Here’s our roundup of the best and brightest stories this morning.
They mean it this time: The elevators are on their way. The STM says it plans to start work this fall on a second entrance to the Vendôme métro station — this one with elevators — that will connect the subway stop and the nearby MUHC superhospital in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. It will take two years to complete the $76.5-million project, which will include a tunnel between the station and the hospital. In addition to making Vendôme accessible to people with limited mobility, the project will “increase the station’s passenger capacity and help improve foot traffic (between) commuter trains, the métro, the bus terminus and the MUHC medical centre,” the STM said. The new infrastructure will include five elevators.
Citizens’ voice: Snow clearing and removal efforts have tested municipalities across the island, but some are more effective than others (sorry, Little Burgundy). The city of Pointe-Claire uses teams of both private and public workers to clear its streets and sidewalks. Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle said snow clearing is one of the “major services” it provides to local citizens. “I must admit though, it is simpler (here) than in Montreal because we have a no-parking law in the winter for overnight. So when there is a storm we start working around midnight, between midnight and 2 a.m. depending on the storm, and we can rapidly go through our city.” Then he said something else you might not hear in Montreal: “We have to be very good at it. Otherwise we’ll hear about it from our citizens.”
Pardon my French: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed “sincere regrets” for refusing to answer questions in English last month. The incident caused an uproar, with several complaints filed with the Commissioner of Official Languages. “Canada is a bilingual country, and as such, I recognize that I should have answered questions in the language they were asked, be it in Quebec or anywhere else in Canada,” Trudeau wrote in letter to the Quebec Community Groups Network. “I understand the importance of the prime minister of Canada speaking to minority language communities in their own language.” Trudeau also wrote and apologized to the Townshippers’ Association.
Road rage: Police in western Colorado say a man battered somebody else’s pickup with a baseball bat and then left a note acknowledging he had anger issues. Police say the note read, “Sorryy anger isusesh.” The pickup’s owner found the damage and the note when he returned from snowmobiling. Two witnesses told police another snowmobiler apparently thought the pickup had parked too close to his vehicle. The witnesses say the heard whacking sounds, and one saw the other snowmobiler swinging a bat. They told police they insisted he leave a note. They say he was then able to leave his parking spot with no problem. Police say they arrested a 53-year-old man on a criminal mischief charge.
Montreal Gazette, Canadian Press, Associated Press
