Author name: The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph

City rebate available for cloth diapers, sustainable menstrual products

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

City rebate available for cloth diapers, sustainable period products 

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

If you live in Quebec City and buy reusable or eco-friendly diapers, pantyliners or menstrual products, you could be eligible for a rebate from the city. 

On Sept. 17, city officials issued a public notice to “remind” citizens that the subsidy for sustainable personal hygiene products, first launched in early 2024, is ongoing. 

 In 2024, according to the Ville de Québec, the program received 2,725 applications, including 2,530 for sustainable personal hygiene products and 195 for cloth diapers. Annually, the subsidy program provides up to $200,000 for the purchase of sustainable products. 

As of June 2025, 1,032 people had submitted applications, including 939 for sustainable personal hygiene products and 93 for cloth diapers. Funds are still available and applications can still be submitted.

Interested and eligible citizens can complete an application using the online form managed by the Groupe de recommandations et d’actions pour un meilleur environnement (GRAME), the organization mandated by the Ville de Québec to administer its support program. The form (in French only) is available on the GRAME website (grame.org)  or on the Ville de Québec website. Rebates of up to $100 per person for sustainable hygiene products and $200 per child for the purchase of washable diapers are available. Products purchased within Quebec City are eligible for a slightly larger rebate. 

City rebate available for cloth diapers, sustainable menstrual products Read More »

National Day of Truth and Reconciliation celebrated on the Plains of Abraham

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National Day of Truth and Reconciliation celebrated on the Plains of Abraham

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

To commemorate the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), albeit two days early, on Sept. 28, the National Battlefields Commission (NBC) invited the public to discover Indigenous culture on the Plains of Abraham.

At Cap Diamant, named for the quartz mistaken for diamonds by the 16th-century French explorer Jacques Cartier, the NBC organized two types of activities in honour of NDTR. The celebrations began at 11 a.m. with entertainment for children and children at heart. Those present participated in traditional games, a drawing and other cultural discovery activities.

“We greatly enjoyed going to the activity this morning. My children loved the games, and they had so many questions about the traditional attire,” said Mary Donnelly. “It is important to take part in these activities and to learn about the colourful and rich culture and heritage of the First Nations, like that of the Wendat Nation. This afternoon, after the English tour of the art pieces, we are going to Wendake before heading back home to Montreal.” The NBC offered three 30-minute tours of the art pieces: 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. for the French-language tour, and 1:30 p.m. for the English-language tour.

The two artworks of art displayed on Cap Diamant are Remembering Through Beads by Wendat artist Ludovic Boney, and The 3 WatchMen by Haida artist 7IDANsuu Chief James Hart. The former is meant to link the past, present, and future, while the latter keeps a watchful eye on the spiritual and material worlds, according to the NBC. Both pieces bridge the East and the West of Canada in Quebec City.

The Wendat Nation of Wendake was officially known as the Huron- Wendat Nation until members voted to drop the name “Huron” – meaning “boar head” and given by French colonists to describe a traditional Wendat hairstyle – in a referendum earlier this year.

The Haida Nation are from Haida Gwaii (known until recently as the Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia. Their territory once stretched along the northwest coast of North America, as far as Alaska. For thousands of years, artists from this community created totem poles. Some of them were topped with the three watchmen.

When visiting Cap Diamant, feel free to walk through the giant beads. Remember through the beads: sit and contemplate, pose for photos or walk through the giant beads.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is celebrated annually on Sept. 30, which coincides with Orange Shirt Day. Both events are meant to recognize the lasting impacts of the residential school system on Indigenous Peoples in Canada. They are meant to honour victims of the residential school system and those who survived, help the healing process for the survivors, their families and communities.

National Day of Truth and Reconciliation celebrated on the Plains of Abraham Read More »

Mail delivery on hold across Canada as postal strike resumes

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Mail delivery on hold across Canada as postal strike resumes

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Canadians will have to do without mail delivery until further notice. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) declared an indefinite general strike on Sept. 25.

CUPW members have been without a collective agreement since August 2024, and first walked off the job in November of that year. At the height of the holiday shopping season, then-labour minister Steven MacKinnon referred the dispute to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), which ruled that the two parties were at an impasse. Postal workers were ordered back to work on Dec. 17, and continued work until May 22 under the existing agreement, while negotiations went on with the aid of a mediator. When that deadline passed, as negotiations ground on, the union declared an overtime strike, but continued daily mail delivery.

That tenuous stopgap arrangement came to an abrupt end on Sept. 25, shortly after Minister for Public Services and Procurement Joël Lightbound announced the federal government’s restructuring plan for Canada Post.

The plan Lightbound laid out, based on recommendations from CIRB negotiator William Kaplan, included the end of daily mail delivery, the phasing out of almost all door-to-door delivery in favour of community mailboxes over the next decade, lifting a 30-year-old moratorium on the closure of rural post offices, raising the cost of stamps, asking Canada Post Corporation (CPC) to “take another look” at its management structure and conducting a detailed review of the corporation’s activities to identify where costs can be cut and activities adapted. “I’m instructing Canada Post to come back with a plan that will ensure protection for [services in] rural, remote and Indigenous communities,” he added. “Canada Post has an obligation to serve every community in Canada, and that will not change.”

Within hours of Lightbound’s announcement, CUPW locals in Atlantic Canada declared a general strike, followed by locals in the rest of the country. In a statement, CUPW national president Jan Simpson called Lightbound’s plan “an outrage.”

Simpson accused Lightbound of springing the plan on postal workers with insufficient advance notice and dodging questions about potential job losses. “This slapdash approach without full public consultation is an insult to the public and to postal workers,” she said.

In a statement, CPC warned Canadians to expect delivery delays, noting that an essential services agreement was in place to ensure delivery of social assistance cheques and live animals.

“We’re disappointed that the union chose to escalate their strike activity, which will further deteriorate Canada Post’s financial situation,” the corporation said.

Stéphane Genest is the president of CUPW local 370, which represents postal workers in the greater Quebec City region, Beauce, Charlevoix and Chaudière-Appalaches. He told the QCT the announcement of a new strike came as a total surprise to local mail carriers. Members “are very disappointed, but I don’t know if we could have done things any differently.” Genest said he hoped the government and CPC would take the opportunity to expand CPC’s operations into new sectors – such as banking – instead of cutting services. “We’re not blind, we know letter mail volumes are going down … but we have the impression that [CPC and the government] want to go toward privatization instead of finding solutions.” Genest said that in his 22 years as a mail carrier, there has never been a negotiated collective agreement between CUPW and CPC. “The last signed agreement is from the 1990s. Since then, Canada Post has always gone crying to the government [for arbitration],” he said. “I’m impatient to see their response to the strike.”

Lightbound, who represents the Quebec City riding of Louis- Hébert in Parliament, did not respond to a request for further comment from the QCT by press time; nor did CPC.

Mail delivery on hold across Canada as postal strike resumes Read More »

Woo and Weiser out as candidates; poll gives Marchand lead

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Woo and Weiser out as candidates; poll gives Marchand lead

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Week two of the Quebec City campaign featured the exit of prominent candidates for two of the main parties running for City Hall, an encouraging poll for Mayor Bruno Marchand, and an original “fourth link” idea from a mayoral candidate.

David Weiser, a prize catch for Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party when the tech pioneer, nonprofit founder and interfaith relations advocate joined his administration, was removed from the QFF slate over a broken “bond of trust.”

Marchand opted to remove Weiser from his re-election bid in the Plateau district following a report in the Journal de Québec that Revenu Québec had registered a legal hypothec (a form of legal mortgage) on his residence over a tax dispute covering the years 2012 to 2015.

The Journal also reported Weiser had declared personal bankruptcy that was registered in 2021, the year he became a city councillor.

In a statement, Marchand said, “I had a discussion with David … at the end of which I decided to withdraw his candidacy for QFF in the Plateau district. His explanation of the facts brought to my attention has broken our bond of trust.”

Weiser told Radio-Canada he had explained his situation to Marie-Josée Savard, the leader of the party he ran for in the 2021 election, but acknowledged that he did not disclose it to Marchand or his party after he crossed the floor in February 2022.

“I think I was treated unfairly,” he said. “There is an outstanding debt to Revenu Québec, but the legal hypothec is still in effect.”

Weiser said, as is required of elected officials, he submitted his notices of tax assessment to the party every year. Weiser had not responded to the QCT’s request for an interview by press time. QFF has until Oct. 3 to find a replacement candidate in the district.

Sam Hamad’s Leadership Québec had to scramble to find a last-minute candidate as a result of the withdrawal from the race of Napoléon Woo, the party’s purported star candidate in Saint-Roch– Saint-Sauveur. Shortly before this newspaper went to press, on Sept. 29, Radio-Canada reported that Hamad had selected social worker Pascale Houle, who does not live in the district, to represent the party there.

Woo, owner of a local restaurant, exited the team following controversial remarks he made at his candidacy announcement about homelessness in Saint-Roch.

Québec d’Abord, meanwhile, continues to face a challenge in finding candidates for all 21 seats on council with the Oct. 3 deadline looming. As of this writing, the party that evolved from former mayor Régis Labeaume’s organization is still short six candidates. Leader Claude Villeneuve is running for mayor but also for re-election in his Maizerets-Lairet district.

A lack of candidates is not Villeneuve’s only challenge. A Léger poll for the Journal de Québec placed the Opposition leader a distant fourth in the race for mayor, at seven per cent, slightly behind Stéphane Lachance of the upstart right-wing Respect Citoyens party.

The poll found Marchand with a significant but not commanding lead over Hamad, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert. Marchand polled 27 per cent in the field of seven candidates, with Hamad at 20 per cent, followed by Lachance and Villeneuve. Transition Québec Leader Jackie Smith had three per cent, and former city councillor and Opposition leader Anne Guérette had one per cent.

The poll also identified the cost of housing as the most important issue in the election, at 38 per cent. The second greatest preoccupation of potential voters was homelessness at 29 per cent. Just behind were public transit at 28 per cent, traffic congestion at 27 per cent, and infrastructure projects like the “third link” at 24 per cent.

On that latter topic, Guérette, who came third in the race

for mayor in 2017 as leader of the now-defunct Démocratie Québec party, has proposed a plan for a “fourth link” between Quebec City and Lévis.

Guérette, an architect and former councillor for Cap-aux-Diamants, is proposing a bridge be built exclusively for public transit in addition to one for car and truck traffic.

In a slick video on her campaign Facebook page, Guérette, a radio commentator and opponent of the tramway in its current configuration, said the public transit bridge, situated to complete a transit loop with a third link, should be built first. She said it could be built with efficient and inexpensive technology for $2.2 billion within four years.

Guérette and her running mate Frédéric Imbeault are seeking election in the Cap-Rouge–Laurentien district under the Parti du Monde banner. As of this writing, the party has not announced any other city council candidates.

Woo and Weiser out as candidates; poll gives Marchand lead Read More »

City to upgrade historic St-Roch building for offices

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City to upgrade historic Saint-Roch building for offices

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

An historic building in Saint-Roch will be undergoing a $17.5-million makeover to be transformed into modern office space for city employees.

The city announced the project in a Sept. 22 news release.

Located at the corner of Rue Saint-Joseph Est and Rue de la Couronne, and known officially as Édifice Joseph-Ernest-Gregoire, the seven-storey building was for many years the tallest structure in the district.

The building, across the street from the Gabrielle- Roy Library, had housed municipal administrative offices since the city acquired it in the 1980s. When the offices were moved to the new YMCA building in Saint-Roch in 2020, a service for homeless and vulnerable people called Répit Basse-Ville moved into part of the building. The service will remain there until next spring, when it will be relocated elsewhere.

Work began on the project on Sept. 22, with the “selective interior dismantling” which will be followed during the winter by the removal of asbestos insulation and a complete interior cleaning. The final phase, to run from fall 2027 to winter 2029, will see the “major renovation of the building, including repair of the envelope, foundations and structures.”

The building is named after Joseph-Ernest Grégoire, a former mayor of Quebec City (1934-1938) who also served concurrently in the National Assembly (1936-1939). He was the father of Gilles Grégoire, one of the founders of the Parti Québécois.

Designed by René-Pamphile Lemay, creator of many city landmarks, including the Dominion Hotel and Maison Pollack, the building was commissioned by the Quebec Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company. It opened in 1911, the tallest structure in what was then a bustling commercial and industrial area, known as Le Faubourg de Saint-Roch.

Called “Le Merger” for undetermined reasons, when it opened, according to the city’s building directory, “newspapers highlighted the building’s quality.” Among other things, they noted “the majestic entrance on Saint- Joseph Street, which seems intent on attracting crowds and clearly indicates by its importance that all of Quebec must pass through it.’”

Tenants over the years included Hydro-Québec and the Kirouac toy store. The building receives a high heritage value rating from the city for its Rationalist-style architecture.

City to upgrade historic St-Roch building for offices Read More »

Electoral campaign heats up in Saint-Roch

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Electoral campaign heats up in Saint-Roch

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The road to Quebec City Hall leads through Saint- Roch.

The neighbourhood is different things to different people. To some, it’s the heart of Lower Town’s nightlife, food scene and still-vibrant tech sector, home to several theatres and the bright new central library. To others, it’s a close-knit working-class neighbourhood where people share the little they have. To still others, it’s a symbol of post-pandemic decline, with tourists rolling suitcases toward dubiously legal “ghost hotels,” past clusters of homeless people and half-empty office buildings.

As the campaign for the mayor’s office has ramped up, candidates have increasingly focused on the borough. The current city councillor for Saint- Roch–Saint-Sauveur, Pierre-Luc Lachance of Mayor Bruno Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party, is not running again; QFF has recruited Marchand’s former press attachée, Élainie Lepage, to run there. Marchand recently met with businesspeople in Saint-Roch, and announced $100 million in funding over 15 years – mostly infrastructure upgrades – to the neighbourhood.

Transition Québec (TQ) and leader Jackie Smith have recruited a star candidate of their own, former CKIA radio host Marjorie Champagne, and opened their campaign headquarters in the former Benjo toy store on Rue Saint-Joseph.

Leadership Québec (LQ) leader Sam Hamad initially recruited restaurateur Napoléon Woo to run in the district; Woo stood down after publicly accusing community organizations in the area of perpetuating homelessness in order to keep their jobs. Shortly before this newspaper went to press, Hamad named a new candidate, social worker Pascale Houle.

Québec d’Abord leader Claude Villeneuve and candidate Quentin Maridat countered with an announcement of their own on Rue Saint-Joseph, accusing Marchand of  overpromising and underdelivering on homelessness and Hamad of stigmatizing Saint-Roch. Respect Citoyens has recruited restaurateur Mélanie Leroux.

Community groups and business representatives the QCT encountered are wary of being seen to take sides in the upcoming election, but they are eager to show the candidates “their” Saint-Roch.

“Saint-Roch is downtown, it’s the heart of the city, and there’s downtown life that goes with that,” said Marc-Antoine Beauchesne, president of the SDC Saint-Roch business owners’ association. “We kind of lost our rhythm from before the pandemic, but we’re getting it back now.”

“There’s a big issue around homelessness and mental health, and we have secondary problems coming from that…. We need to work on that and it will solve everything else,” he said, adding that the SDC didn’t believe in “hiding” homeless- ness or other signs of poverty or distress, but rather working toward shared solutions. “We’re ready to contribute.”

“Saint-Roch is the subject of a lot of conversations,” said Marie- Noëlle Béland, executive director of L’Engrenage, a community organization based at Église Saint-Roch. “For example, the problem of businesses [leaving] Rue Saint-Joseph, you read that it’s ‘because of homelessness,’ but the causes are a lot larger than that. There are fewer workers in the neighbourhood because of telecommuting; people have less disposable income because the cost of housing has risen so high.”

L’Engrenage recently released a 174-page “portrait” of Saint-Roch, laying out the neighbourhood’s history as a bustling hub for middle- and working-class francophones that has gentrified rapidly in the past few decades. It also released a questionnaire for the candi- dates, with a series of questions about urban planning, mobility, housing, economic and cultural life and civic participation.

“For urban planning, for example, many people don’t have private yards, and there aren’t many parks with picnic tables. We don’t have a lot of drinking water in public places, and the same goes for public washrooms, laundromats, trash cans, benches, ashtrays, shady spots or places where people who are homeless can safely leave their things. These are things that would be really helpful for the people themselves, and for cohabitation in general. Mobility is another thing. We want to quiet the traffic and make the roads and sidewalks safer for pedestrians and cyclists. There need to be more public benches, for older people, people with disabilities and anyone who’s carrying a heavy load. … There’s also the question of [short-term rental ghost hotels], increasing surveillance to find illegal Airbnbs, but also seeing what we can do to keep housing on the residential market.”

L’Engrenage plans to send the questionnaire this week and make candidates’ responses public. Until then, Béland is keeping an open mind. “We’re ready to talk to any of the candidates. … It’s interesting to see that the people running are interested in the neighbourhood. That’s a good thing. But should this campaign be about homelessness? Obviously, homelessness concerns everyone, but … there are people who seem to believe that it’s mainly a municipal issue, when the resources are more on the side of the Quebec government. It’s a little risky. I don’t want to minimize the impacts of homelessness, but I don’t want to stigmatize the whole neighbourhood for it either.”

Electoral campaign heats up in Saint-Roch Read More »

Annual VEQ Fall Fest a celebration of community

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Annual Fall Fest a celebration of community

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

As many as 1,000 people poured into the gym of Quebec High School (QHS) on Sept. 21 during Fall Fest, the annual community fair organized for the English-speaking community of Quebec City and the South Shore by Voice of English-speaking Québec.

On the stage set up in the school parking lot, the Local Vocals multilingual choir, the Shannon Irish Dancers and the 78th Fraser Highlanders performed before Flavia Nascimento’s Brazilian- inspired fanfare brought the drums and whistles of a South American carnival inside the gym. Later in the afternoon, James Allan, a square dance caller from Kinnear’s Mills and the founder of the Kinnear’s Mills Celtic Festival, got people dancing.

While their parents and siblings watched the show, younger kids enjoyed the bouncy castle, jungle gym and arts and crafts activities, or helped themselves to affordable hot dogs served by QHS students and staff.

Inside, dozens of English-language or bilingual churches, community groups and educational institutions had stands set up, alongside small businesses; CBC Québec and the QCT were also on hand to meet listeners and readers.

Joanne Arsenault is the vice-principal of Quebec High School, which has hosted the event for the past two years, ever since the previous host school – St. Vincent School in Sainte-Foy – closed. “We talk to parents, to former students, to people who want to organize visits to the school – I just talked to someone who wanted to see if we could find her old yearbook. In past years, we’ve had people apply for jobs. It’s a great community event.”

Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, United Church and evangelical congregations shared space in the gym with apparent ecumenical good humour. At the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church booth – where a subtle sign announced that the congregation rejected religious nationalism and believed in the separation of church and state – Rev. Katherine Burgess and volunteer Gina Farnell pointed out that churches are often the first stop for English speakers who are new in town, whether they are new immigrants, international students or new arrivals from other parts of Canada.

“Fall Fest is a great op- portunity to take up space and connect with other churches in the community, because we have a lot that we fundamentally agree on,” said Rev. Jeff Metcalfe, canon theologian of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, who greeted passersby at the church’s stand alongside Bishop Bruce Myers and parish volunteers.

City councillors and council candidates – including Transition Québec Leader Jackie Smith and Coun. David Weiser, member of the executive committee responsible for relations with cultural communities – milled around listening to voters’ questions, which mainly centred around transit. Québec d’Abord Leader Claude Villeneuve attended with the party’s candidate for Montcalm– Saint-Sacrement, Félix Bouffard. “Since I moved to the city five years ago, I haven’t had much of a chance to get to know the English-speaking community and listen to their concerns,” said Bouffard, who is from the South Shore. “This is a great opportunity.”

In the relative peace and quiet of the QHS library, representatives from the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale were running a bilingual job fair for the second straight year. “This is the best place to look for candidates who are bilingual and who have a good enough level of English to work in our English-language designated institutions,” said Marleen Cameron, head of recruitment services at the CIUSSS, referring to Jeffery Hale Hospital and Saint Brigid’s Home. Kerry Ann King and Christy Ruggiero of the Jeffery Hale-Saint Brigid’s Users’ Committee were also on hand, taking names of people who were interested in volunteering to organize enrichment programs with seniors. “We want [volunteering] to be an entry point for people to know how to get involved in the community,” Ruggiero said. “Fall Fest is good for that.”

Annual VEQ Fall Fest a celebration of community Read More »

And they’re off! City Hall campaign begins with feud between Hamad and Villeneuve

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And they’re off! City Hall campaign begins with feud between Hamad and Villeneuve

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The signs are going up, candidates are filing their papers and voters are being asked to reflect and choose who they want to run their towns and cities.

Quebec City, along with some 1,100 other municipalities in the province, is now engaged in an election campaign that will culminate with the election of new civic representatives on Nov. 2.

So far six candidates have declared themselves in the running for mayor: incumbent Bruno Marchand of Québec Forte et Fière; Claude Villeneuve, leader of Québec d’Abord and councillor for Maizerets-Lairet; Jackie Smith, leader of Transition Québec and councillor for Limoilou; Sam Hamad, leader of Leadership Quebec and a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert; Stéphane Lachance, entrepreneur and leader of Respect Citoyens; and Anne Guérette, an architect, former city councillor and past mayoral candidate, who is running as an independent although she has registered a party name, Parti du monde.

Even before the 45-day campaign began officially on Sept. 19, two candidates were engaged in a skirmish of personal attacks. Villeneuve accused Hamad of intimidation for allegedly saying to him at an event in April, “Be careful with your criticism of me, because you have two beautiful little girls.”

Villeneuve said Hamad repeated the comment at another event. There were no witnesses at either occasion to corroborate Villeneuve’s claim. Hamad asked Villeneuve to withdraw the accusation, which he said amounted to defamation.

It was not the only accusation of intimidation aimed at Hamad last week. Karine Gagnon, the veteran Journal de Québec reporter and municipal affairs columnist, wrote a piece in which she said Hamad “has taken the liberty, during and outside of his press briefings, of attacking my integrity and my reputation, as well as those of the Journal de Québec.”

In another incident in a rocky start to his campaign, Hamad’s candidate in the Saint-Roch–Saint-Sauveur district, restaurant owner Napoléon Woo, went on a rant against the problem of home- lessness in the district.

“Homelessness should be a period of transition, not a culture where you eat for free, you get free housing, you get free clothes … No one died of cold or hunger,” Woo said, as Hamad listened uneasily and then intervened. (Editors’ note: Napoléon Woo is no longer the party’s candidate in Saint-Roch-Saint-Sauveur. On the afternoon of Sept. 22, as this newspaper went to press, Hamad announced that the party had “put an end to” his candidacy.)

On a more positive note for Leadership Québec, the party now has city council candidates in 20 of the 21 districts. A last-minute change saw Patrick Paquet, most recently the non-elected leader of the now-defunct Équipe Priorité Québec (EPQ) party, become the party’s candidate in the Les Saules- Les-Méandres district after Lydie Pincemin withdrew for health reasons. As of this writing, the party has a full slate of candidates, except for Woo’s recently vacated district of Saint-Roch-Saint-Sauveur.

The only other established party not to have a full slate is Villeneuve’s Québec d’Abord, which, as of this writing, was still short six candidates.

Respect Citoyens, meanwhile, has a full slate for its first run at City Hall, including Eric Ralph Mercier, former ÉPQ councillor, former Liberal MNA for Charlesbourg and son of longtime Charlesbourg mayor Ralph Mercier. He’s running in the Des Monts district.

Another notable recruit for the party is Anne-Laurence Harvey in the Loretteville– Les-Châtels district. Harvey is the daughter of Luc Harvey, the former Conservative MP for Louis-Hébert. She has a claim to fame in being the first girl to score a touchdown as a quarterback when she played for the St. Patrick’s High School Fighting Irish football team.

With the election campaign just underway, a poll in Le Soleil had some good and some worrisome news for Marchand and his bid for a second term. The survey by the SOM firm found 51 per cent of respondents were satisfied with his work as mayor, the highest level in two years and a major uptick since a low of 36 per cent two years ago.

However, in a somewhat counterintuitive finding, 50 per cent of those polled felt it was time for a change at City Hall. The poll also found Marchand’s approval rating is less positive in the suburbs, particularly in Charlesbourg, Beauport and La Haute-Saint-Charles.

In the 2021 election, QFF won four of its six seats in downtown districts.

It was not by coincidence, then, that Marchand officially launched his campaign Sept. 19 at a historic site in Charlesbourg.

“We’ve achieved a lot in four years, and there’s still a lot to do. There’s momentum in Quebec City, and we want it to continue. We’re not going to take anything for granted,” Marchand said.

In 2021, Marchand beat Marie-Josée Savard, the inheritor of former mayor Régis Labeaume’s party which later became Québec d’Abord, by 834 votes.

With files from QCT staff

And they’re off! City Hall campaign begins with feud between Hamad and Villeneuve Read More »

TRAM TRACKER: Laurier contract bargain, Hamad wants work pause

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TRAM TRACKER: Laurier contract bargain, Hamad wants work pause

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

While mayoral candidate Sam Hamad is calling for work on the tramway to be halted during the municipal election, the city has awarded the second largest contract of the project – which came in well below the estimated cost.

On Sept. 17, the city executive committee approved a contract of $63.2 million, taxes included, to Charles-Auguste Fortier Inc. for, as it’s described in the call for tenders, “the redevelopment of Boul. Laurier, for the transitional state before the installation of the tramway.”

It is the second largest contract awarded so far for the TramCité project, the largest by far being the $1.3- billion deal with transportation giant Alstom for supply and maintenance of the system’s rolling stock. The 34 all- electric “trainsets” would be manufactured at Alstom’s plant in La Pocatière. The maintenance contract is for a 30-year period.

Four companies were bidding for the Laurier project, with the highest being $91.7 million, a figure still lower than the $95 million (before taxes) the city had projected.

The winning bid is more than 40 per cent below that target. Charles-Auguste Fortier Inc. has been in business for more than 50 years, and among the company’s notable endeavours is the excavation for the Vidéotron Centre.

The city is responsible for the majority of the preparatory work for the tramway system. The rest is handled by the Caisse de dépôt et placement Infra division (CDPQ Infra), which the Coalition Avenir Québec government tasked with over- seeing the $7.6-billion first phase of the tramway project.

Boul. Laurier has been undergoing major construction work for the past four years; partly for the tramway and partly for a huge project to rearrange the approaches to the Quebec and Pierre Laporte bridges. The new contract would extend the work on the street for about another four years.

Meanwhile, tramway opponent and mayoral candidate Hamad is asking that work on the project be frozen during the municipal election campaign that officially started Sept. 19.

Hamad, founder of Leadership Québec and a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister, said in a media encounter outside City Hall before the Sept. 16 council meeting, “I’m asking [Mayor] Bruno Marchand to stop all current or future work until the election on Nov. 2.”

Hamad quickly clarified his comment, saying work currently in progress should continue, since stopping would “involve penalties and problems.” He said the city should “stop adding to [the work], because we must let the citizens decide.”

When reporters reminded Hamad that the Quebec government is committed to the tramway project, he said, “It doesn’t matter. The mayor of Quebec City will decide what’s best for Quebec City. The mayor of Quebec City will be elected on November 2. It will be the will of the citizens of Quebec.”

Marchand quickly rejected Hamad’s suggestion. He told reporters, “We won’t stop the tramway. We have an agreement with the ministry of transportation. We have a partner called CDPQ Infra that is doing the work. We have an agreement to do preparatory work ourselves. We will face penalties if we don’t do it on time.”

Newly named Transport Minister Jonatan Julien echoed the mayor’s comments. He told a media scrum before a Sept. 17 cabinet meeting that it was “out of the question” to pause tramway work, warning there would be penalties.

“The tramway, we committed to doing it. Right now, we are doing it with CDPQ Infra, and it is moving forward.”

Hamad is proposing an upgraded bus system as an alternative to the tramway.

TRAM TRACKER: Laurier contract bargain, Hamad wants work pause Read More »

BRIEF: Second phase of Rue St-Olivier redo underway

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

BRIEF: Second phase of Rue St-Olivier redo underway

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

A narrow street in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbour- hood has been ripped up for major roadwork, as part of a two-phase project to make it more passable.

Rue Saint-Oliver between Rues Sutherland and Philippe- Dorval is undergoing an intense makeover to provide better access for residents, cyclists and buses.

The first phase of the transformation, completed last year, was between Ave. de Salaberry and Rue Philippe-Dorval.

The project, with the objective of providing a “barrier-free zone,” involves adding trees, moving utility poles and maintaining street parking for residents.

The work began in May and is expected to be completed next summer.

BRIEF: Second phase of Rue St-Olivier redo underway Read More »

CHSSN celebrates quarter-century of working toward health access

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CHSSN celebrates quarter-century of working toward health access

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Representatives of Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN) member organizations raised a glass to 25 years of working to improve access to health and social services in English in Quebec, at a rousing anniversary celebration on Sept. 16 at the Morrin Centre.

Former CBC host turned language-rights activist Royal Orr hosted the event, opening the evening with a nod to the “many English-speaking First Nations communities that have influenced our work” and to the appropriateness of holding the celebrations in a “former British redoubt” that is now “at the centre of English-speaking life in Quebec City.” He then passed the mic to CHSSN executive director Jennifer Johnson, who took attendees on a trip through the network’s history.

What would become CHSSN was founded during a chance meeting in 2000 in Quebec City by community members who had been active in building the Holland Centre – later Jeffery Hale Community Partners – into a thriving multi-service centre for English-speaking families. “That spontaneous gathering turned into something extraordinary,” Johnson recalled. “We were challenged to take the knowledge and expertise that we developed around what’s been successful in Quebec [City] and create a provincial organization that would support English-speaking communities across Quebec. It’s a powerful reminder that it takes a diverse group of passionate, visionary people to build something that lasts. CHSSN has thrived based on the belief that communities can be part of the solution – that with the right support, they can create better access to services.”

Acting on the belief that many anglophones around the province were unable to access the services they were entitled to, the founders worked with local community members and Canadian Heritage to help establish the Megantic Community Development Corporation (MCDC), which is now a community centre and service access hub for anglophones in Thetford Mines and Lévis. Johnson estimated that 10 regions that lacked a community service hub for anglophones in 2000 now have one, thanks in large part to CHSSN.

Now made up of more than 30 organizations serving nearly every region of the province, CHSSN administers programs, compiles and publishes health data and acts as a knowledge-sharing network for health and social services organizations. They also coordinate the patient navigator program, which supports patients from anglophone communities in Eastern Quebec who need to travel to Quebec City, Lévis, Rimouski or Gaspé for health care. In New Carlisle in the Gaspé, the network helped the Coalition for Anglophone Social Action (CASA) get funding for a day program for anglophone seniors that became a network of day centres. Johnson has also spoken up in the media to explain the impacts of various regulatory changes on access to English services.

“We started on the belief that when communities are organized, they can influence if not change the systems that affect their lives,” James Carter, a CHSSN cofounder, told attendees in a mini- documentary broadcast at the gala. “So we built CHSSN with a single purpose, of improving access to services.”

“We said, don’t think of what you think is going to happen, think of what you want to happen,” said fellow cofounder Richard Walling in the same film. “Instead of being observers of your own decline, become participants in your future and help define that future.”

John McMahon, head of the Secretariat for relations with English-speaking Quebecers, pledged the agency’s continued support for the network. After an open-mic story-sharing session, Carter and MCDC co- founder Peter Whitcomb were honoured with community builder awards.

“You inspired us to look to the future and we were smart enough to listen,” said Whitcomb, the former principal of A.S. Johnson High School in Thetford Mines, who accepted the award from his former student, MCDC director Brian Gignac. “I once believed the school was the heart of the community, but now I believe organizations like MCDC are the heart of their communities, and the heart beats strong in Thetford Mines. For the next 25 years, I wish [CHSSN] the support and love they brought to us when we needed it so badly.”

On that note, at Johnson’s invitation, attendees raised their glasses to the network’s next 25 years.

CHSSN celebrates quarter-century of working toward health access Read More »

Philanthropists raise $4 million for city initiative to help get people off the street

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Philanthropists raise $4 million for city initiative to help get people off the street

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

A philanthropic initiative spearheaded by the Ville de Québec and the Choquette family has raised nearly $4 million in four months to help people experiencing homelessness get off the street, Mayor Bruno Marchand announced on Sept. 17.

The funds raised through the Un toit avant tout (“A roof comes first”) project will be shared among several organizations helping struggling people in the city, including Lauberivière, YWCA-Québec, L’Archipel d’Entraide, Café-Rencontre Centre-Ville and Projet Intervention Prostitution Québec, to support the Porte-clés (“keychain”) initiative which gives housing-insecure people access to affordable housing and other support services.

First launched in 2015, the initiative has helped over 400 people find housing, and 85 per cent of recipients have managed to stay off the streets, according to the Ville de Québec. “Thanks to the funds raised by the campaign, a second dedicated team will be deployed, doubling the response capacity. This will allow more than 200 additional people to be supported towards residential and social stability over the next four years,” city officials said in a statement.

Marchand thanked the Choquette family – businesspeople Claude Choquette and Hélène de Grandmont and their three sons, Pierre-Thomas, Marc-Olivier and Charles-Antoine Choquette – for “having the boldness to support a cause that isn’t sexy, and for which [people] may have prejudices.” Twenty-six families or family foundations made contributions of over $100,000, which will be used for a range of services from rent subsidies to moving van rental.

“We work together, with heart and with results to … get people off the street, and once we have managed to support them in housing, they obtain residential stability,” Marchand said. “They come out of this environment where it’s hard to regain control of your life, where there’s violence, where it’s hard to regain your dignity. Porte-Clés and others work with you to ensure that we can find a way forward, so that you can rest, take care of yourself and contribute to the community according to your abilities, as a worker, a potential worker, a volunteer or a citizen … because we need you, we want to have you in this community.” For Benoit Coté, director general of PECH, which works with homeless and housing- insecure people with mental health issues in Saint-Roch, access to housing is “the spinal column” of any effort to get people off the street, and the three levels of government, the community sector and the private sector all have some responsibility. He cited a La Presse report based on data from the Quebec coroner’s office which found that over 100 homeless people died on the province’s streets last year. “This is a public health problem that goes beyond one level of government.” He called on the provincial government to create a transpartisan commission to address the situation, adding that the presence of privately funded projects “doesn’t mean [public] institutions should diminish their involvement.”

Stéphanie Lampron, executive director of YWCA- Québec, said the funding boost for the Porte-Clés program would allow organizations like hers to better co-ordinate to help people in need. “We all have different expertise, and we’re putting it together at the service of the common good. We provide beds for women waiting for housing, but if they need help with money management, I can send them to Lauberivière, and if they need mental health support, I can send them to PECH. We’ve been working together for 10 years, but this allows us to take it to another level.”

To learn more or to make a donation, visit fdg.ca/pages/un-toit-avant-tout.

Philanthropists raise $4 million for city initiative to help get people off the street Read More »

Église Saint-Roch to host immersive light and sound show

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Église Saint-Roch to host immersive light and sound show

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Montreal-based light-and- sound-show specialists Moment Factory have announced plans to bring an immersive show to Église Saint- Roch just in time for the holidays.

The company has created immersive light-and-sound shows at the Cathédrale Marie- Reine-du-Monde in Montreal, at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and at landmarks in Paris, New York, Singapore, San Francisco and Las Vegas, in addition to immersive museum exhibits, light and sound for global pop stars such as Billie Eilish, and – much closer to home – the Onwha’ Lumina light and sound walk in Wendake. This is its first foray into downtown Quebec City.

Église Saint-Roch still holds regular masses, and hosts a seasonal day centre/cold-weather night shelter for people experiencing homelessness, as well as offices and meeting rooms used by several community groups, in its enormous basement. It has at various times served as a concert venue and a gallery for local artists and designers. Its sprawling forecourt, known as le parvis, arguably the social centre of the neighbourhood, has hosted outdoor jazz concerts and magic shows, farmers’ markets, a food fridge and pantry and a communal piano. However, this is the first time the church has been home to a tourist attraction.

In an announcement issued on Sept. 16, the show is described as “a grandiose immersive experience highlighting its venue. The 45-minute show will transform the church into a living tableau celebrating the harmony between humans and nature. “As night falls, visitors are first invited to (re)discover the history and architecture of this iconic Quebec City landmark through an interactive web application. The space is then transformed by breathtaking projections, enveloping light displays, and an orchestral musical composition. Every detail of this odyssey encourages us to slow down, look up, and be immersed in a larger-than-life beauty,” the announcement says.

“I am very proud that Église Saint-Roch has been selected to host the AURA immersive experience, which represents an exceptional opportunity for downtown Quebec City. The city has chosen to support this initiative, which will help attract visitors to the neighbour- hood. We need more traffic to stimulate economic vitality. This experience is part of a three-year action plan that includes significant investments for the area over the coming years. AURA will mark the beginning of an era of change, dynamism, and renewal for Saint-Roch,” Mayor Bruno Marchand said in a statement. In addition to the city, the provincial government, Destination Québec cité, Desjardins and the SDC Centre- ville business owners’ group are among the show’s founding sponsors.

The company will pay an undisclosed sum in rent to the Marie-de-l’Incarnation parish, which oversees the church, insulating it at least somewhat from the financial and architectural struggles of other large churches in the city. To accommodate Moment Factory’s specifications, the church will make a few changes, including moving the altar. For Rev. Julien Guillot, moderator of the Unité missionnaire Basse-Ville– Limoilou–Vanier, it’s worth the effort. “Since 2017, we have been hoping that a project like this could see the light of day,” he said. “It’s a joy for the parish to contribute to the project alongside other partners.”

For restaurateur Marc- Antoine Beauchesne, president of the SDC Saint-Roch business owners’ association, the project represents a “big vote of confidence” and a chance to bring people to the neighbourhood who would not usually visit it. “Our job is to make sure Saint- Roch is shown in its best light,” he told the QCT. He emphasized that for the SDC, that didn’t necessarily mean “hiding” the district’s much-discussed struggles with poverty, homelessness and drug use. “The problems are there with or without Moment Factory … but we don’t want to hide problems, we want to solve problems or [reduce] problems. It kind of gives us a little elbow in the ribs to find solutions.”

Tickets are expected to go on sale in October, with opening night scheduled for Dec. 5.

Église Saint-Roch to host immersive light and sound show Read More »

City-funded Réverbère street festival returns for second edition for Thanksgiving

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Réverbère street art festival returns for a second edition for Thanksgiving

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

As days grow shorter and nights longer, street artists step into the glow of street lights for all to see. The City of Quebec is funding, for the second year, the Réverbère street art festival from Oct. 10 to 13. Over Thanksgiving weekend, locals and tourists can watch a variety of street performances in Old Quebec.

“Street performers have always been a part of Quebec City’s culture, even though in recent years, [that culture] has diminished,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand at the Sept. 15 press conference at City Hall. “The budget was $480,000 last year, and it’s $580,000 this year. We’ll continue to increase it next year because we believe in culture, we believe in artists and we believe in supporting our local community. It’s also the soul of a city. That is why we are investing in these cultural events and will continue to do so in the future.”

Despite criticism from some media outlets, last year’s event was deemed a success, enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of attendees, according to the mayor. These street performers are often popular with tourists, some of whom inquire about their whereabouts and schedules.

From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Oct. 10, noon to 9 p.m. on Oct. 11 and 12, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 13, visitors and locals can meander along Rue Saint- Jean from Place D’Youville to Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, the Jardins de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, Rue Sainte-Anne and Place d’Armes and from Parc Montmorency to Dufferin Terrace to watch artists from more than 24 companies dance, make music or perform circus acts. Cirque Kikasse, Flip Fabrique, Graffiti Numérique, Bazar Création, École de Cirque, Compagnie Artifice and the Ligue d’improvisation musicale de Québec, to name a few, are among the participating companies.

“On Saturday, Oct. 11, we are celebrating the the 51st- and-a-quarter anniversary of L’Aubergine, the founding company of street performances in Old Quebec,” said Marc Gourdeau, the artistic director of Réverbère. “At noon, we will have a parade from City Hall Place to Place D’Youville.”

“In 1974, my father, Paul Vachon, and Josette Déchène and Lina Vachon created the clown trio L’Aubergine de la Macédoine to do clown acts in Quebec City,” said Émile Vachon. “That same year, he created Informatique, becoming one of the first acts of the Festival d’été de Québec. In 1979, they attracted 21,000 spectators. Within a few years, they had an audience of over 300,000 people.

“Today, L’Aubergine is more than alive and is happy to partner with the City of Quebec. There have always been street artists in Quebec City, but we were missing an event dedicated to them,” said Vachon. “Magic is created when spectators become part of the act. We are here to mark and celebrate an anniversary and the art of street performances. Paul would be more than happy to see this party return to the streets of Quebec.”

For more information on the Réverbère, visit ville.quebec.qc.ca/reverbere (link in French only). For more information about L’Aubergine, visit laubergine.qc.ca/en.

City-funded Réverbère street festival returns for second edition for Thanksgiving Read More »

QG Vieux-Québec grocery store complex nearing approval

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

QG Vieux-Québec grocery store complex nearing approval

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

A major project that would see a grocery store located within the walls of Old Quebec is a step closer to approval more than seven years after it was first proposed.

The QG Vieux-Québec plan would be built along Côte du Palais, at a site called Îlot Charlevoix, for Rue Charlevoix, which would be the project’s northern border.

The lot, situated behind the former Bank of Montreal build- ing on Rue Saint-Jean, which will be incorporated in the complex, is now vacant. The city had purchased it in 2017 and called for proposals for a mixed development, with the intention of having a grocery store in the Old City.

The city accepted the proposal from Capwood, a local developer which built a complex on Route de l’Église in Ste-Foy called District Gourmet that opened in 2021.

QG Vieux-Québec, as the project is called, would be a five-storey building with 36 condos of different size, with access to a gym, rooftop terrasse and reception room. Underground parking would be included.

The ground floor would have a grocery store and a food court offering, according to the Capwood website, “fresh products from the bakery, pastry shop, butcher shop and cheese shop.”

There would also be “a stables museum, testifying to the region’s rich equine history.”

Capwood director general Denis Epoh laid out the vision of the project at a Sept. 8 public consultation session organized by the city, which was represented by Cap-aux-Diamants Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc and other city officials.

At the session, according to media reports, several local restaurateurs questioned the amount of space allocated in the first floor retail area for dining customers compared to the actual grocery section.

Arnaud Marchand, co-owner of Chez Boulay, a high-end restaurant around the corner from the proposed project, told Le Soleil, “The plans show a much more defined restaurant area than the grocery store. The grocery store’s footprint even includes elevators and hallways. The counters integrate the food service area. We’ll end up with 75 per cent of the area devoted to the food service wing.”

In the details of the city’s presentation of the project, it says “on the ground floor, the floor area occupied by the grocery store (main use) must be greater than that occupied by the restaurant (associated use).”

Capwood’s Epoh said, “I understand the neighbourhood’s expectations. I’ve had a lot of hassle, I could have given up. I’ve already invested $15 million and I’m building an attraction.” The overall project cost is estimated at some $80 million.

The neighbourhood council for the Old City, members of which attended the public consultation, stated in a resolution it supported the project because “the current offering of grocery services or food counters in Old Quebec is almost non-existent and that the quality of life of residents and the tourist experience of visitors are affected.”

However, it tacked on a condition of its support, saying the food counter component of the grocery area should not offer table service or have a liquor licence. The recommendation could be problematic in that restaurant licences normally include table service and permission to sell alcohol.

Coulombe-Leduc said the La Cité-Limoilou borough council would debate the issue but no decision would be made before the municipal elections on Nov. 2.

In the meantime, the city is expected to approve by early October a series of zoning regulation changes to make way for the project. Once that’s done, construction would take three years for occupation in 2028.

QG Vieux-Québec grocery store complex nearing approval Read More »

Hamad adds former mayoral hopeful Hamad to team

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Hamad adds former mayoral hopeful Moisan to team

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Sam Hamad’s campaign has one more candidate and the mayoral race has one less, with Leadership Québec adding Daniel Moisan to the team as its standard-bearer in the Montcalm–Saint-Sacrément district.

Moisan is described on the Leadership Québec website as “a marketing entrepreneur and multidisciplinary artist who has worked in business and culture for over 35 years.” He will face incumbent Coun. Catherine Vallières-Roland, who won the seat for Bruno Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) by a 16-point margin.

Moisan had entered the race for mayor in June, declaring on social media: “Politicians see themselves as people who rule, much more than people who serve the citizens.”

He appears to be opposed to the tramway project, saying it “won’t solve traffic.”

“My big dream,” he said, “if there’s one project I care about, would be for public transit to cost users $1 a day.”

Hamad, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert, added two more candidates in recent days, but as of this writing, Leadership Québec still lacks four to complete a slate for the 21 council seats.

The other recruits are Hugo Langlois in Vanier-Duberger (an open seat with the exit of Alicia Despins of Québec d’Abord), and Vicky Lépine, running in Cap-aux-Diamants against QFF incumbent Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, a member of Marchand’s executive committee.

Langlois is a well-known media personality and son of former Beauport mayor and Quebec City councillor Jacques Langlois. He came a respectable second in the April federal election, running for the Conservatives in Beauport- Limoilou.

Lépine is a founding member of the Mouvement Saint-Jean Baptiste and a member of her neighbourhood council. Her party bio says she “has more than 20 years of experience in human resources management and public administration.”

She was involved in a controversial incident at a February city council meeting; when making a long preamble to a question, she raised her arm repeatedly in a gesture that Marchand called a “Nazi salute.” He subsequently withdrew the comment and apologized to Lépine.

As of this writing, of the seven parties running for Quebec City Hall registered with Elections Quebec, only QFF and Transition Québec have fielded a full slate of candidates.

The municipal election campaign across Quebec officially kicks off Sept. 19.

Hamad adds former mayoral hopeful Hamad to team Read More »

Ukulélé Club de Québec gets Quebecers singing and strumming

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Ukulélé Club de Québec gets Quebecers singing and strumming

Ruby Pratka, LJI reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Legend has it that three cabinetmakers from Madeira, Portugal travelled to Hawaii – or the Sandwich Islands, as it was known at the time – in 1879 to work in the sugarcane industry. They carried four-stringed miniature Portuguese guitars known as cavaquinhos. The lightweight portable guitars caught on among the diverse group of cane cutters, and by 1915, the ukulele, as the Hawaiian version of the instrument was named, had become so intertwined with Hawaiian culture as to be featured at the Hawaiian pavilion of the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco. An international phenomenon was born.

Fast forward a little more than a century, and there are hundreds of ukulele clubs around the world, mostly in English-speaking countries. In 2015, after travelling through much of Europe and making friends thanks to his ukulele playing, André Pelletier co- founded the Ukulélé Club de Québec, which now has weekly practice sessions bringing together several dozen members of a variety of ages and backgrounds. “There’s a lot of people who come and go, some of them come back and some don’t, there’s no obligation,” said Pelletier, a retired architect who fell in love with the instrument years ago after hearing it on a Paul McCartney solo album. “We’ve kind of created a community around it. We have some people who’ve never done music before and some people who have. It is a bit more difficult for people who’ve never done any kind of music before … but if you come as a beginner and you practise, you can make a lot of progress.”

Pelletier described himself and his friend and ukulele club regular Ann Martell as ukulele evangelists. “The one thing about ukulele players,” he said with a grin, “is that they want to convince everyone else to become a ukulele player.”

What makes the ukulele so attractive? Pelletier said he believes it’s easy to learn and versatile. “With three chords, you can play a lot. You can play anything on it – tu peux jouer toute, toute, toute dessus – from Irish folk tunes to metal.”

The high, twangy chords are undeniably cheerful, and one of the first songs new players learn is Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” “To try it is to get it,” said Pelletier’s fellow player Louise Fleury. “It’s so much fun to play together in a group. If you’re in a bad mood, go play music. You can’t be in a bad mood after that.”

Marjolaine Hébert, from Lévis, started playing more than a year ago as she processed an immense personal loss – the death of her daughter in a motorcycle accident. “Every time I played, I felt her with me, but I didn’t want to talk about myself, I just wanted to play with everybody,” she said. “The reason I stayed was that it was so joyful, so inclusive. You can make mistakes and it doesn’t matter; it’s a very open arms, ‘Come on, we’ll have fun together’ type of place. To play with a bunch of joyful people is an energy boost.”

She’s also surprised by the progress she’s made as a musician. “I used to do dance workshops with people with disabilities, and it kind of reminds me of that,” she added, speaking with the QCT between two sets at the Celtic Festival. “André [Pelletier] sees what your strengths are and says, ‘You do this; you try that.’ Look at me, I knew nothing at all about the Celtic repertoire and I learned 30 songs in two months.”

The group performs around the city, at seniors’ residences, day centres for adults with disabilities, nonprofit events and festivals, including, most recently, the Celtic Festival. Weekly practices are scheduled at venues around the city. The club charges a nominal membership fee of $20 per year, and when practices are held in cafés or bars, members are asked to buy a drink or a snack as a thank-you to the hosting business. The primary spoken language is French, but many members speak English and relatively little speaking occurs during practice sessions – the focus is on the songs, which are in multiple languages. Private and small-group lessons are available for an additional fee. For more information, contact André Pelletier directly via the Ukulélé Club de Québec Facebook page.

Ukulélé Club de Québec gets Quebecers singing and strumming Read More »

Celtic Festival brings families together at Domaine Maizerets

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Celtic Festival brings families together at Domaine Maizerets

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Ever since the Quebec Celtic Festival moved to its current home at the Domaine Maizerets, people in Limoilou have been able to hear it before they could see it – the skirl of the bagpipes, the pounding of bodhrans and bass riffs from the beer tent and the thump of weights hitting the turf at the Highland Games grounds, followed by the cheers of the crowd and a delighted shriek of “Quarante-huit pieds, deux pouces!” from veteran commentator Isabelle Lessard.

This year, as they got closer, festival-goers heard a new sound – barking. For the festival’s 20th anniversary, organizers decided to add a Celtic- themed dog show. Eleven dogs, ranging from Irish wolfhounds the size of ponies to a tiny chihuahua, paraded on Sunday afternoon before a festival audience and a jury including festival mascot Ben Stew and two local dog lovers. The judging was all in good fun, prizes were given after a random draw and all 11 very good boys and girls went home with a bag of biscuits.

Limoilou resident Julie Massé came with her partner Renaud Brissonneault – wearing full William Wallace makeup, decked out in the Scottish and Breton flags and speaking English with a surprising Irish accent – and their six-year-old beagle, Frankie, wearing a leprechaun outfit. “I already had the leprechaun costume and a friend of ours sent us the link [to sign up for the dog show] and we thought it would be just perfect,” Massé said.

A few feet away, Carl Huot of Val-Bélair stood in a medieval outfit, posing for pictures with his Irish wolfhound, Freya. “I’ve been coming to the St. Patrick’s Day parade and the festival with Freya for years and I thought this would be fun,” he said.

There was something for everyone at the Domaine Maizerets from Sept. 5-7, from the Viking encampment and the enchanted forest to the beer tent, the two outdoor stages – one for the bagpipers and one for a range of Celtic bands and dance ensembles – and the Highland Games grounds, where amateurs learned their way around the stone throw and the caber toss with encouragement from Lessard and Jason Baines, whose enthusiastic bilingual explanations of Highland Games minutiae are becoming another cherished festival tradition. Baines and Banyan Lehman, a Guelph, Ont.-based athlete who is also bilingual and unafraid to let her enthusiasm shine through, won the men’s and women’s professional events this year, to the delight of the crowd.

For members of the Irish and anglophone communities, and for longtime habitués, the festival was a bit like a family reunion. “It’s a great opportunity for [the dancers] to show off their culture; it’s a unique dance style and they’re very passionate about it,” said Shannonite Nina Richard, co- ordinator of the Shannon Irish Dancers. “We’ve been coming to the festival as long as we can remember.”

Tara Connor, a musician who has Irish ancestry and grew up in British Columbia and the Yukon, has lived in Quebec for more than 30 years. She brought her eight-month-old granddaughter, Juliette, to hear local Celtic band Miss Viking’s on the main stage. “I wanted to expose her to Irish music and culture and [get her] to hear some English,” Connor said. “I came for the music, but my friends are really into the Highland Games and the [blacksmithing] at the Viking camp.”

The grounds were also full of people who said they had no known Celtic ancestry but enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere, and others who had discovered a faraway Celtic ancestor through genealogy. Stacy Girard helped her friends at the Clan MacLeod table in the genealogy tent for many years before discovering her own distant Scottish roots. “I had an ancestor who was a fille du Roy and it turns out her mother was from Clan MacRae,” Girard said. For her, getting in touch with her roots over the past two years has been a powerful experience that helped her process losing her mother and navigating a falling-out with her siblings.

Festival cofounder Guy Morisset said he started to lay the groundwork for the event when he joined St. Andrew’s Church many years ago and realized the extent of the historical and cultural gulf between English- and French-speaking communities in the city. “At the beginning, I started the festival to bridge cultures, and we do still do that,” he said. “But what I like best now is seeing families walk by with smiles on their faces.”

Celtic Festival brings families together at Domaine Maizerets Read More »

Villeneuve launches campaign; ‘Happy to be underdog’

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Villeneuve launches campaign; ‘Happy to be underdog’

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Although he doesn’t have all of his candidates yet and the official start of the municipal election season is still two weeks away, Québec d’Abord Leader Claude Villeneuve launched his City Hall campaign Sept. 4.

“Why not?” he said. when asked by reporters. “I’m ready.” His launch, held on the sunny terrasse of a brewpub in Montcalm, included the unveiling of a detailed platform of policies to be put into place over a three-term period, ending in 2037.
Under the tagline “Près de vous” (“Close to you”), Villeneuve explained the platform has three principles: “Simplify services to make them more accessible, bring people together behind major projects, and invest in the future to improve everyday life today.”

Some of the major planks: Abolish the “welcome tax” for the purchase of a first home, create a major sports centre in Parc Victoria, reduce the vehicle registration tax to $30 from $60, build 60,000 new housing units by 2037, and create a major event in partnership with Wendake to mark the 500th anniversary of French explorer Jacques Cartier’s visit to Quebec in 1535.

With polls showing him far behind incumbent Mayor Bruno Marchand of Québec Forte et Fière and Leadership Québec’s Sam Hamad, a former provincial Liberal minister, Villeneuve said he has “a lot of work to do” to make himself known.

Villeneuve leads the rem- nants of the party that ruled Quebec City from 2008 to 2021 under then-mayor Régis Labeaume. The party’s leader in the 2021 election, Marie-Josée Savard, lost the mayoralty to Marchand by 834 votes.

Her party, though, elected 10 councillors and formed the official Opposition. Of those 10 councillors, there are now only two – Villeneuve, in the Maizerets-Lairet district, and Véronique Dallaire in Les Saules-Les Méandres. The others chose not to run again or defected to Marchand’s party.

Québec d’Abord, as of this writing, has recruited only 10 of the 21 candidates for a full slate. Villeneuve hinted at the press conference there were even some candidates yet to be announced in the room.

Villeneuve said, “I think I’m the second choice of many people, if not most people in the city” and that he doesn’t “have much further to go to become the first choice.”

He said he’s been talking to people who think Marchand “does not deserve a second mandate” and that Hamad “is not a serious candidate.”

Asked in English how it feels to be the underdog in the mayoral race, Villeneuve said, “I like to be the underdog. It’s a good story to tell.”

He said, “I’m ready to be mayor. I’m pretty confident, but it will be tough, and it should be tough to become mayor of Quebec. You have to earn it.”

According to his Québec d’Abord bio, prior to becoming a city councillor in 2021, Villeneuve “served as an adviser and speechwriter to Premier Pauline Marois. He then made a name for himself in Quebec City’s media landscape as a columnist for the Journal de Québec.”

Villeneuve also founded Limoilou-based AV3 – Collaboratoire, a shared workspace that supports local startups.

Originally from Métabetchouan, in Lac-Saint-Jean, Villeneuve came to Quebec City in 2002 to study law and economics.

Villeneuve launches campaign; ‘Happy to be underdog’ Read More »

Former Salvation Army shelter to be multi-service centre

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Former Salvation Army shelter to be multi-service centre

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The former Salvation Army building in Old Quebec that for nearly 60 years provided shelter for homeless men and women is being upgraded as an “innovative” service centre for the same clientele.

Announced earlier in the year, the projected “multi- service centre for the most vulnerable population” is the work of the CIUSSS (Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux) for the Capitale-Nationale region.

The CIUSSS acquired the building at 14 Côte du Palais in 2020, and after several delays, work began a few weeks ago to gut the building and transform it into a modern facility providing a range of in-house services.

Those services include a street drop-in centre, a laundry room, addiction services, a homelessness liaison team, a withdrawal management unit with accommodations, and 30 beds supervised by CIUSSS staff.

At the time of the announcement of the project go-ahead in January, Marie-Josée Collard of the mental health and addiction programs department of the CIUSSS, said, “The idea is really to attract this clientele to offer them services, because they don’t want to go to hospitals. So, by being more welcoming, more adapted to them, we hope that our workers will be able to reach out to them and help them get through it.”

A CIUSSS spokesperson declined a request for an interview on the project, saying, “Work is continuing and we should be able to provide more information on the completion of the project by the end of autumn.”

Some services at the facility will be offered in partnership with existing community organizations, such as La Maison de Job, which will collaborate on the drop-in centre’s operations.

When the Salvation Army decided to close its Old Quebec shelter five years ago, some of its homeless housing services were transferred to the nearby Maison Mère-Mallet facility.

According to information from the CIUSSS, the building’s four floors will be divided into different functions. The second floor will house a detoxification unit with 18 residential beds, as well as a living area with a small kitchen, a dining room and a lounge.

The third floor will have 12 beds for short stays and will include a large room where conferences, group therapy sessions and meetings can be held.

The presence of a centre for homeless people and people with substance abuse issues in a prime location in Old Quebec, adjacent to a luxury hotel, has raised some concerns.

Daniel Riverain, an administrator of the Vieux-Québec neighbourhood council, said in an earlier report in Le Soleil, “I’m delighted to see that there is an intensification of homelessness services in our neighbourhood; it was becoming imperative.”

But, he said, “I’m worried about the sidewalk in front of this establishment; there are many tourists who pass by with their suitcases,” suggesting a smoking area should be created away from crowds in the street.

Frédéric Keck, assistant director for homelessness and partnerships at the CIUSSS, responded in the same report, saying the Salvation Army, at the time, housed about a hundred residents “and we, at full capacity, will have 30 residents.”

The neighbourhood council did not reply to a request for an interview.

The building, designed by F.A. Walker and built of cut stone, was, according to the city’s architecture directory, one of the first “to incorporate architecture compatible with the historic character of the site” under new rules put in place by heritage officials.

A plaque on the structure says: “This plaque commemorates the dedication to the glory of God of this building by Commissioner W. Booth, LLD. May 14, 1959.”

Booth was Wycliffe Booth, grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth, and no stranger to Canada. A Salvation Army biography notes that “as a young officer, Commissioner Booth accompanied his father Bramwell Booth during one of his memorable visits to Canada.”

Former Salvation Army shelter to be multi-service centre Read More »

YWCA Québec celebrates 150 years of support for women with exhibit, new book

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

YWCA Québec celebrates 150 years of support for women with exhibit, new book

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

When Ann Martell arrived in Quebec City as a young anglophone job seeker in 1982, she was told to do what generations of young English-speaking women at loose ends had done before her – go to the YWCA.

Martell went to the organization’s headquarters on Ave. Holland and met the director, Mary Woods. Woods, who died in 2015, was the last in a long line of women from the local anglophone Protestant community who led the YWCA – dating back to a time when women couldn’t legally sign contracts and the English-speaking Protestants of Upper Town and their francophone Catholic neighbours might as well have been living on separate planets. Woods did for Martell what she and her predecessors had done for countless newly arrived women – helped her find a job.

Martell, who built a long and successful career as a public servant in Quebec, remained involved with the organization, joining its board in 1991 as it stood at a crossroads between its anglophone past and the city’s increasingly francophone present, juggling financial challenges. “With other courageous and persevering women, we managed to climb back up that hill,” she remembered.

Inspired by the role of the YWCA in her own life, Martell proposed that the organization put out a book to make its history better known and honour its 150th anniversary, celebrated this year. The book – YWCA Québec: 150 ans au coeur de la vie des femmes – was launched Sept. 4 at the Musée de la civilisation, in tandem with a temporary exhibit in the “Voie Libre” section of the museum, tracing the organization’s history. The book was written by historian Johanne Daigle and published by local publishers Septentrion with support from the Quebec City English-speaking Community Foundation (QCESCF) – initially the Jeffery Hale Foundation (JHF) before the JHF became part of the QCESCF earlier this year. QCESF assistant executive director Julie Sauvageau told the QCT the foundation’s eventual goal is to put out an English version of the book, although no timeline has yet been set for that; the exhibit is in French only.

What would become the YWCA-Québec was founded under the name Women’s Christian Association (WCA) by a group of six anglophone Protestant women under the leadership of Mary Gibbens Cassels McNab. The association turned the Dauphine Redoubt in Artillery Park into a shelter for “deserving” single women with nowhere else to go – efforts to welcome those deemed “undeserving” (read: sex workers or former sex workers) met with fierce opposition from the media and religious establishment and were ultimately dropped in favour of more discreet action.

In 1911, the WCA joined the Canada-wide YWCA movement and began empowering girls and young women through services it still offers today – swimming lessons, physical education and language classes. In the 1940s, it served as a hub for women’s participation in the war effort and for support offered to soldiers’ fiancées, wives and children. After the war, as many women stayed at home to raise large families, the YWCA expanded its offer of courses for older women who wanted to get out of the house and find other outlets for their energy and talents. After moving to the Ave. Holland building in 1968, the organization became renowned for its synchronized swimming program, which trained several elite athletes and at least one world medalist. During the economic crisis of the 1980s, the centre evolved to respond to poverty and psychological distress, and pivoted to serve a mainly francophone clientele as the city’s demographics changed.

“The exhibit invites you to relive the energy of past battles, to ask questions about current issues and to discover what the YWCA Québec is today – a survivor that continues to write her own story for the benefit of women and for society at large,” Julie Lemieux, director general of the Musée de la civilisation de Québec (MCQ) told the crowd assembled at the Sept. 5 launch event.

Visitors to the MCQ can see the YWCA Québec: 150 ans au coeur de la vie des femmes exhibit until Nov. 9. The book can be ordered online directly from Septentrion.

YWCA Québec celebrates 150 years of support for women with exhibit, new book Read More »

Suicide prevention centre plans walk in the park

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Suicide prevention centre plans walk in the park

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

On Sept. 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, the Centre de prévention de suicide de Québec (CPSQ) is inviting the community at large to a walk in the park. The walk will begin at 6 p.m. at the service pavilion of Parc de l’Anse-à-Cartier in Limoilou. Trained suicide prevention intervention workers will be onsite to talk to people who may need help for themselves or someone they know, and to dispel common myths about suicide.

The CPSQ, the oldest suicide prevention resource centre in Canada, offers phone intervention and one-on-one in-person support in French and English, as well as French-language support groups, to anyone in the Capitale-Nationale region, from Portneuf to Charlevoix, who needs help for themselves or a loved one, CPSQ director general Lynda Poirier told the QCT. Intervention workers at the centre provide phone support to people at risk of suicide or worried about someone they know; train peer support volunteers known as Sentinelles or Gatekeepers; give suicide prevention coaching to health care workers; and hold counselling sessions in schools, workplaces or communities affected by suicide. They have also held an annual event to mark World Suicide Prevention Day for the past several years.

“The march is in a very peaceful spot,” Poirier said. “It is a moment of exchange between people who have been affected, who are asking questions, who may have lost someone, or who are wondering how we work and the services we offer. Everyone who comes becomes a suicide prevention ambassador and feels less alone if they have already lost someone. She said the event was “a chance to create a safety net” around people at risk.

“There’s a kiosk at the departure point with coffee and cookies and things like that, and intervention workers will be there to answer people’s questions and dispel myths,” she said.

One of the most tenacious myths about suicide is that taking one’s own life is either a courageous act of self-sacrifice or a coward’s way out. According to Poirier, it is neither. “Suicide is what happens when someone is in major, major distress and doesn’t have options.”

Consequently, she said, threats of suicide should never be lumped in with manipulation or melodrama. “Take [threats] seriously anytime you hear them, and if you don’t know what to do, call our intervention line or get in touch with us via chat.” Poirier emphasized that the CPSQ intervention line is not a “crisis line” – “you don’t need to be actively in crisis to call us; [the line] is available to anyone who needs help or wants to know how to help someone else.”

If you are at risk of suicide or worried about a loved one, call 1-866-APPELLE to get in touch with a trained intervention worker or visit suicide.ca to chat with an intervention worker, from anywhere in the province. English service is available on request.

Suicide prevention centre plans walk in the park Read More »

Legault had no knowledge of SAAQClic overruns before AG report, commission hears

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

Legault had no knowledge of SAAQClic overruns before AG report, commission hears

Ruby Pratka, LJI reporter

editor@qctonline.com

MONTREAL – Premier François Legault knew nothing about the tens of millions of dollars in cost overruns incurred by the failed overhaul of the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) online platform (SAAQClic) until the release of the auditor general’s report in February of this year. Legault repeatedly affirmed that when he testified under oath before the Gallant Commission in Montreal on Sept. 2.

The first indication Legault had that the project might have been running into difficulty, he testified, was when lines formed outside SAAQClic service points following the failed launch in February 2023.

Although Legault has sat in the National Assembly as CAQ leader since 2012 – well before the previous Liberal government signed the initial SAAQClic contract with a trio of third-party IT firms known as the Alliance – and served as premier since 2018, he testified that the SAAQ overhaul had never previously been on his radar. He testified that the province was coming out of “seven years of crisis – the COVID pandemic; the [surge in] temporary immigration which had an impact on services, housing and the French language in Montreal; the cost of living crisis” when the SAAQ debacle first drew lineups and headlines. “What’s going on at the SAAQ is a crisis but you can’t say it’s on the same scale as the pandemic.

“In February 2023, I was told there were lines. I was told we had closed the offices and reopened them without adding personnel and that’s what caused the lines. No one talked to me about [the cost overruns] until February 2025. Before that, I thought there was a launch problem and the launch problem had been solved,” he testified. During an interrogation that swung between deference and pugnacity, he later told chief prosecutor Simon Tremblay he wasn’t aware of the full amount of the contract until 2025 – even though, as previous testimony has laid out, senior civil servants had raised concerns as early as 2020. Then- cybersecurity minister Éric Caire was aware in 2021 that there had been “cost overrun and deadline problems for a long time,” according to an email presented as evidence.

The SAAQ is a Crown corporation with an autonomous governing board that operates at arm’s length from the government, but for which the Ministry of Transport and the Treasury Board have some oversight. Legault initially appeared to blame Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault, the deputy premier and a longtime ally, and her predecessor François Bonnardel for the communications failure, without naming them. “The minister of digital transformation [Caire], the minister of finance [Eric Girard] and the Treasury Board are in advisory roles, but it is the role of the minister of transport to ensure that everything is done right. The minister and their team need to inform the other ministries and the premier’s office. In an ideal world, they would make sure everyone has the same information.”

He later tempered that assertion, stating that the SAAQ was responsible for keeping the ministers fully informed, implying the agency hadn’t lived up to that responsibility.

Legault and Tremblay sparred over the distinction between the cost of the contract and the project’s total cost before Legault conceded that “as a businessman, I think I would have asked more questions.”

Legault criticized the previous Liberal government, which he said had negotiated the contract without planning for cost overruns; the handling of the February 2023 customer service crisis; and the fact he had been kept in the dark for so long. He said it was “not normal” that he should be made aware of a $500-million cost overrun months after the fact. “Delegating to a Crown corporation does not mean not asking questions or not doing follow-up.” He reminded the commission that he had decided to call a public inquiry to shed light on the debacle after the auditor general’s report.

The commission also heard from Martin Koskinen, Legault’s longtime confidant and chief of staff, who said he was made aware of SAAQClic – or CASA, as it was then known – after the 2022 election, but that it was not considered a priority at that time, and didn’t appear on his radar until the failed 2023 rollout. He essentially absolved Guilbault, Bonnardel and Caire, placing responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the SAAQ. “How could the SAAQ have failed – how could they not have seen the potential risks?” he wondered aloud.

Later that week, the commission heard from senior SAAQ personnel, including Nadia Fournier, the agency’s government relations manager, who said she didn’t pre-verify information that was sent to her to be transmitted to Guilbault’s office, and that higher- ranking staff sometimes contacted officials directly without putting her “in the loop.” Other SAAQ witnesses laid out convoluted project management practices. Because of a lack of local expertise in the programming language needed for the platform, the commission heard, the agency hired programmers in India, who hadn’t been briefed on what the program was supposed to do, leading to confusing exchanges in French, English and programming code during which a lot seemed to be lost in translation.

“It was an immense project … and no one knew what we were going to do to make it work” within the timeline established, testified Marie- Claude Lemire, a SAAQ planner and project manager.

Commission hearings return to Quebec City this week.

Legault had no knowledge of SAAQClic overruns before AG report, commission hears Read More »

Religious sites open their doors to the public for Religious Heritage Days

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Religious sites open their doors to the public for Religious Heritage Days

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

In honour of the eighth Journées du patrimoine religieux québécois (Quebec Religious Heritage Days) organized by the Conseil du patrimoine religieux du Québec, 175 religious sites in the province opened their doors on Sept. 5, 6 and 7.

Among the long list of churches, cemeteries and museums that had been opened for the occasion, the QCT visited Église Saint-Charles de Limoilou on Sept. 7. This church, closed since 2012, was reborn in a way when Machine de Cirque moved in, in

2020. The circus group saw the potential of the church as a prac- tice and performance hall with its two-storey vaulted ceilings, strong pillars and foundations. Wanting to focus on what they do best, circus performances, Machine de Cirque founded the nonprofit Centre Manivelle to manage the church as a multi- purpose space available for rent for shows, concerts and exhibits.

As the public learned on guided tours offered by the Société d’Histoire de Limoilou, this church has had a rocky history. After it was opened in 1897 for surrounding residents who didn’t want to walk to Ég- lise Saint-Roch, it burnt down

in 1899. It was rebuilt in 1901 and handed over to the Frères Capucins in 1902. It burnt again in 1916, and the parishioners had it rebuilt and inaugurated in 1920. There was no major event to report over the next 60 years besides major renovations in 1945 for its 50th anniversary the following year. The parish took over its management in 1982, only to close it 30 years later in 2012 due to rising maintenance and upkeep costs. But this was not the end of Église Saint- Charles de Limoilou.

In 2020, Machine de Cirque was searching for the perfect training space, and this aban- doned church caught their attention, especially with its two- storey-high vaulted ceilings in the centre, facing balconies and strong pillars. Street, circus and acrobatic performers have a long history of performing in the front courtyards of churches, so why not inside?

Centre Manivelle and Machine de Cirque teach their visitors that buildings can always have a second life. Bibliothèque Monique-Corriveau (Église de Saint-Denys), the Pavillon du Centre de recherche de l’Hôtel- Dieu (the original St. Patrick’s Church), and St. Matthew’s Church, now a public library, are among the many examples of this in Quebec City.

For more information, visit journeesdupatrimoinereligieux.ca, centremanivelle.ca and machinedecirque.com.

Religious sites open their doors to the public for Religious Heritage Days Read More »

More than 200 reenactors bring history to life on the Plains

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

More than 200 reenactors bring history to life on the Plains

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

“The British are coming!”  “The Americans are coming!” From Sept. 6-7, near Martello Tower 1 on the Plains of Abraham, the National Battlefields Com- mission (NBC) reenacted four sieges of Quebec City and invited 200 reenactors to set up camp and sleep on the Plains of Abraham.

“It is amazing. I walked my dog around the Martello Tower on the morning of Sept. 5, and nothing was there. I came back yesterday, and today, I have travelled through time and space,” said Mathieu Lemelin. “It is quite a sight to see so many reenactors dressed in period clothing – and not just the British and French soldiers, but also the Americans!”

Rest assured, these Americans reenacted the Siege of William Phips in 1690 and the American invasion of 1775 – not the theoretical invasion that could make Canada the 51st state. They came in peace to reenact two failed attempts to take Quebec City. Between shooting practices with blanks, they cheerfully shared their knowledge of history and acknowledged that Quebec City was not easily conquered – at least until the British arrived in 1759 to win the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. The French retaliated to win the bloodiest battle on Canadian soil, the Battle of Sainte-Foy in 1760. During the American Revolutionary War, the Americans tried and failed to conquer all of British North America.

For passionate armchair historians and reenactors, learning about history from books and movies is important, but nowhere near as interesting as a reenactment. For two days and through the rain, over 200 men, women and children from all over Canada and the United States camped on the Plains of Abraham for the annual Battlefields – Quebec City Under Siege reenactment. The bad weather did force the event to end earlier than scheduled on Sept. 6; however, it stopped in time for the reenactors to have a dry sleep on the Plains of Abraham.

“The event has become, over the years, a must-see for the public at large and for history buffs,” said Stéphanie Roy, director of museum affairs at the NBC. The public attended in great numbers to watch reenactors fire blanks from muskets and cannons – always a crowd pleaser – and learn about games, food, tools and medicine used in the British, French, Continental Army and First Nations camps at the time.

This event echoes the current temporary exhibit on display at the Plains of Abraham Museum, Quebec 1775-1776: Blizzards and Battle, on display until January 2026.

“As well as being one of our biggest events to organize annually, and this edition being particularly enormous with all the tents and community tables and fire pits, it is also one of our most popular,” said NBC outreach program manager Virginie Arsenault. “We are very pleased with the outcome.”

This event concludes the NBC summer events program. To learn more about upcoming activities and events this fall and winter, visit plainsofabaraham.ca/activities-events.

More than 200 reenactors bring history to life on the Plains Read More »

Quebec City’s history projected on silos at Espace 400e

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Quebec City’s history projected on the silos at Espace 400e

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

At the magical moment of dusk when the sky darkens, the silos in the Old Port are illuminated with images of Quebec City over the past 150 years.

Until Nov. 2, passersby will be able to watch the rich history flash before their eyes. The City of Quebec sponsored this event to commemorate the 40th an- niversary of its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On Sept. 4, two silent slide shows were premièred, preceded by a private cocktail reception at Espace 400, complete with cinema treats like popcorn and candy. “This 40th anniversary reminds us of the importance of preserving and showcasing this historic jewel that is Old Québec, a vibrant neighbourhood that is our pride, here and around the world,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand. “Admiring these projections is a wonderful way to celebrate our history together, while offering residents and visitors a unique artistic experience.”

As interested and proud as Marchand may be of Quebec City’s rich history and heritage, he delegated the task of creating these slideshows to the specialists: Guillaume Cyr of the Maison de la Photo and artists Jimmy Pettigrew and Yannick Nolin. Through their collaboration, they created two short slideshows. Cyr selected iconic and historical photos from the Quebec City archives, the Musée national des Beaux-Arts du Québec, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and the Patrick Altman collection to create a short video titled, Où voyage la lumière – Hommage photographique par la Maison de la photo.

The second video brings out the child in all viewers and may even recall a lost memory. Terrain de jeu – KINOMADA feels inspired by one of the National Film Board’s most often-requested films, Log Driver’s Waltz, where history is recounted in cartoon form. Artists Pettigrew and Nolin take their viewers on a colourful, silent visual voyage through the streets and history of Quebec City.

“The rich heritage of Old Québec is an inexhaustible source of inspiration for our local artists. I am confident that the proposed projections will inspire the public to take a fresh look at this unique setting, a testament to our history. Congratulations to the artists who created these unique and unifying works,” said Mathieu Lacombe, minister of culture and communications.

As visually amazing as these two videos are, they are missing certain elements, such as an audio track (music and dialogue) to fully captivate the audience and stop passersby in their tracks. At the launch, Cyr mentioned that an accompanying melody had been composed for this project, but the group behind this event ultimately decided to project silent videos. The images could have stretched beyond the main rectangular block with the two-dimensional photos moving along the silos, similar to past projections on various buildings.

These projections are in honour of Quebec City’s 40th anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Dec. 3, 1985, Quebec City made history by becoming the first North American site inscribed on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List. This international recognition crowned more than a century of efforts to preserve and enhance the historic district, which began in the 19th century. Even a decade before this initiative, as Quebec City was undergoing a concrete phase, then-deputy mayor Jules Blanchet and his colleagues led a project to pre- serve the Old City, limit vehicle traffic with one-way streets, and make it the jewel of a neighbour- hood it is today.

“This anniversary is an opportunity to highlight the central role that Old Québec continues to play in shaping our city’s identity and influence,” said Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, member of the city executive committee responsible for heri- tage. “With these larger-than-life works of art, we want to pay tribute to the major milestones of our past while looking to the future.”

Quebec City’s history projected on silos at Espace 400e Read More »

Thousands celebrate community and resistance at Pride march

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Thousands celebrate community and resistance at Pride march

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Place D’Youville filled with a sea of people early Sunday afternoon as the clock ticked down to the scheduled start time of the annual Pride march. Older gay couples walked hand in hand; teenagers in colourful outfits draped themselves in various iterations of the rainbow flag and other Pride flags, including at least one extraordinary hand-crocheted rainbow cape. Mayor Bruno Marchand and fellow mayoral candidates Jackie Smith and Claude Villeneuve walked with their families or party colleagues, and Bonhomme Carnaval put on his rainbow sash and posed for selfies with parade-goers despite the heat. Families marched with young children, and groups of friends embraced the “you be you” atmosphere and marched in butterfly, wolf or cat outfits. Members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – a Montreal- based performance art and community service group – marched in full makeup and glittering nuns’ habits.

The joyous chaos of the march is a longstanding tradition on the last day of Pride in Quebec City, which forgoes the flashy parades popular in some bigger cities for a march where anyone can participate, where formal partisan and corporate delegations are discouraged. Several thousand people marched up Boul. Honoré- Mercier toward the National Assembly and through Old Québec, chanting “Our voices, our rights!” and “Protect trans kids!” The march looped back up Rue Saint-Jean toward Place D’Youville, where anyone who wanted to could take the microphone and address the crowd for two minutes. Many took the opportunity to talk about ongoing discrimination against the gay and transgender community in Quebec and elsewhere, to criticize the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s approach to trans rights and to celebrate the spirit of community. One trans woman named Marie-Soleil said she was celebrating the 30th anniversary of beginning her transition. “Thirty years ago, I thought I was all alone, but look at us now!” she said to cheers.

Amid the swirling colours, one person wore a captain’s uniform. “I’m marching for myself and for all the people who think [being gay, queer or trans] can be an obstacle to their career,” said Coast Guard Capt. Jean-Christophe Laroche, an icebreaker captain. “I’ve marched every year for the past few years, unless I’ve been on my boat, but I haven’t been in uniform. This year I asked my supervisor if I could march in uniform, and my supervisor was OK with it, so here I am. We are the ones responsible for maritime search and rescue, and we don’t want anyone to be scared to call us because of who they are. You will be treated with respect.”

Carla Moffat and Miriam Blair, two moms active in the local English-speaking community, marched with Blair’s five-month-old daughter in a stroller. “We came here as friends and parents to give free hugs to anyone who needs them,” said Moffat, waving a “free hugs” sign.

Érica, a trans woman from Lévis who gave only her first name, grew up in a rural area where she said it was difficult for trans people to find work and feel safe. She said being part of the march through downtown Quebec City was a powerful experience. “I used to find Pride parades a little silly, but after I travelled a bit, I realized that just the visibility was hopeful, the fact that we can be ourselves and show the world we’re here.”

The day’s celebrations began with an open Zumba class on Place D’Youville, a queer art market and Broadway-themed street performances on Rue Saint-Jean in the historic heart of the city’s queer community, and gender-affirming activities at Place D’Youville and inside the Palais Montcalm, where people could experiment with clothes, makeup, new haircuts and gender presentation. A Sunday evening drag show featuring Barbada and Gisèle Lullaby topped off the festivities.

“This Pride reflected the communities of Quebec City. It brought together people from all walks of life and reaffirmed the importance of continuing to work together for a more inclusive society,” said Béatrice Robichaud, president of the Alliance Arc-en-Ciel de Québec, which organizes the annual celebrations, which began Aug. 28.

Thousands celebrate community and resistance at Pride march Read More »

Government submits third link project to environmental review

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Government submits third link project to environmental review

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Coalition Avenir Québec government is forging ahead with its plan to build a third link between Quebec City and Lévis.

Last week, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault, the minister leading the project, announced the plan for a combination bridge and tunnel would be submitted for environmental analysis.

“This new step,” an Aug. 28 news release stated, “is a prerequisite for the impact study, the environmental analysis by the ministry of the environment, the fight against climate change, wildlife and parks (MELCCFP) as well as the work of the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE).”

Guilbault added, “This procedure, which is crucial for the realization of the third link between Quebec City and Lévis, confirms that the project is progressing in a concrete, efficient, and responsible manner.”

In June, Guilbault announced the choice of a corridor for the third link, with the bridge connecting Autoroute 20 on the South Shore with Autoroute 40 on the North Shore. It would enter a tunnel somewhere along Boul. Champlain and emerge some three kilometres later to connect with either Boul. Pierre-Bertrand or Autoroute Robert-Bourassa.

As part of the environmental assessment process, there will be a 30-day online public consultation period organized by the environment ministry.

The ministry release said, “The various analyses carried out as part of the impact study will enable the ministry to optimize the project design to limit the impact on the environment and ensure bet- ter integration of the new inter-shore link into its host environment.”

In the wake of Guilbault’s announcement, the question arose about how much farther Guilbault herself will be pushing the third link process. As of this writing, there were reports Premier François Legault would be removing Guilbault, the MNA for the Louis-Hébert riding, as transport minister in an expected major cabinet shuffle.

Meanwhile, an intense program of drilling and soil testing is underway to provide data to determine which route the third link corridor would take on the north and south shores.

According to a report in the Journal de Québec, drilling has already been done in some 100 sites between Lévis and Quebec City with more in the works. The report said the government has already spent at least $33 million on the drilling program, not including the 50 sites being drilled this summer.

Government submits third link project to environmental review Read More »

New residential building to rise near Saint-Roch overpass

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

New residential building to rise near Saint-Roch overpass

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

In a reversal of Joni Mitchell’s ode to paving a paradise to put in a parking lot, developers are planning an eco-friendly residential building in what is now a parking lot in Saint-Roch – with a freeway overpass looming over it.

The city is expected to soon approve the permits for a six- storey apartment building, to be called Le Arno, built by Logis-Experts, one of the city’s busiest residential developers.

Jean-François Beaudoin, head of development and real estate investment for Logis- Experts, said in an interview with the QCT the project is unusual – flyé was the word he used in French – in several respects.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is the location of the proposed $25-million building in a seemingly forlorn spot a few steps from Boul. Charest now used as a parking lot. The site is bordered by Rue des Prairies and Rue de l’Éperon, and for those familiar with the area, it’s around the corner from Comptoir Emmaüs.

Beaudoin said another unusual feature would be the building’s U-shape. The courtyard within the U would be planted with mature trees and vegetation to mitigate the impact of apartments facing each other.

As for the unusual aspect of a new residential building having a busy freeway ramp adjacent, Beaudoin said the block would be built so that no apartment windows would face the structure. “No one will be living under the overpass,” he said.

Building a large structure in a dense urban space is not an obstacle to construction, Beaudoin said. His company has dealt with such constraints in its other projects in the central city.

Beaudoin said the 93 apartments would be mostly smaller units targeted at young professionals who work in the area, citing the example of the Palais de Justice building just around the corner. The building bridges Saint-Roch with the Old City along Rue Saint-Paul with its many restaurants and other businesses.

There will be a handful of larger apartments for families, and a certain number of affordable housing units depending on an agreement to be negotiated with the city.

Beaudoin said his company would not be investing in the Le Arno project and a few others in the area yet to be announced if it didn’t have confidence in the Saint-Roch district. The area has been in the news in recent months with reports of businesses fleeing because of the deterioration of Rue Saint-Joseph and safety concerns in the area.

Before construction can begin, likely in early winter, the soil will be decontaminated, and an archeological dig needs to be conducted on the site, which falls within the limits of the designated historical zone and has been occupied since the early years of Quebec City.

In fact, one of the conditions the city imposed on the proposed building is that it not encroach on what’s known as the Maison Blanche, on Rue Saint-Vallier. The house, built in 1679, was originally on the large property of Louis Hébert, a legendary figure in Quebec history.

New residential building to rise near Saint-Roch overpass Read More »

BRIEF: Work begins on addition to Grande Allée tower

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Work begins on addition to Grande Allée tower Work is already underway to add 10 storeys to the apartment building at 153-155 Grande Allée Est. Last week, a crew was erecting a towering crane in front of the building that will be used during the construction period. The owners of the building, Bilodeau Immobilier, had built the current 11-storey building, which opened in 2020, with an eventual addition in mind. The company also owns the Montmorency building behind the Grande Allée tower on Ave. Wilfrid-Laurier. Company general manager Éric Bilodeau previously told the QCT the impact of construction on building residents will be limited by a series of measures (see article in June 11, 2025 edition). (PB-LJI)

BRIEF: Work begins on addition to Grande Allée tower Read More »

Smith unveils full slate, gets booted from council

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Smith unveils full slate, gets booted from council

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

A day after Transition Québec Leader and Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith unveiled a full roster of candidates for City Hall, she was expelled from a city council meeting for breaching rules of conduct.

Nearly four years after her run for mayor as the head of an avowedly left-wing party, Smith’s feisty approach has earned her an eager following and, seemingly, the enmity of some fellow councillors.

On Aug. 25, Smith convened the media in Jardin Jean-Paul-L’Allier in Saint-Roch to announce her party had recruited candidates for all 21 districts, including many who decided to run for a second time under Smith’s leadership.

In introducing the candidates, she said, “We have assembled a strong, bold, dynamic team rooted in its community. The team has been on the ground for several weeks and the party’s funding is breaking a historic record. This demonstrates the enthusiasm for ideas that focus on fairness, solidarity and respect for the environment, and that respond to the challenges of our time.”

The next day, during a city council debate over the city administration’s public consultation program, council speaker Bianca Dussault ordered Smith to leave the chamber.

Smith had refused to withdraw an accusation that Cap- aux-Diamants Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, member of the executive committee responsible for heritage, urban planning and tourism, was biased due to a job she had as a lobbyist prior to becoming a city councillor.

Coulombe-Leduc said, “I want her to withdraw the comments she just made, which have nothing to do with my role as a municipal councillor. If she wants me to dig into her past, I will do it.”

Dussault, describing Smith’s comments as “a rather personal attack,” ordered her to leave the meeting, which she did peaceably.

The council meeting was the second last before the official municipal election period starts on Sept. 17, leading to voting on Nov. 2. It’s an election Smith hopes will bring her, if not the mayor’s office, at least a larger contingent than her solo seat in Limoilou.

Smith said that “everything is different” from the last time around in 2021. “Recruitment is just so much easier. The fact that people know me, they know what we do … I’m a woman of action, and accessible, and people sort of feel close to me, feel like they can tell me their issues and I can help them.”

She said, “The four years of experience have been huge” and she’s learned “a lot more about how the system and the political dynamics work.” Plus, she said, the party has made “many gains” over that time in targeting issues and moving the administration forward on such matters as shelter for homeless people, protected bicycle paths and measures for parents at City Hall.

She said she has been effective despite being the lone Transition Québec councillor. “I have an idea and a lot of people say, well, no, it’s not possible. But in my four years, it almost always starts like that. I go in the media, I propose something publicly and then [Mayor] Bruno Marchand says immediately, ‘That’s impossible. You’re crazy.’ And then six months to a year later, it exists.”

In that vein, at the news conference to announce candidates, she denounced the Sept. 5 deadline for voters to change their address online. “The complexity of the process for changing addresses discourages young people from voting. It’s a structural obstacle that could be easily resolved.”

Smith is also calling for public transportation to be free on election day, as is the case in Lévis. “Voting should be simple and accessible for everyone. Free transportation on election day is a concrete measure to achieve this, and one that has already proven effective.”

As for her mayoral prospects in a field of at least four other credible candidates, Smith said she feels she has a “real chance” this time around; she finished fourth in 2021, with 12,000 votes, 6.6 per cent of the total.

She had initially been concerned about the impact of former provincial Liberal minister Sam Hamad, “because he’s a big name,” but said he has not lived up to billing, having failed to recruit a full slate of candidates only a couple of weeks before the campaign starts.

Smith, the mother of two young children, is a native of Hamilton, Ont., and has lived in Quebec City since 2006. She has several links to the English-speaking community, including with the Quebec Art Company and the Morrin Centre, where she is currently a member of the governing council.

Smith unveils full slate, gets booted from council Read More »

Caire, LeBel relive SAAQClic fiasco for Gallant commission

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Caire, LeBel relive SAAQClic fiasco for Gallant commission

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

MONTREAL – La Peltrie MNA and former cybersecurity minister Éric Caire detailed how the SAAQClic project came crashing down around him during at times painful testimony over two days at the Gallant commission in Montreal. Caire began his testimony on the afternoon of Aug. 26 and finished it the next day.

A computer programmer by training, Caire was appointed to lead the newly created ministry in January 2022. He resigned in February 2025 after Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc revealed that the SAAQClic online platform – which had crashed on launch in February 2023 and led to chaos at Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) service points – was also millions of dollars over budget.

Although Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault is technically responsible for overseeing the agency, previous testimony before the com- mission has laid out that ministers have limited oversight of Crown corporations like the SAAQ, which have independent governing boards. Caire, the self-described “minister of computers,” wound up bearing the brunt of public frustration over the SAAQClic failure.

Caire said the first inkling he had of SAAQClic’s difficulties was shortly before the 2018 election, when a Journal de Québec article hinted at delays and cost overruns. In spring 2020, a reporter asked him if he had “heard anything about CASA” as SAAQClic was known at the time. He said he hadn’t, and that at the time, the pandemic response and the cybersecurity needs of civil servants working from home took up most of the ministry’s bandwidth. In August 2020, when future SAAQ CEO Éric Ducharme – then Treasury Board secretary – told Caire the project would be delayed by at least a year, he didn’t think much of it. He testified that although his office received a note in August 2020 about “changes to the calendar, cost and scope” of SAAQClic, that note never reached him; nor did information about a “re-planning” of the project that September that would incur at least 800,000 additional staff-hours, leading to further cost overruns. He also said he wasn’t aware of “major concerns” around the project raised by Guilbault’s office in 2021, although an email presented to the commission suggested he knew SAAQClic had been “dealing with cost and deadline issues for a long time” not all of which could be explained away by the pandemic or the labour shortage.

Caire skipped a planned meeting with then-transport minister François Bonnardel that September to attend a road safety activity in his riding; he said he initially planned to schedule a follow-up but didn’t do so because “everyone [who attended the first meet- ing] seemed reassured.” He received a cost update from Karl Malenfant, then vice-president of the SAAQ, in June 2022, but was “not flabbergasted” by what he heard.

“As far as the budget was concerned, I humbly confess that I relied [on my team,]” Caire testified. “That’s not my expertise.”

After the 2022 election, Caire said he didn’t discuss SAAQClic with Guilbault, the new transport minister. However, he knew testing was not going well. The launch went ahead in early spring 2023 regardless, a decision for which Caire blamed the SAAQ leadership. It took a few days after the troubled launch for “the situation to filter through into the public space,” Caire said, at which point he, Guilbault and Premier François Legault “went into crisis mode.

“How can they [the SAAQ] order a project that sounds so exciting and deliver some- thing that’s so buggy?” Caire wondered aloud. “People are reporting hundreds of bugs to me after the system has been rolled out – as a programmer, I’ve never seen that. We didn’t do our jobs. We let a project that was all messed up be rolled out.” A post-release audit later revealed that the program was still in development at the time it was launched, the commission heard. “If the program worked as it was meant to … I’m not sure we’d be sitting here,” Caire said.

Caire resigned after Leclerc’s report came out, the only minister to do so. He needed a few minutes to compose himself before telling that part of the story.

“I was put through the spin cycle in 2023. I joke about it now, but on a human level, it was very hard for me, for my family, for my kids, for the premier,” he said. “No job is worth that. So I submitted my resignation.”

Caire remains MNA for the riding of La Peltrie, which includes Shannon, Valcartier and Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier. In February, he said he would run again. However, outside the hearing room, a rattled-looking Caire told the QCT, “We’ll see about that come election time.”

Caire was followed on the witness stand by Ducharme, health minister and former Treasury Board president Christian Dubé and current Treasury Board president Sonia LeBel, who said she and Dubé both “jumped onto a moving train” when they assumed their positions at the height of the pandemic, and she was never fully briefed about SAAQClic. She said the only leverage she had over SAAQ spending was the power to declare a hiring freeze. “The SAAQ has an autonomous budget – I don’t authorize the spending – but in the large sense it is taxpayer money,” she told the commission.

Premier François Legault testified on Sept. 2, as this newspaper was being prepared for publication.

Caire, LeBel relive SAAQClic fiasco for Gallant commission Read More »

Storm-damaged Escalier des Franciscains to be torn down and rebuilt

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Storm-damaged Escalier des Franciscains to be torn down and rebuilt

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Pedestrians looking for a shortcut between Saint-Sauveur and Montcalm will have to find an alternative to the Escalier des Franciscains. After a major storm in June, the city closed the staircase for safety reasons. On Aug. 29, city officials announced it would be demolished and rebuilt.

“Closed since June 26, the staircase has undergone inspections to assess the feasibility of reopening safely. However, the inspections revealed significant deterioration and instability of the structure and its foundations, particularly due to the torrential rains experienced this summer. These findings led the city to decide to proceed with its preventive demolition to ensure the safety of residents,” the Ville de Québec communications and citizen relations service said in a statement.

“The work, which includes demolition, soil stabilization, and site restoration, is scheduled for completion by the end of September 2025 and will be carried out by city teams,” the statement said. “The preliminary design for the staircase reconstruction will be submitted in the fall of 2025. The call for tenders for the production of plans and specifications will be launched in the following months. The reconstruction … will aim for greater resilience to current and future climate conditions, as well as additional considerations to ensure the long-term stability of the structure.” The full cost of the reconstruction will not be known until after the call for tenders.

The Escalier des Franciscains has connected Ave. de l’Alverne in Montcalm to Rue Saint-Germain in Saint- Sauveur since the early 20th century. For over 100 years, Quebecers have been running up these 178 steps, originally built to connect two lines of the first Quebec City Tramway. Ac- cording to the Ville de Québec register of heritage buildings, the staircase was named after the nearby Franciscan monastery, built in 1901 on Ave. de l’Alverne. In 1982, the city bought the building with its 106 apartments.

The Escalier des Franciscains earned a bit of fame when it was mentioned in Roger Lemelin’s novel Les Plouffe. It was even one of the many filming locations of the 1981 movie of the same name, directed by Gilles Carle.

It was regularly used until the infamous tempest of Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day 2025. The June 23 storm, which ripped trees apart, caused power outages and floods and led to the cancellation of the long-planned Grand spectacle de la Fête nationale on the Plains of Abraham, also damaged the staircase. On the afternoon of June 26, the city closed off the staircase indefinitely. “Over the next few days, the city will conduct a thorough assessment of the situation to identify solutions for a safe and rapid reopening, officials said at the time.

Its users have been forced to find an alternative route to their destination – via Côte de l’Aqueduc, Escalier Victoria or Côte de la Pente-Douce.

While the summit is fully blocked off, the base of the Escalier des Franciscains allows people to see the underside and pillars. Looking closely, cracks are clearly visible in the foundations.

With files from QCT staff

Storm-damaged Escalier des Franciscains to be torn down and rebuilt Read More »

Dig reveals secrets of cemetery resting under Rue De Buade

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Dig reveals secrets of cemetery resting under Rue de Buade

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

If the walls or streets of Old Quebec could talk, what stories they would tell! Archeologists, historians and guides have been telling their tales to curious tourists and locals for decades. For Archeology Month in August, the Ville de Québec even invited guided groups to visit and observe current archeological sites. On Aug. 29, the QCT visited the site on Rue De Buade, the former location of the Cimetière Sainte-Famille.

According to maps from the time presented to the public, the original Rue De Buade, named after Louis de Buade de Frontenac, was no more than a footpath in the early years of New France. Over the next few centuries, it grew into the natural extension of Côte de la Montagne. Since the excavation began on June 11, the city has made it a one-way street, travelling east to west.

As stated in a city press release in June, “This archeo- logical project aims to comprehensively excavate the northern half of Rue De Buade, an area with high archeological potential, little disturbed by modern underground infrastructure, even after being widened multiple times. It also includes the exhumation and documentation of graves of the former Sainte-Famille Cemetery, used between 1657 and 1842.”

The city hired a team of archeologists headed up by the GAIA archeological co-operative, led by Olivier Lalonde. “Even though the site is not deep, with the bedrock sitting only 1.5 metres beneath the surface, there is a lot of history here. We have learned that the Wendat people had settlements in many places, including in this specific area,” he said. “In case they might have buried their deceased here during the dozen years they were here in the 15th and 16th centuries, the community has requested people not to photograph the site, to respect their spirituality and culture.”

Lalonde and city archeologist Serge Rouleau, who guided the tour, brought the excavation site alive, tracing its four centuries of history from its time as a Wendat settlement, to Samuel de Champlain and his fellow settlers erecting a church, to the growing cemetery and widening of the adjacent footpath onto Rue De Buade.

Some parts of the story have been lost to history or have yet to be rediscovered through excavations like this one. People even hope to find the final resting place of Samuel de Champlain, who died on Dec. 25, 1635 and is said to be buried in the vicinity of the Basilica-Cathedral Notre- Dame-de-Québec.

Since June, Lalonde and his team of archeologists have excavated 40 to 50 of the 250 graves. It was fascinating to listen to the two archeologists tell the historical facts and stories of the cemetery that has been hidden beneath the modern streets for centuries. The lucky few given the privilege to look beyond the temporary enclosure can discover old stone walls, skeletal remains, broken bottles, tableware, disintegrating clothes and other items from New France and the British conquest.

According to Lalonde, the archeologists have mainly found skeletal remains of children, including infants and even fetuses. This con- firms the historical documentation and the story behind the name used from 1780 to 1842 – Cimetière des Enfants or Cimetière Sainte-Famille. While people of all ages were buried here starting in the mid-17th century, the smallpox epidemic of 1702 and 1703 hit children especially hard. Other diseases, like yellow fever, typhus and influenza, also caused numerous deaths. After 1842, the cemetery was abandoned because city and religious officials decided to establish cemeteries outside the city walls, which explains the locations of the cemeteries in Sillery, Sainte-Foy and Vanier. Stepping away from the excavation site and back into the present day, Quebecers will have to be patient for another four months. “We aim to complete our archeological work by December,” said Lalonde. “Thanks to this temporary structure protecting us from all weather, onlookers, photographers and vandals, we can continue to work in all conditions. Often, the most important information is found in the final days and discovered in post-research and analysis.”

Dig reveals secrets of cemetery resting under Rue De Buade Read More »

Royal Bank office building in Old Quebec to go residential

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Royal Bank office building in Old Quebec to go residential

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Built at a time when modern architecture began to invade the Old City in the name of urban renewal, the Royal Bank office tower in Place D’Youville is destined to be transformed into a residential building.

The city has confirmed that the owners of 700 Place D’Youville have plans to convert the 11-storey building into some 115 small apartments.

The impetus for the transformation would appear to be the exodus of the major tenants of the building, including the Royal Bank that built the tower in 1965, gave it its name and was a principal occupant.

The owners of the building, Montreal-based THM Immobilier, confirmed in various media reports the termination of the lease and departure of the offices of the Société québécoise des infrastructures as well as those of the ministry of economy, innovation and energy.

Some 200 Royal Bank employees are expected to relocate to the SAAQ building in Lower Town as of next year, according to a company spokesperson quoted in one report.

Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, who represents the downtown Cap-aux-Diamants district, welcomed the news of the coming residential units in a Facebook post.

She applauded the “structural measures” that reflect the city’s push to make housing a priority. The current administration has set a goal of increasing the residential population in the Old City.

She said, “Converting vacant office space into housing is one of the keys to revitalizing and making life in our central neighbourhoods more accessible, and Old Quebec is no exception.

“We are already well positioned to exceed our goal of bringing 500 new residents to Old Quebec with the numerous housing projects underway in the area,” Coulombe-Leduc said.

THM Immobilier spokesperson David Benatar told Radio- Canada, “The project is moving forward, but it’s not yet finalized. We’re accelerating the process to start work as soon as they [the current tenants] leave. We’re estimating costs to see if it will be profitable.”

He said it’s still possible there will be office space available in the building. “Let’s just say there might be room to keep one or two floors of offices. The demand for offices is decreasing; there’s always some, but not enough to occupy the entire building.”

The conversion of the Royal Bank building would not be the first such transformation the company has undertaken. Le Kozi apartment complex at 1005 Chemin Ste-Foy housed the offices of the provincial health and social services ministry before being transformed into 107 rental units.

The QCT was not able to get in contact with Benatar or any other representative of THM Immobilier.

Despite its incongruous lo- cation just outside the walls of the Old City and its modern architecture, the Royal Bank building is considered of heritage value.

The citation on the city’s website says: “Considering the resolutely modern language of the Royal Bank building in the Place D’Youville sector, its excellent formal and material authenticity, the presence of the work of art by Paul Lacroix in the lobby of the building as well as the national and international renown of the architect Fred A. Dawson, the architectural and artistic interest is superior.”

Construction of the building began in 1965, in the immediate wake of the city’s demarcation of the limits of the Old City and establishment of zoning regulations.

The building, the city directory says, is “a witness to its period of construction” and to “the renewal sweeping through the national capital with the development of Parliament Hill, Ave. Honoré-Mercier and the Autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency.”

The building now appears to be part of a new trend to convert office buildings into residential housing.

Royal Bank office building in Old Quebec to go residential Read More »

Quebec first city in Canada to use AI tech to sync traffic lights

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Quebec first city in Canada to use AI tech to sync traffic lights

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Acity pilot project using artificial intelligence to reduce traffic jams, the first of its kind in Canada, is already proving its worth, officials say.

The city released results of the program at a news conference on Aug. 20, indicating the Green Light technology, provided free by Google, “helps reduce frequent stop-and-go traffic and polluting emissions.

“Since its launch, the Green Light project has demonstrated the potential to reduce frequent stop-and-go traffic by up to 30 per cent and estimated CO2 emissions at urban inter- sections by 10 per cent.”

The system analyzes driving trends from Google Maps and AI to map traffic patterns to suggest adjustments to engineers who can then make the changes. Green Light has been deployed in 11 intersections throughout the city.

In a release, Mayor Bruno Marchand said Quebec City “is one of the most advanced cities in North America when it comes to smart mobility. It’s therefore only natural that it’s the first Canadian municipality to partner with Google.”

He said, “An innovative project like Green Light allows us to concretely optimize our road network, making travel more fluid and efficient.”

The city cited the example of one notoriously congested intersection as an example of the effectiveness of Green Light. The area is where Ave. Saint-Sacrement meets Boul. Charest, and then crosses Rue Semple/Rue Borne two blocks north.

The city study observed, “During late-afternoon rush hour, the traffic lights were slightly out of sync, causing delays for motorists travelling down Ave. Saint-Sacrement, leading to increased traffic jams and delays.”

Using the Green Light technology, “Google proposed reducing the time lag between the lights by 15 seconds to align the crossing with those at Semple and Charest. Northbound travel, the most frequent in this area according to 2023 data, is now smoother and better co-ordinated.”

Laurence Therrien, public affairs manager at Google Canada, said, “Through the Green Light project, we are using AI to reduce traffic congestion and emissions in the city. We are delighted to offer this free tool to Quebec City, making it the first Canadian city to adopt Green Light.”

The city says it will implement the Green Light project at other intersections in the city with problematic traffic congestion. “By continuing to expand the Green Light project, Quebec City is acting as a leader for other Canadian municipalities.”

Quebec City is one of only 19 cities in the world selected by Google for the Green Light program.

Quebec first city in Canada to use AI tech to sync traffic lights Read More »

City wants to get people talking with ‘chit-chat benches’

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

City wants to get people talking with ‘chit-chat benches’

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

and Shirley Nadeau

shirley@qctonline.com

The Ville de Québec is inviting you to sit on a park bench, take your headphones off and talk to strangers.

Earlier this summer, the city placed 12 bright blue bancs à jasette (chit-chat benches) in city parks and public squares, from Cap- Rouge to Neuchâtel. The concept behind the benches is that people who would like to talk to their neighbours or meet someone new can sit on the benches and wait for someone else to stop by for a chat.

The concept exists under various names in France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Closer to home, Dartmouth, N.S., set up 20 “chat benches” in 2022.

Deputy Mayor and Montcalm–Saint-Sacrement Coun. Catherine Vallières-Roland embraced the idea after a neighbourhood resident contacted her office about it. The caller had heard it mentioned on the air by former FM93 host P-A Méthot.

“In the current context, which is still kind of post- pandemic, people have been isolated for a long time,” Vallières-Roland told the QCT. “Now, people are getting back into their habits, but we see this as a chance to rebuild links between people. The people who will sit on these benches are open to conversation.”

The benches have been set up in Parc Samuel-Holland (1275 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Montcalm); Parc Dollard- des-Ormeaux (907 Rue Raoul-Jobin, Saint-Sauveur); Parc du Ruisseau-du-Moulin (2555 Rue Lionel-Audet, Charlesbourg); Îlot Pierre-Garon (7985, 1re Avenue, Charlesbourg); Parc Notre-Dame-de-Foy (767 Rue Jacques- Berthiaume, Sainte-Foy); Parc Saint-François-Xavier (2175 Rue Laurent-Laroche, Les Saules); Parc du Complexe- du-Centre-Municipal (305 Rue Racine, Neufchâtel); Parc de la Grande-Oasis (1920 Rue des Tricornes, Saint-Émile); Parc des Écores (4001 Rue Charles-A.-Roy, Cap-Rouge); Parc Henri-Casault (5395, 4e Avenue Ouest; Charlesbourg); Parc Jean-Paul-Nolin (340 Rue Chabot, Vanier) and Parc Royal (3365 Chemin Royal, Beauport).

In an increasingly polarized society, where debates about homelessness, immigration and even urban planning can sometimes turn nasty, Vallières-Roland said creating a space for people to overcome their reticence about talking to strangers “gives [people] a chance to learn more about what your neighbours are going through.

“It creates solidarity, empathy and goodwill. When we learn about [what people are experiencing], we can be more understanding of certain situations; you can start a conversation with someone you might not have spoken to in another context.” She noted that the benches were deliberately placed in “high-traffic areas” near seniors’ residences and schools, to facilitate intergenerational discussions.

According to a cost breakdown posted on Facebook by Vallières-Roland’s colleague, Coun. Marie-Josée Asselin, putting the 12 benches in place, cost the city $7,440 (“$560 for the installation of a normal bench, $50 for the paint and $10 for the little ‘bancs à jasette’ sign”).

“The benches are very inexpensive and easy to put in place,” Vallières-Roland said. “We do want to add more. I’d also like to bring it to the next level by adding cultural and community activities around the benches – neighbourhood meetings, workshops, discussions and intergenerational activities. There will be interesting things we can do with community organizations.”

A chat on the chit-chat bench

The QCT met Pierre Robert Kouyaté, who was born and grew up in Dakar, Senegal, at the jasette bench in Parc Samuel- Holland. Kouyaté has lived in Quebec since 2018, in an apartment complex directly behind the park. He said, “This bench is very special for me since I saw it a few weeks ago. The word jasette was new to me; I had to look it up.

“I come from a society that is very different. Here, it’s more like an individual society. We go to work, we have colleagues, we share the day together but when we finish, everyone goes back home. In Dakar, from the time you finish work, until you reach your home, you meet and talk to many people. You cannot be alone. Since I arrived here in Quebec, I have often felt alone. …When I saw this bench, I thought, this can bring people together to sit and have a discussion. I thought it was a beautiful idea. I am grateful for it. I don’t sit here very often, but I did meet a woman recently who lives in my building. She was walking with her dog and she sat down with me. I learned that she’s from the Saguenay.

“When I finish my day at work, after spending eight hours a day in an office, I come home and I’m alone, it’s not the best. When it’s nice, like today, I go for a walk every day to get some exercise. Then I come here and sit on this bench and talk to my friends around the world.”

With files from Shirley Nadeau

City wants to get people talking with ‘chit-chat benches’ Read More »

Guilbault, Bonnardel weren’t fully informed about SAAQClic cost overruns, commission hears

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Guilbault, Bonnardel weren’t fully informed about SAAQClic cost overruns, commission hears

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

MONTREAL – In remarkable testimony before the Gallant commission on Aug. 22, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault claimed she had only learned about the millions of dollars in cost overruns incurred by the failed launch of the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) online platform known as SAAQClic in February of this year, when Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc’s report revealed the overruns to the public.

The SAAQ is a Crown corporation that operates at arm’s length from the transport ministry (MTQ), with its own CEO and board of directors named by the government. Guilbault’s testimony painted a picture of Denis Marsolais and Konrad Sioui – respectively CEO and board chair of the SAAQ at the height of the crisis – as out of their depth and unaware of the scale of the problem and their own responsibilities. Guilbault claimed she was misled by Marsolais, her former boss in the public service. “We had hundreds of conversations …and I did not know he had signed any addenda [on a contract with a third-party supplier which approved cost overruns],” Guilbault told the commission, presided over by Commissioner Denis Gallant. “The first time I saw the figure of $1.1 billion [the estimated total cost of the failed project] was in the auditor general’s report.” However, the commission heard that in June 2023, Marsolais’ successor Éric Ducharme presented Guilbault’s office with a document detailing the cost overruns; Guilbault, whose testimony was otherwise precise, initially said she had no memory of seeing the document with her own eyes, before acknowledging under oath that she was aware of cost overruns of over $200 million in June 2023. She denied that she or her office deliberately misled taxpayers. “He [Marsolais] was well aware of that and he never told me.” As late as March 2024, with the approval of Guilbault and Finance Minister Éric Girard, Cabinet raised the cap on the amount of money the SAAQ was allowed to borrow.

Guilbault’s testimony also raised wider governance questions. She noted that while cost overruns on a project directly controlled by the MTQ need to be approved by the Treasury Board, Crown corporations “can spend hundreds of millions of [additional] dollars without communicating.” She testified that while overruns equivalent to more than 10 per cent of the total value of a contract need to be flagged to the Treasury Board, each of the successive overruns approved by Marsolais was just under the threshold. She claimed she discovered Marsolais’ strategy in the auditor general’s report.

She also noted that when she took over the transport portfolio from current public safety minister François Bonnardel after the October 2022 election, the two did not discuss SAAQClic – or CASA, as it was then known – as part of the handover.

Six months later, while Guilbault was on a public transit fact-finding mission in Europe, SAAQClic was launched – before it had been thoroughly tested – and crashed on arrival. She described the planning of the shutdown of the old platform and relaunch of the new one as “very deficient.” She cut her overseas trip short and, as she described it, “took charge of the whole thing” for several weeks. “I said, Denis [Marsolais], this is a zoo, what in the world is going on here (C’est le bordel; c’est quoi c’t’affaire-là)? Weren’t you ready?” The situation was exacerbated by the fact that 70 per cent of SAAQ service points were operated by third-party contractors (often municipalities), limiting the agency’s control over day-to-day operations. “How do you expect us to take control and correct the problem if we don’t know what’s going on at 70 per cent of the service points?” In closing remarks, Guilbault said the agency was going through an “accountability crisis.”

Guilbault said she and current interim SAAQ CEO Annie Lafond, who took over from Ducharme after he was shown the door in July, were eager to “start cleaning house” once the work of the commission wraps up. Guilbault may not be in place to lead that transformation; a Cabinet shuffle is expected shortly after Labour Day. When Guilbault was sworn in, she identified herself as MNA for the Quebec City riding of Louis- Hébert, not by her ministerial title.

‘We were all tarnished’

Bonnardel, testifying the day before Guilbault, also heaped blame on the SAAQ and par- ticularly on Marsolais. He denied that his office knowingly misled Quebecers. He raised similar concerns regarding communication between his predecessor as transport minister, Liberal Laurent Lessard; then-SAAQ CEO Nathalie Tremblay, who was close to retirement; and his office when he came to power in 2018. “Why the SAAQ did not give me the whole picture when I started [as transport minister] in 2018, I don’t know that even today,” he said. “Every $100 that we spend adds up to billions, and every extra thousand that we pay must be defended and explained,” said Bonnardel. “The SAAQ was tarnished and we all were tarnished and Quebecers are seeing it today and they don’t deserve that.”

Hearings continue this week in Montreal. A complete list of those expected to testify was not available at press time, although Health Minister and former Treasury Board president Christian Dubé, former cybersecurity minister Éric Caire and current Treasury Board president Sonia LeBel are expected to testify in the next few days. Radio-Canada reported on Aug. 25 that they may be followed by Premier François Legault.

Guilbault, Bonnardel weren’t fully informed about SAAQClic cost overruns, commission hears Read More »

The 14th Quebec City Film Festival celebrates women at the heart of the movie industry

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

The 14th Quebec City Film Festival celebrates women at the heart of the movie industry

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Cinemaphiles will get their fill from Sept. 10 to 14 with back-to- back movies playing all over town. For its 14th edition, the Quebec City Film Festival (QCFF) announced an almost all-female program, on Aug. 21 at the Cinéma Beaumont in the Méduse complex.

At Théâtre Le Diamant, the festival opens with a cocktail reception and Mille secrets mille dangers, by Quebec film- maker Philippe Falardeau – a film about secrets finally revealed after a wedding, based on a 2021 novel by Alain Farah. From then on, female directors and producers will be in the spotlight. “After 135 years of male-dominated cinema, during which we saw very few female directors at the Oscars and only three Palmes d’Or at Cannes, it was about time that the QCFF humbly gave women a prominent place,” said filmmaker and director of the festival Hugo Latulippe. He said the festival was following a trend observed at the Berlin and Venice festivals, among others.

“About 45 per cent of films made in Quebec would have been directed by women, according to the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC). By showcasing female voices from here and elsewhere, the QCFF invites us to see the world differently, with sensitivity, strength and boldness,” said Coun. Catherine Vallières- Roland, member of the executive committee responsible for culture and major events. “For all these reasons, the Ville de Québec is proud to support this event, which has carved out a prominent place at the heart of the capital’s cultural life.”

To get the festivities going, in memory of the great cinematographer Jean-Marc Vallée (1963-2021), the QCFF will hold a Mixtape event at Le Diamant throughout the week- end. The rest of the festival will be dedicated to women in film. To highlight their work, members of the QCFF board wore white shirts emblazoned with the names of women who had made their mark on cinema in Quebec: Indigenous director, writer and activist Kim O’Bomsawin; screenwriter, director and producer Anne- Claire Poirier; and director, actor, screenwriter and musician Micheline Lanctôt.

In addition to shining the spotlight on women, the QCFF continues to focus on environ- mental issues. It will present Geographies of Solitude, an award-winning documentary by Nova Scotia-born, Montreal- based filmmaker Jacquelyn Mills, which follows naturalist and environmentalist Zoe Lucas and the wild horses she studies on the beaches of Sable Island, N.S.

Other feature films include the dark Quebec teen comedy Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant and Patrice: The Movie, an acclaimed American documentary about a couple, both of whom have physical disabilities, navigating the perils of marriage and bureaucracy.

It wouldn’t be a film festival without a bit of friendly competition. Movie makers pour their heart, sweat and tears into their work. With pride, they present it to the public and to juries at events like the QCFF. In the long feature film category are Mille secrets mille dangers; The Swedish Torpedo; Sorda précédé d’Orbites; Coexistence, My Ass!; Girls & Gods; Anna Kiri; Ms. President; Puisque je suis née and La mort n’existe pas. The short film category has 126 entries, including 76 from Quebec. The jury prize for Best Short Film is presented in addition to the $30,000 Best Quebec Short Film prize, awarded by a student jury and sponsored by Spira and Paraloeil.

Many more films are on offer, including films for young audiences. The QCFF is also hosting a few other events at different locations and times: a community party at the Powder Magazine, cocktail parties, discussions, master classes, and karaoke. While the majority of the program is presented in- doors and requires tickets or a pass, free outdoor films will be shown at Place D’Youville. Film lovers can even be spectators or extras in the festive real- time shoot at Place Dis Oui, the playground of the Théâtre Rude Ingénierie collective.

“There is so little to do and so much time, scratch that, reverse it,” said Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the 1971 classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He was referring to a chocolate factory tour, but the same could be said of the QCFF. For more information, a detailed program and a “create your own schedule” tool to make sense of it all, visit fcvq.ca.

The 14th Quebec City Film Festival celebrates women at the heart of the movie industry Read More »

Dog show, youth Highland Games, eclectic music on Celtic Festival menu

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Dog show, youth Highland Games, eclectic music on Celtic Festival menu

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

There will be something for everyone at the 20th Quebec Celtic Festival, held at the Domaine Maizerets from Sept. 5-7. The festival isn’t just for lovers of traditional music and genealogy anymore – aspiring athletes,  slam poetry fans and even dog owners will have something to look forward to.

Celtic Festival programming director Françoise Landry has been with the festival since the beginning, or close to it – “back when everything ran on love and elbow grease on the Chaussée des Écossais.” Since then, after a few site changes over the years, the festival has become well established at the Domaine Maizerets. The now- traditional men’s and women’s Highland Games competitions, beer tent and main stage performances, Celtic market with food trucks, Viking encampment and enchanted island will be back to delight fans of all ages, she explained. History buffs will enjoy the clan genealogy tent and thematic talks at the chapel, and the bagpipes of the 78th Fraser Highlanders and Montreal Pipes and Drums will echo throughout the site.

The festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary on the evening of Sept. 5 with an eclectic free concert featuring Québécois traditional music legend Yves Lambert (cofounder of La Bottine Souriante) and a seven-piece backing band, Rudy Caya of Quebec punk-rock group Vilain Pingouin, singer-songwriter Mara Tremblay, Innu reggae-rocker Shauit, local slam poet KJT and world music veteran Élage Diouf, among others. Before the show, a 5-à-7 in the park featuring food trucks and local musicians will kick off the festivities. Lambert will be making his third visit to the festival in the past four years. “Why Yves Lambert? He has had a huge influence on traditional music, and Québécois traditional music includes a lot of Celtic sounds,” said Landry.

Over the weekend, folk rock- ers Bardes à Barbe and Québécois trad music trio Écorce will perform in the beer tent; the main outdoor stage will feature Rêve de Shevrikay, a Portneuf- based duo reviving the music played by Irish immigrants who settled in Portneuf in the early 1800s; festive trad quartet Miss Viking’s; eclectic local Irish music group Steamship Alice; and classical music-influenced trio Errances Celtiques, among others. The Shannon Irish Dancers and the Marie-Claude Rousseau School of Irish Dance will get people dancing with a mini-ceilidh, and members of the Ukélélé Club de Québec will perform at the chapel. On Saturday evening, storytellers Francis Desilets (Montreal), Dominique Deslongchamps (Lévis) and Éric Michaud (Montreal) invite festival- goers 18 and older to a Soirée grivoise – off-colour music and comedy night and barbecue.

Local Celtic punk rockers Banjax Brigade will have the honour of closing the festivities on Sunday afternoon.

Festival-goers will be able to watch professional athletes compete in the elite men’s and women’s divisions of the Highland Games, with live commentary by bilingual athlete and analyst Jason Baines. Adult amateur athletes will also be able to take part in a Highland Games initiation clinic and friendly competition; new this year, aspiring athletes ages 12-16 will be able to take part in a clinic and mini-competition of their own and be mentored by the pros. Landry said the goal of both amateur clinics is to get more athletes interested in the pro circuit, and several amateur clinic participants have gone on to elite competition in the past; your or your child’s new favourite sport could be just a stone’s throw away!

One brand new event this year is the Kilts & Croquettes Celtic-themed dog show, where dog owners and their furry, costumed friends will parade in front of a panel of judges and vie for the titles of “strongest,” “best personality,” “dog/owner lookalikes,” “most elegant,” “best leprechaun” and “as Celtic as they come!” All participating dogs will get a medal and biscuits.

Admission to the Celtic Festival is free and open to all. Advance registration and payment are required for the Kilt & Croquettes dog show ($20), the amateur Highland Games clinics ($25 for teens, $40 for adults who bring their own kilt, $60 for adults with kilt rental) and the Soirée grivoise ($50, en français, 18+, not for the easily scandalized). The cost of a Soirée grivoise ticket includes a barbecue meal and one drink. For a detailed schedule of events and to book your tickets, visit festival-celtique.com/programmation.

Dog show, youth Highland Games, eclectic music on Celtic Festival menu Read More »

Ave. Cartier’s famous Provisions Inc. to reopen under new owners

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Ave. Cartier’s famous Provisions Inc. to reopen under new owners

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

There may be “beaucoup de pain sur la planche” (lots of work to do), but one of the new owners of the shuttered Provisions Inc. grocery on Ave. Cartier is hopeful the beloved store will reopen before the Christmas holidays.

Philippe Fontaine, owner of the Intermarché supermarket on Rue Saint-Vallier, last week took possession of the grocery with the familiar neon sign, along with partners Jean-François Girard and Johanne Fer- land, owners of the Michelin- rated restaurant L’Échaudé in the Old City.

Fontaine told the QCT that a key to the venture was the enthusiastic participation of Bruno Drouin, a former co- owner of Provisions whose fam- ily had operated the grocery for more than 70 years.

The Drouin family’s attempt to sell the business in 2022 went awry when the French couple who bought it ran into financial trouble, closed the store and fled the country in January 2024. A real estate promoter bought the building later that year and set about looking for a new owner.

Fontaine said having Drouin involved “gave me the confidence to get the project started on a good footing.” He said he and his partners have inspected the grocery equipment – un- touched for nearly 20 months – to determine what needs to be done to bring the store back to a functional condition.

“We have to take it step by step, but we would like to be ready for the holiday season,” Fontaine said.

While many of the familiar features of the grocery, including its fabled meat counter, will be restored, Fontaine said a new feature will be take-out offerings from Girard, who is the head chef as well as co-owner of L’Échaudé. Customers can also expect the return of the popular local produce market in front of the store next summer.

For Fontaine, the acquisition of the legendary local grocery is the latest step in a career that’s seen him go from “policier to épicier.” He said he became familiar with Provisions Inc. as a city police officer when the streets of Montcalm were part of his beat.

Three years ago, he took over the Intermarché store on Saint- Vallier from his father-in-law, who ran it for many years. He recalls having discussions with his father-in-law about Provisions Inc., but never imagined one day he would become the owner. “I adore what I do, so I am very satisfied” with the new adventure of reopening an old grocery institution, he concluded.

Ave. Cartier’s famous Provisions Inc. to reopen under new owners Read More »

Équipe Priorité Québec eliminated in City Council musical chairs

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Équipe Priorité Québec eliminated in City Council musical chairs

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

With the launch of the municipal election campaign just around the corner, there’s been another round of musical chairs involving familiar city councillors.

The two remaining councillors of Équipe Priorité Québec have jumped ship, each to a different party, effectively putting an end to the formation formerly known as Québec 21.

Stevens Melançon, the current leader of EPQ and councillor for the Chute-Montmorency– Seigneurial district, switched allegiances to Leadership Québec, the new party founded by mayoral candidate, former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert Sam Hamad.

Hamad and Melançon appeared together at an Aug. 13 media event at Golf Beauport to announce the joining of forces. Melançon’s move had been the subject of rumours ever since Hamad made it known he was considering a run for the mayor’s office last year.

Hamad said in a statement: “The arrival of Stevens and his team at Leadership Québec marks an important step in building a strong team, attentive to local communities and capable of delivering concrete results. Their pragmatic and respectful approach aligns perfectly with ours.”

For his part, Melançon, a councillor since the 2017 election, said, “By joining forces with Leadership Québec, our party has chosen to contribute to a broader, unifying movement rooted in the concrete concerns of citizens. We share common values: proximity to citizens, pragmatism and a desire to deliver results. Under the leadership of Sam Hamad, a man who listens, works on the ground, and delivers results, we will have the means to achieve more.”

Not all the EPQ “team” is joining with Hamad. Eric Ralph Mercier, a former leader of the party, may be joining another upstart party, Respect Citoyens. Although Mercier was on vaca- tion and could not be reached for comment, party leader Stephane Lachance confirmed in an interview with the QCT that Mercier would be running for Respect Citoyens in the des Monts district of Charlesbourg he has represented since 2021.

Mercier, son of longtime Charlesbourg mayor Ralph Mercier and a former Liberal MNA, was more cryptic in a statement issued last week. “It is with regret that I have decided to leave Équipe Priorité Québec in order to pursue my political commitment with a view to running again in the next election. I remain committed to serving the citizens of my district with integrity and conviction.”

Lachance, however, said Mercier would be making an announcement about joining Respect Citoyens soon, and the delay is out of consideration for the staff who work for ÉPQ, the second opposition party at City Hall.

Lachance, who owns a Lévis- based event organization business, is a former candidate for the Quebec Conservative Party in the riding of La Peltrie, which includes Shannon. He said Mercier shares the values of Respect Citoyens, particularly regarding the city’s finances.

Lachance is also strongly opposed to the city’s tramway project. “Our major project is to make the [Réseau de transport de la capitale] efficient and also that the people of Quebec will appreciate the service.

“This organization already has major problems,” Lachance said, without taking on a tramway system or rapid bus (SRB) network as proposed by Hamad.

Should Mercier run for Respect Citoyens, that would make 16 candidates already committed to running for the party.

It is not known whether Mercier will sit as an independent until the end of his term. If he does, ÉPQ will vanish from City Hall. The party, then called Québec 21 under leader and mayoral candidate Jean-François Gosselin, elected four councillors in 2021.

Gosselin, a strong opponent of the city’s tramway plan, joined the ruling party as an associate executive committee member responsible for sports and recreation. He is not running again.

The fourth Quebec 21 councillor, Bianca Dussault (Val-Bélair), joined Mayor Bruno Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party at the same time and is running under that party’s banner.

The addition of Melançon brings the total number of Leadership Québec candidates to nine, including two recruits from Quebec d’abord, the successor to former mayor Régis Labeaume’s machine that ruled the city from 2009 until the 2021 election.

Isabelle Roy, councillor for the Beauport district of Robert-Giffard, and Louis Martin, who represents Cap-Rouge–Laurentien, jumped to Hamad’s party in the spring.

Québec d’abord is now down to only one incumbent councillor, besides party leader Claude Villeneuve. Patricia Boudreault- Bruyère, councillor for Neufchâtel-Lebourgneuf, announced last week she would not seek another term.

The sole incumbent running again for Québec d’abord is Véronique Dallaire in the Les Saules–Les Méandres district.

The party has found candidates for only three districts besides the Maizerets-Lairet district Villeneuve won in 2021.

As for QFF, it has candidates in all 21 districts, including seven incumbents. Mayor Bruno Marchand has said he will run in a district with a colistier or running mate. He has not said which district that would be, since all now have candidates for QFF.

In 2021, he ran in the Montcalm–Saint-Sacrement district, which the party won. Running mate Catherine Vallières-Roland became the councillor for the seat since Marchand had won the race for mayor.

Municipal elections take place all across Quebec on Nov. 2.

Équipe Priorité Québec eliminated in City Council musical chairs Read More »

Simons takes Toronto with stores in two iconic malls

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Simons takes Toronto with stores in two iconic malls

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Wen the Simons dry goods store first opened its doors in Old Quebec in 1840, the city was the most populous in Canada.

Last week, that same family-owned retailer opened a new store in central Toronto, currently by far Canada’s largest city. The company with the iconic green leaf branding snipped the ribbon on a distinctive two-storey, 118,000-square-foot space at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, one of the country’s oldest and best-known malls.

What’s more, later this fall, Simons will open a new store in the Eaton Centre, in the heart of the bustling downtown of the Queen City, marking a combined investment of some $100 million and generator of 400 jobs.

The Yorkdale store is the 18th outlet for Simons and its third store in Ontario, following outlets in downtown Ottawa’s Rideau Centre and suburban Mississauga’s Square One mall.

Already established in Vancouver, the company became a coast-to-coast retailer last year when it opened a store in the Halifax Shopping Centre.

As is the case with all Simons stores, the design combines fashion with art. In a news release, Simons CEO Bernard Leblanc said, “Our Yorkdale store reflects our commitment to creativity, design, esteemed service, purpose, community and connection. Because, at Simons, we believe our spaces are more than just places to shop – they are places to dis- cover, to be inspired, and to engage with fashion, Canadian art and design.”

The Yorkdale store features a large ceiling mural called Ciel by French artist Nelio, as well as a solarium and a “walk of frames” showcasing 40 works from 24 artists, most of them Canadian.

Leblanc, a longtime Simons executive, took over as boss of Simons in 2022 when president and CEO Peter Simons stepped down to become chief merchant. He and his brother Richard are the largest shareholders of Simons, Canada’s oldest privately owned business.

The timing of the assault on the downtown Toronto market was fortuitous for Simons, in what might be said to be an unfortunate way, with the demise of The Bay stores, Simons’ main competitor.

In a Canadian Press report on the Yorkdale opening, Leblanc said, “I’m saddened by the fact that such a historical Canadian icon has left the market. As a retailer, we like to have a very buoyant and dynamic retail industry, so having somebody exit is always a little bit of a shock to the industry.”

That said, Leblanc expects the new Toronto stores to increase company annual sales by 15 per cent, to $650 million.

In perhaps another sign of the times, Simons is setting up shop in spaces in both the Yorkdale and Eaton Centre vacated two years ago by U.S. department store giant Nordstrom.

Simons takes Toronto with stores in two iconic malls Read More »

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity shares treasures during Archeology Month

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity shares treasures during Archeology Month

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Quebec City celebrates its rich history by dedicat- ing the month of August to archeology. From Aug. 1 to 31, the public can discover and rediscover the secrets, skeletons and stories of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As the QCT reported in June, major excavations are currently underway at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity as part of the Cathedral Gardens project and of ongoing renovations to shore up a centuries-old wall surrounding the cathedral complex. As part of Archeology Month, residents have an opportunity to meet archeologists and learn more about the dig. “Before any construction can happen in and around historic sites like the Old City, archeologists and their team do the initial digs to retrieve any and every item from past dwellers and users,” said the assistant archeologist at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity site, Eli Blouin Rondeau. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure cannot be any truer. Behind the presbytery and the church hall, we are digging through [what would have been] the garbage pit.

“It is hard to distinguish items from the New France era and the British era without further analysis and research, because they ate similar meats, just slightly different cuts. Some of their dishes are similar, too,” said Blouin Rondeau. “It is these subtle differences that fascinate me and tell us so much about these everyday people of a different age.”

Speaking with Blouin Rondeau, people can learn that this site was originally used as a hospice by the Récollet order. It later became a monastery and a general hospital for just over a century, when the British took over. By the time they were evicted, they had constructed a church and a monastery that were both destroyed during the Conquest of 1759. Buildings were reconstructed for military usage and as a prison for invading American soldiers. The site then burned down, leaving space for the construction of the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the presbytery, the church hall and the courthouse, which still stand today.

While the dig sites are not generally open to the public, passersby are invited to discover some of the artifacts at the display table near the main entrance of the cathedral from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except during lunch hour. The archeology-related activities at the cathedral are part of a long list of free activities organized by or in partnership with the Ville de Québec for Archeology Month. Although the activities are open to the public, many require registration in advance because of space limitations. Visit blogue.ville.quebec.qc.ca/decouvrir/plongez-dans-le-passe-de-quebec-avec-le-mois-de-larcheologie (in French only) to learn more.

On Aug. 29 and 30, people can learn about the archaeo- logical site on the Rue de Buade. On Sept. 20, the City offers a tour of the Cathedral-Basilica Notre-Dame de Québec and its funeral crypt. There’s also a talk on the his- tory of cemeteries, 17th- and 18th-century funeral rites and this archaeological site given by archaeologist Paul- Gaston Langlais.

The Îlot des Palais has an ongoing special exhibit, and the Maison des Jésuites has a day dedicated to aspiring archeologists on Aug. 23. There is so much to discover within the walls and ground of Quebec City.

Cathedral of the Holy Trinity shares treasures during Archeology Month Read More »

A world of civic participation opens for young anglos at Bishop’s Forum

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

A world of civic participation opens to young anglos at Bishop’s Forum

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

SHERBROOKE – From Aug. 8-13, about 75 young adults from English-speaking communities around the province gathered at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville (Sherbrooke) to participate in the ninth edition of the Bishop’s Forum, a weeklong civic leadership training program for English-speaking youth.

Participants – mainly university students and recent graduates ages 18-26 – heard speeches from and attended seminars with business, academic and political leaders from across the province. Speakers – whose presentations were off the record – included Minister Responsible for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers Éric Girard and his predecessor Christopher Skeete; Compton-Stanstead MP Marianne Dandurand; Just for Laughs cofounder Andy Nulman; TALQ president Eva Ludvig; Cherisse Vanloo, a prominent engineer and workplace diversity expert; and former QCT publisher Karen Macdonald, in her capacity as an experienced nonprofit administrator.

Throughout the forum, participants also worked on a group project, proposing a piece of legislation about a pressing issue – for example, the health-care personnel shortage, or how to leverage artificial intelligence in public administration without compromising user privacy – and then defending it in both languages to a simulated parliamentary commission and a simulated media scrum; MNAs were role-played by a diverse cast of academics, former politicians and senior civil servants, and journalists were role-played by actual working journalists (including this QCT representative, two CBC reporters and a reporter from the local francophone daily La Voix de l’Est).

Bishop’s Forum associate director Shannon Bell explained that the goal of the forum is to help participants “get an idea of what it’s like to be in civic leadership in today’s world, being a leader and navigating nonprofit and government avenues.”

She said she wanted participants to feel inspired and “see there’s not just one way of participating in society.”

Recent Bishop’s graduate and first-time forum participant Sakshi Gupta said she was afraid she would feel out of place at the forum because of her lack of a political science background. “I thought I would feel dumb, but I wanted to face that fear!” she said. “It was an awakening to get to try new things!”

Montrealer and recent engineering graduate Mauli Patel said she enjoyed hearing from a “diversity of voices” – participants with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. “There were people there who were in law school, others [who were studying] education or computer science,” she said. “We all got together, and everyone was looking at things from a different perspective.”

Sararose Smith-Bourgoin, 26, is the wellness co-ordinator at ECO-02, a relatively new organization supporting anglophone communities in the Saguenay region. According to Bell, she may be the first Saguenay-based participant in the forum’s history. Like Patel, she said she enjoyed the diversity of perspectives around the forum table. “I’m 26 and working, so having young students [in my group] was a bit intimidating, but they brought a lot of knowledge … and I was able to [contribute] my on-the-ground experience.”

The majority of the participants were from the greater Montreal area and/or the Bishop’s University community, although Bell emphasized that the forum is open to English- speaking youth across the province and transportation is reimbursed for those who live outside Sherbrooke. She encouraged would-be participants to follow the Bishop’s Forum on social media to be aware of the dates and sign- up procedures for next year’s event.

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Household goods find new life at ‘reuse space’ within recycling centre

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Household goods find new life at ‘reuse space’ within recycling centre

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The “three R’s” — reduce, reuse, recycle — have guided environmentalists and anti-waste activists for decades.

The écocentres operated by the Ville de Québec are mostly known for the third R – recycling. However, a new pilot project at the Écocentre des Rivières in Saint-Sauveur puts the emphasis on reuse, with the ultimate goal being to reduce the amount of material going into the city’s incinerator.

Overseen by the circular economy nonprofit Coop Car- bone, the Espace réemploi (reuse space) aims to recover construction materials and all kinds of items that are still usable, such as tools, household items, hardware, doors, lumber, gardening supplies and so on to “give them a second life” as theatre sets and building supplies. Salvageable material can be dropped off at a designated area at the Ecocentre during the facility’s regular opening hours; on Fridays, a Coop Carbone representative will be onsite to discuss how the items might be used. The items will be transported by personnel from Entraide diabétique Québec and Recyclage Vanier – a nonprofit aiming to bring people with limited formal education and other challenges back onto the job market – to La Remise culturelle, which collects and warehouses used furniture and housewares for theatre sets, and La Patente, a Lower Town co-op where people learn to build and repair household goods, which also hosts a lending library of tools.

The Espace reémploi is a one-year pilot project sup- ported by an $80,000 grant from the Ville de Québec. Coun. Pierre-Luc Lachance, vice president of the executive committee, is the city’s point person on the project. “The city encourages the development of the circular economy within its territory in order to limit the amount of waste we produce each year in Quebec City,” he said in a statement. “The Espace réemploi project has the advantage of bringing together key stakeholders in the sector working to extract the full value from the resources we use. In this sense, our commit- ment to the circular economy is not only promising from an environmental perspective, but is also a vector for creating wealth and solidarity in the community.”

The government of Canada defines a circular economy as a system where nothing is wasted, which “retains and recovers as much value as possible from resources by re- using, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing or recycling products and materials.” Audrey Roberge, a circular economy advisor at Coop Carbone, said her organization was “reflecting about how to bring the circular economy to the next level, tak- ing inspiration from different [practices]. We really need a central space where anything ‘circular economy’ can live, kind of a circularity incubator where we can bring a circular project to term.” She said the project was inspired by ReTuna, a shopping mall in Eskilstuna, Sweden, located next to a recycling centre, which sells secondhand and salvaged goods and hosts repair spaces – a “one-stop shop where people can deal with their throwaways.” In Quebec City, local regulations mean people can’t “go shopping” for salvage at the écocentre, so Roberge and her colleagues looked around and found other outlets for the material.

“It’s a pilot project, so we’ll wait and see how receptive people are, but we would [eventually] like it to be in the five écocentres [across the city] year round,” Roberge said.

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Lower Town roadwork to complicate traffic

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Lower Town roadwork to complicate traffic

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The city is inviting people wanting to come and go from Lower Town in the coming weeks to “plan their travel” due to a series of major traffic disruptions caused by roadwork and tramway preparation.

In a communiqué Aug. 7, the city announced details and the schedule for work to take place on major arteries such as Boul. Charest, Rue Marie-de-l’Incarnation, Rue Saint-Vallier Ouest and Rue de la Couronne, as well as Rue des Vaisseaux-du-Roi. The latter is the site of the Place Namur redevelopment project in the Old City (see story in Aug. 6 edition).

Preparation work for the tramway project is also planned, with “geotechnical drilling” to be carried out between Aug. 14 and 21 in the Côte d’Abraham area as well as on Rue de la Couronne and Rue Victor-Révillon.

The city said it encourages citizens to “plan their trips properly” by leaving early, using navigation aids like GPS and “opting for public or active transportation,” meaning walking, biking or other non-motorized ways of getting around.

Full information on all the city’s roadwork is available on the city’s website under the tab “Travaux dans les rues.” The city’s 311 information line is also available to answer questions about roadwork.

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St. Lawrence boss Berryman ‘optimistic’ on eve of new term

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St. Lawrence boss Berryman ‘optimistic’ on eve of new term

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Despite strict language guidelines and a student population cap, CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence boss Edward Berryman said he is “very optimistic” about the future of Quebec City’s only English junior college as a new session is set to begin.

Berryman, whose official title is director of the constituent college and director of studies, told the QCT in an interview that one immediate challenge is, faced with an excess of applicants, getting student numbers down to the government-allowed limit within the deadline.

He said St. Lawrence is not at risk of incurring a fine on the scale of the nearly $30 million the Ministry of Education slapped on Montreal’s LaSalle College for enrolling more than 1,000 too many students in its English-language programs.

“We’re under Law 14 [for- merly Bill 96] and there is a maximum of students we are allowed to have, and currently we’re above. So, of course, there’s still time left. The actual official count of the number of full-time students is done after the first drop [deadline] on Sept. 19. So, but currently we’re above our cap, and if we stay above, well, there’s a financial penalty and that is pretty steep. So that’s our concern,” Berryman said. “Otherwise, of course, we have all the students we need and there’s no more hirings to be done. So everything is under control on that aspect. We’ll be very ready when classes begin.”

St. Lawrence has a maximum full-time student population of about 960, of whom about 75 per cent are francophones who attended high school in French. About 20 per cent are “certificate-holders” – students with the constitutional right to attend English public elementary or secondary schools – and the rest are allophones, recent immigrants and international students.

Berryman said St. Lawrence has the highest percentage of francophone non-certificate holders of all English CEGEPs in the province, compared, for example, to John Abbott College in Montreal’s West Island with about a 60/40 anglo/franco mix, and Dawson College with about a 50/50 mix.

The new language requirements of Law 14 are also an issue for some students, Berryman said. “I think one of the challenges is the fact that for the anglophone student whose mastery of French is limited, it becomes quite a challenge to get a diploma, because there are now courses in French or of French that a student has to take. So that may pose a challenge for a small number of our students. They didn’t have to deal with that before.”

Berryman said he is pleased with the high success rate of students taking the French exit exam (Épreuve uniforme de français) required to get a diploma. He said the college’s 95 per cent pass rate is 10 per cent higher than the average at francophone CEGEPs.

As the new term nears, Berryman said the college faces no staffing issues. “This year is quite stable. You know, we will cross our fingers but usually on the days prior to the start of the fall semester, there’s always that panic of missing faculty members for different reasons: impossibility to find someone, someone’s decided to take sabbatical or whatever, sick leave. But this fall it looks good. So we’re not looking for any teachers as we speak, but again I’m crossing my fingers. You never know what can happen in one week.”

On the academic front, Berryman noted the launch of a brand new arts, literature and communications program, a “local version … that is more oriented towards creativity and creation, so I think better adapted to the expectations and the needs of our students.”

This term also marks the second year of the revised science program, he said, as well as completing the revision of the business program that will be launched next fall. “So it’s academically very active. It’s been a very active period and still is. In a three-year time span, we will have revised and renewed all our programs. So it’s a very remarkable period in that regard.”

Berryman said, “I’m fundamentally quite optimistic about the future of English colleges, and for St. Lawrence in particular. We can adopt laws, but one thing remains is that there’s a fundamental social need to learn to master English. The open world market, it’s a little bit less open than it was a year ago, but the fundamental need is there. No country is an island anymore, and like it or not, English is an international language and therefore the need is there. When students enrol at St. Lawrence, it’s not a comment on French culture, on Quebec culture, it’s a comment on the usefulness, the functionality of and the advantages that come with knowing to read, write, speak in English, period. I’m therefore very optimistic, despite the ups and downs of political life and worries that can emerge in a society. I’m very confident.”

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New English high school ‘great news’ for St. Lawrence: Berryman

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

New English high school ‘great news’ for St. Lawrence: Berryman

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence could be a beneficiary of the new combined English high school, the college’s director of studies has said.

In late July, the Central Québec School Board received the go-ahead from the Quebec ministry of education for the call for tenders to build a $200-million-plus secondary school to replace the aging buildings housing St. Patrick’s High School and Quebec High School (QHS); the high school section of Dollard-des-Ormeaux School in Shannon would also be absorbed into the new school (See article in Aug. 6 edition).

Depending on construction complications or other delays, the new school, to be built on the site of the now abandoned St. Vincent Elementary School on Ave. Wolfe, could welcome students in the fall of 2028.

Edward Berryman, director of the constituent college and director of studies at St. Lawrence, told the QCT, “I think it’s about time that we have a modern facility for our anglophone high school population.”

He said the QHS and St. Pat’s buildings “simply don’t meet the needs of 21st-century education.”

The project to build a new English high school in Quebec City dates back to 2017, when parents’ committee members from the two schools urged the CQSB to push the project forward.

A major motivation for the project was to have a modern English high school able to compete for students with the better-resourced French public and private schools. Students graduating from an English high school get priority for admission to an English CEGEP.

Berryman said, “All those big projects take a while, but we’re looking forward to seeing that school open and welcoming their graduates … I’m sure it’s going to bring a new energy to those students that will be studying there in the years to come.”

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Unanswered questions remain for Baie de Beauport container terminal project

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Unanswered questions remain for Baie de Beauport container terminal project

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

As the notes of the Cigale music festival on the nearby beach fade into the distance, the future of the planned container terminal in the Baie de Beauport is gradually coming into focus amid increasing concern about the fragility of global supply chains.

Quebec City-based shipping multinational QSL is “considering a redesign of [its] port activities in the Beauport sec- tor to include a greater focus on container handling in a sequenced and community- friendly project,” the company says on its website.

The company said it has completed a needs asses ment and requested additional customs staff from the federal government to facilitate the project; a feasibility study, a greenhouse gas assessment and a request for authorization from the Canada Border Services Agency are ongoing, as is the production of a preliminary draft project.

In 2021, the federal government vetoed plans for a deep-water container terminal project in the area, known as the Laurentia project and piloted by CN Rail in partnership with Chinese shipping giant Hutchison Ports, after the federal Environmental Impact Assessment Agency found it was “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects” to human and wildlife health, existing land use practices and air quality. The project also ran up against determined opposition from environmentalist and neighbourhood groups.

Steeve Lavoie is the first- term Liberal MP for Beauport- Limoilou, the riding where the terminal would be built. During the Laurentia debate, he was president of the Chambre de commerce et industrie de Québec (CCIQ). At the time, he called the cancellation of Laurentia “a sad day economically for Quebec.”

“One of the problems with Laurentia was that it [would have involved] an embankment, sending lots of rocks and sand into the St. Lawrence to create the project,” Lavoie told the QCT in a recent interview. “As far as I know, this [QSL] project would be built within existing installations, so there would be no new construction, but I haven’t seen the plans. As soon as we’ve seen the plans, we’ll be able to have a preliminary reaction.”

Lavoie said he didn’t know when to expect the plans. “This was already under discussion when I was at the CCIQ, so we don’t know whether it will be in two weeks or two months or a year.”

He said that given the fragility of global supply chains, the federal government “needs to look at any project” that can potentially help, and “will be looking at this project with a lot of interest.” Lavoie said the project could fall under the Carney government’s Building Canada Act, which became law in June over the objections of some Indigenous and environmental groups; the act allows the federal government to override some federal laws and environmental reviews to expedite projects deemed to be in the national interest. Lavoie said “all environmental and community consultation processes would be respected” if the project goes ahead.

Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand has supported the project over the objections of local environmentalist groups such as the Comité de vigilance des activités portuaires de Québec, telling reporters last fall, “Let’s wait until the promoter can demonstrate the project’s value, or lack thereof, and then we can judge. The best way to kill the economy is to say ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t like that,’ any time anybody has an idea.”

Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith was a vocal opponent of the Laurentia project and is skeptical of the QSL proposal. She said that although the proposed QSL project was much smaller than its predecessor, many unanswered questions remained. “What’s in the containers, and what is the added value for citizens of Limoilou, Beauport and downtown?” she asked. “Does this mean they’re going to expand their production and bring in more trucks and make air quality even worse? If there will be no environmental impact – fantastic. If it will improve our quality of life – fantastic. But there’s been no transparency.”

Federal minister for public services and procurement Joël Lightbound has said his office is following the file closely. “We recently had constructive discussions with QSL and the Port of Quebec. Discussions are also underway between QSL and the Canada Border Services Agency with a view to obtaining certification,” Lightbound’s director of regional affairs, Victor Kandasamy, said in a statement to the QCT. “It is clear that any project capable of generating significant eco- nomic benefits for the Quebec City region and strengthening the competitiveness of our maritime corridor deserves our full attention. But like any major project, it must meet the highest environmental standards and undergo the required public consultation and assessment processes.” QSL did not respond to requests for further comment.

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