.S. President Donald Trump hasn't labelled the year with his name, but his trade representative, in a new op-ed,...
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`DOWNTOWN VIBE IN THE WEST ISLAND'
The place has been open only a few weeks and already, there are lineups out the door for a weekend lunch — despite the fact that it's rather snowy and brisk. Even the optimistic Anthony Gentile, the mastermind behind Café Gentile West Island on Sources...
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REM station doubles as art gallery with mosaics
At the new Édouard-montpetit REM station in Outremont, a passerby is overheard muttering: “It's like an art gallery in here.” While the REM'S 21st-century monotonous designs stand in stark contrast to the colourful mid-century tile work of Montreal's...
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Intense emotions soar daily at Trudeau airport
It was the first time Aminata Tandia wore a winter coat. She put a long black parka over her white traditional African robe and head covering minutes after arriving from her home country of Mauritania. While her first blast of Canadian winter was in...
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Could Montreal be the setting for Grégoire Trudeau's next chapter?
It's been a minute since Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and I first crossed paths on Montreal's mediascape nearly 20 years ago. To say a lot has happened in her world since then would be an understatement. The fearless force of nature that is Sophie is now...
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DID TRUMP SAVE CANADA FROM BAD POLICY?
Prime Minister Mark Carney rescinded Canada's digital services tax (DST), a threeper-cent levy on digital services revenue from large domestic and foreign businesses, in June after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to halt trade talks if the tax...
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2025 DRAWING TO A CLOSE
1 May 24, 2025: Canada was hit with a number of disruptive postal strikes and stoppages while courier traffic continued. 2 Jan. 28; 2025: With this cartoon I wondered if new U.S. President Donald Trump would actually have the courage to invade. 3...
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Giving is the greatest gift of all at this time of year
The countdown until Christmas is now on. The kids are done school until the new year. The rush is underway to finish the shopping, buy groceries, and finalize all the little details that will make the holidays special for our loved ones. This is...
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Italian women find hockey home here in preparation for Olympics
The compete level was high last Wednesday afternoon at the Verdun Auditorium as Italy's women's ice hockey national team faced off against a makeshift team of elite female players from Mcgill, Bishop's and Harvard Universities. Italy's team has been...
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BOOM & GLOOM
In one southwestern Ontario city, forever linked by history to all things jumbo, one of the world's largest automakers is building Canada's biggest factory — a $7-billion colossus expected to employ about 3,000 people. Only 50 kilometres away, in...
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GOODBYE TO 2025
This time last year, Mayor Valérie Plante's eventual replacement as leader of Projet Montréal looked poised to cruise to victory at city hall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals seemed fated for a brutal electoral drubbing and Canada was bracing...
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A MONTH AS MAYOR
Soraya Martinez Ferrada reflects on the work she's accomplished and the long road ahead in an interview with Jesse Feith. Her time at city hall so far has been a whirlwind, but her foremost priority remains unshakable: `To deliver on homelessness.'
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RODRIGUEZ STEPPING DOWN
Quebec Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez has decided to resign, The Gazette confirmed Wednesday. Only six months after he won the leadership, the pressure on Rodriguez following a series of allegations of ethical problems during his campaign was too...
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`LIGHT DISPELS DARKNESS'
Rabbi Lisa Grushcow lights the hanukkiah outside Westmount City Hall on Monday as Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis looks on. Leora Schertzer reports on a Hanukkah celebration that doubled as a memorial for victims of the previous day's massacre in Australia.
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NOT BUILT TO LAST
Anthony Barrette waters the rink in Queen Elizabeth Gardens at Wood Ave. and Sherbrooke St. in Westmount yesterday. With temperatures heading above the freezing mark from tomorrow through Friday, his work is destined to melt away.
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A MEMOIR SHAPED BY FRIENDSHIP
When author Joel Yanofsky became too sick with cancer to continue writing, he turned to two friends to help him finish his book. Ian Mcgillis reports on a special collaboration.
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ORANGE CHRISTMAS
Traffic cones reduced Atwater Ave. to one lane below René-lévesque Blvd. yesterday. The number of cones downtown rose this year though construction sites decreased, says a report that urges better co-ordination of roadwork. Jacob Serebrin reports.
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Future of family medicine is on the line
Montreal doctors are desperately pleading with the Quebec government to revoke or suspend implementation of Bill 2 in a last-ditch effort to prevent a mass exodus of physicians, the closure of numerous family medicine clinics and the collapse of...
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Family of slain teen sues Longueuil
The family of a 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot in September by police on Montreal's South Shore announced Tuesday they are seeking more than $2 million in damages against the City of Longueuil and Longueuil police officers. In their lawsuit, the...
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`THIS IS A NATIONAL ISSUE'
Residents of Milton-parc are pushing back against growing tensions and crime, with a shelter's presence central to many of their concerns. But Open Door client Saila Noah tells Jesse Feith the homelessness crisis is bigger than any one neighbourhood.
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ONTARIO CITY A CENTRAL SPOT IN FENTANYL FIGHT
In an underworld of criminals, guns and deadly fentanyl, Windsor, Ont., is a national nexus. Windsor's place in the country's booming fentanyl trade was recently highlighted with a record-shattering 46-kilogram drug bust. The $6.5-million fentanyl...
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THE TIME OF YEAR FOR GENEROSITY
Bob Hayes was a longtime civic affairs reporter at The Gazette. More importantly, he was civic-minded. Hayes had a big heart, not always an oxymoron when it comes to describing journalists. In 1967, Hayes organized a food and clothing drive for those...
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TIME FOR RE-EDUCATION
Lauryn Hill has been giving Montreal love, and getting love from Montrealers, for over 30 years — 31 years to be precise, almost to the day. As she swung through for a pair of rousing concerts at Salle Wilfrid-pelletier of Place des Arts on Wednesday...
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IT'S HOCKEY SEASON
A City of Montreal truck starts to spray water for the outdoor ice rink at Maisonneuve Park on Tuesday. The temperature is forecast to stay below the freezing mark through the weekend, with a few flurries. Today's high is -3 C.
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CANINE CAMOUFLAGE
Henry blends right in as he takes a walk with Sarah in Westmount Park yesterday. More snow is coming, but expect a mix of sun and clouds today, with a high of -2 C.
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A LINK BETWEEN `MEMORY AND THE FUTURE'
One is an aspiring pilot who wants to work in avionics and defence. Another is engineering orthotics for children with scoliosis. Yet another is experimenting with standardizing the measurement of one volt of energy to allow for the creation of smaller...
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WHY CHINESE EVS KEEP HAUNTING LIBERAL PRIME MINISTERS
Mark Carney has inherited Justin Trudeau's nightmare. In his decade as prime minister, one of the policy decisions that haunted Trudeau was the unavoidable question about whether to allow Chinese electric vehicles (EVS) into the Canadian market. It...
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NEW CONTRACT FOR MATHESON
The Canadiens announced Friday morning that they have signed defenceman Mike Matheson to a fiveyear, Us$30-million contract extension with an annual salary-cap hit of US$6 million. The 31-year-old Matheson is in the final season of an eight-year,...
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SWEEPING NEW SECULARISM BILL
The Coalition Avenir Québec government has presented far-reaching new secularism legislation that ventures into areas it has never touched in the past. Six years after adopting Bill 21, which bars people in certain positions of authority from wearing...
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MEMORIES ON THE MENU
Former Gazette critic Lesley Chesterman shows food personality Soeur Angèle around the Mccord Stewart Museum's new exhibit on the evolution of Montreal restaurants. Chesterman tells T'cha Dunlevy eateries are `a major part of our identity.'
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ALWAYS A TEAM PLAYER
He once harboured dreams of a life in hockey, but Tommy Kulczyk ultimately made his mark as a tireless community worker. Now, after a combined 45 years in the service of organizations including Sun Youth and the Breakfast Club of Canada, he tells Bill...
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IS YOUR DOCTOR GETTING PAYMENTS FROM A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY?
In Canada, when a doctor hands you a prescription, you trust that what's been recommended is the best drug for your health. What you can't know is whether your physician has benefited financially from a relationship with the company that made the drug...
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WINTRY REMEMBRANCE
Pte. Gabriel Harris of the Black Watch takes part in Remembrance Day ceremonies yesterday at the cenotaph near Montreal's Mary Queen of the World Cathedral.
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Handwritten copies of In Flanders Fields serve as artifacts of remembrance
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. John Mccrae's world-famous poem, reflecting on the enormous sacrifices...
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`EVERYONE IS AGREED THAT IT'S AWFUL'
You're a Canadian farm kid, sitting in a European trench in 1915. A man you've never met is dying across a stretch of open land, 100 yards away, as you pen a letter home. Death is everywhere. You've shot moving bodies, you've huddled against incoming...
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THE HARD LESSONS OF DEMENTIA CARE
When Irwin Kuzmarov began to decline, his family faced a difficult journey toward a diagnosis — and to find him help. Susan Schwartz recounts their struggle.
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Film icon Binoche says bilingualism helped bring her around the world
Juliette Binoche is one of the most acclaimed film stars on the planet, and bilingualism has been key to her success. In Montreal this week for the Cinemania film festival, the Oscar-winning French actress explained how being able to work in both...
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NO POWER STRUGGLE
Outgoing Montreal mayor Valérie Plante welcomed mayor-elect Soraya Martinez Ferrada to city hall on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture meant to illustrate a smooth transition of power. After exchanging handshakes in front of the media, the two met behind...
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CARNEY'S FIRST BUDGET UNVEILED
Prime Minister Mark Carney's first budget, billed as generational and bold, won't come cheap. The Liberal government's budget, unveiled Tuesday after months of delay, forecasts a $78.3-billion deficit for fiscal 2025-26, the third highest in Canadian...
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MARTINEZ FERRADA TELLS MONTREALERS: `I HEAR YOU'
It has become somewhat of a tradition in Montreal for politicians to do a walkabout in the city to greet commuters the morning after an election win. Whether it was Valérie Plante thanking voters outside the Square-victoria— OACI métro in 2017 when...
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FROM FAMILY HOME TO IRAQI SPOILS
Mayer Lawee, an 86-year-old Montreal man, remembers a childhood in his family's elegant mansion, built by his father and uncle in the heart of Baghdad, Iraq's quixotic capital, especially family weddings in the walled gardens with its tiered fountains,...
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WHERE THE PARTIES STAND
Montrealers will head to the polls to elect a new mayor on Sunday. As the campaign comes to an end, the different mayoral candidates' visions for the city have come into focus. Projet Montréal's Luc Rabouin, Ensemble Montréal's Soraya Martinez...
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WHO WOULD DEFEND ANGLOS AS MAYOR?
On a sunny terrasse on Monkland Ave. earlier this month, an interview with Gracia Kasoki Katahwa flowed effortlessly from French to English and back again, as conversations in Montreal so often do. “We can do that N.d.g.-style,” joked the incumbent...
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FORD COURTS ANGRY DOCTORS
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has pounced on news that some disgruntled Quebec doctors are considering a move to his province, saying he is ready to “roll out the red carpet” to obtain their valuable services. “Call 1-800-DOUG-FORD,” the premier joked...
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ELECTION DEJECTION
Gabriela Birsan and husband Gustavo Garcia Gomez searched in vain for their advance polling station Sunday, with their 10-month-old daughter in tow. They were among the Montrealers who had yet to receive voter information cards, T'cha Dunlevy reports.
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Mayoral candidate Kacou's message gets amplified thanks to social media
Futur Montréal Leader Jeanfrançois Kacou has taken matters into his own hands to get his message out to voters in a mayoral race with five candidates ranking in the polls who are all vying for the attention of the public. He's been putting videos on...
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ACCESS TO CHEAP CANADIAN MEDS ON LIFE SUPPORT
Linda Klonsky usually orders her prescription eye drops from a Canadian pharmacy that charges US$250 for a three-month supply. But that came to an abrupt halt late this summer when it came time for her to reorder, as the Trump administration's latest...
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`THERE IS NO BIG PICTURE' FOR CITY ROADWORK
Montrealers who think the city does construction work over and over on the same streets: it's not your imagination. The Gazette has reviewed a handful of recent roadwork projects to understand how and why this phenomenon occurs. In one case, for...
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Special law set to put end to dispute with doctors
Tension between Quebec and the province's doctors continued to escalate Thursday, with the government sticking to its hardline plan to legislate a wage formula and force an end to the dispute. Not even an announcement by general practitioners in the...
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`POLITICAL PARTIES ARE LIKE CULTS'
While campaigning to be the city's next mayor, Action Montréal Leader Gilbert Thibodeau said he hears the same complaint from residents and merchants wherever he goes. “They don't even want to talk about taxes. The first thing they say is: `Hey, I...
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LIGHTS IN DARKNESS
Raquel Ohnona Look pays tribute to her late son Alexandre Look on Monday at the Gelber Conference Centre, during an event held `to honour those ordinary people who did the extraordinary' in the midst of Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
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RIVER RUNNING LOW
Depleted by a dry summer, the St. Lawrence received a steady stream of rain yesterday. This week's weather may help with water levels; following today's sunny breaks, showers dominate the forecast again for tomorrow and Thursday.
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INDIGENOUS PEOPLE BEAR THE WORST OF HISTORIC WILDFIRE SEASON
Fire WE025 started small. But in late May, hot and dry conditions and gusty winds whipped it into an out-of-control inferno. Over 116 days, it swept across northwestern Manitoba, chewing up 447,000 acres of boreal forest — an area larger than Houston —...
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SORAYA'S VISION FOR MONTREAL
If Ensemble Montréal Leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada is elected Montreal's next mayor on Nov. 2, she would be the second woman to occupy the office. But it's not something she mentions much on the campaign trail. As a trilingual immigrant from Chile,...
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CAQ'S anglos minister is listening
The new point man for the English-speaking community says he understands anglophones are irritated by some Coalition Avenir Québec government policies but says it should be judged on its ability to correct things that it gets wrong. “Government is a...
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N.L. election's power shift leaves hydro deal uncertain
Premier François Legault has congratulated the incoming premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and says he is convinced the hydro deal signed in 2024 by a previous Liberal government is good for both provinces. In a social media message Wednesday,...
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Meadow destroyed near airport
In the latest example of what conservation groups describe as the airport authority's repeated failure to live up to its own environmental commitments, Aéroports de Montréal has destroyed 2,500 square metres of meadowlands north of Montreal-trudeau...
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SCORING A HUGE DEAL
The Canadiens have signed Lane Hutson, last season's NHL Calder Trophy winner for rookie of the year, to an eight-year, Us$70.8-million contract extension that runs through the 2033-34 season. Stu Cowan explains why it's a fair deal for both sides.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT MONTREAL'S CREDIT RATING
Even the city's credit rating is fodder in a municipal election campaign. “The City of Montreal is proud to announce that it has maintained its excellent credit ratings,” outgoing Mayor Valérie Plante declared in a press release on Sept. 22, just as...
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POWER PLAYERS
Even though the city hasn't seen a Stanley Cup parade since 1993, Montreal still bleeds hockey. It's a place where players are deified, arenas are packed, sweaters are omnipresent and media is in abundance. It's big business, but also close to our...
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