Author name: The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph

Historian to present little-known Holocaust story at Sainte-Foy library

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Historian to present little-known Holocaust story at Sainte-Foy library

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

French historian and author François Kersaudy will present a little-known story of humanity amid the Holocaust, in conversation with local journalist Josée Legault at the Bibliothèque Monique- Corriveau in Sainte-Foy on April 24 at 7 p.m.

Kersaudy, a specialist in diplomatic and military history who has written more than 30 books shedding light on lesser-

known aspects of the Second World War, is the author of La liste de Kersten: Un juste parmi les démons. The book recounts the surprising story of Felix Kersten, the personal physician of SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who used his position to save thousands of European Jews – and ultimately, to make sure evidence of the atrocities of Nazi death camps remained for the Allies to find.

French novelist Joseph Kessel told a version of Kersten’s story in the 1960 book Les mains du miracle; Kersaudy said curiosity about the truth behind the plot of the novel sparked his years-long, inter- national journey of discovery.

He explained that Kersten, an eminent private physician, was summoned by the Gestapo in 1939 to treat Himmler, who was suffering from a painful stomach ailment. Over time, he managed to gain the Nazi leader’s trust.

“At one point, one of his other patients said, ‘My fore- man has been imprisoned by the Gestapo. I need my fore- man. Do you think you could intervene with Himmler?’” It was the first of many similar situations. “The next time Himmler told him, ‘We need to

talk about your pay,’ he said, ‘My pay will be the liberation of these people.’ He would pres- ent a list and Himmler would select a few people, a bit at random, without taking a real interest in why they had been arrested. It was very bizarre.” With the help of several accomplices in Himmler’s entourage, he was able to free thousands of people over a period of several years.

In early 1945, Kersten, who was living in Sweden, was contacted by a Swedish diplo- mat who had learned of Nazi plans to blow up the largest of the European concentration

camps as the Allies closed in. “The order Hitler gave to Himmler was, ‘When the Allies arrive within eight kilometres of the camps, the camps must be blown up, along with the prisoners and guards. There will be nothing left [but] ruins, and we can deny everything.’ The Swedes knew this, and they asked Kersten if he could do anything.” Himmler, threat- ened with the loss of Kersten’s services, ultimately decided not to execute the order, sav- ing thousands of survivors and keeping the camps standing for posterity. “With very few exceptions, the people saved by Kersten never knew to whom they owed their freedom. There were resistance fighters who were supposed to be executed and were instead told, ‘Take your things and get lost.’… Only a few Dutch and Swedish resisters knew the full story.”

François Kersaudy’s talk will be presented at the Bibliothèque Monique-Corriveau in partnership with Montreal’s Jewish Public Library and Quebec City’s Beth Israel Ohev Sholom synagogue. See details in the Community Calendar on page 7 and ad on page 5. Please note that the event will be in French.

Historian to present little-known Holocaust story at Sainte-Foy library Read More »

Huron-Wendat Nation mulls dropping “Huron” from official name

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Huron-Wendat Nation mulls dropping “Huron” from official name

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake could soon drop the word “Huron” from its name.

The nation will hold a public consultation on April 26 to get an idea of community members’ attitudes toward a potential name change, and move forward with the change if the consultation indicates support for the idea, Grand Chief Pierre Picard told the QCT.

Picard explained that the name change has been discussed informally for some time. Wendake itself was known as Village-des-Hurons until the mid-1980s.

“The conversations that I’ve had with younger people, they use the name Wendat, although there can be an attachment to the name Huron if you’re an older person who has been calling yourself Huron or Huron-Wendat for 60, 70, 80 years. On April 26, we’ll see whether people are in favour of the change,” Picard said.

Wendat author and anthropologist Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui is one high-profile supporter of the name change. He explained that the word “Huron” was derived from the French word hure, meaning “boar’s head” because French colonists thought the way Wendat men wore their hair, in a ridge down the centre with the sides shaved, resembled a boar’s head; in the 19th century, the word huron became an insult, a synonym for “vulgar.” The word “Wendat,” he said, is likely to have come from a Wendat term meaning “people who all speak the same language;” other sources suggest it might mean “island dwellers.” The important thing, he said, was that the name came from the nation itself, not from outsiders.

Picard-Sioui said the current double-barrelled name is “confusing. … Why call us two names, including one that’s a slur? It’s like calling the Quebec nation the ‘frog-Québécois nation.’ We’re in the era of decolonization and it’s not normal to define ourselves in the colonial sense,” he said.

“I’m 49 years old, and since I was little, the term ‘Huron’ has been on its way out,” he added. “For 150 years, people used it so they would be understood [by outsiders], but by the time my generation were teenagers, 30-some years ago, we were already telling people not to call us that.”

Picard said if the consultation indicates support for the name change, it would need to be confirmed by a band council resolution. The nation would then need to apply to the federal government for permission to enact an official name change. “We’re still under the Indian Act, so there’s a whole process … but I can’t see the feds refusing that in 2025,” he said. Institutions that officially use the double name, such as the Musée Huron-Wendat, could then choose whether or not to incorporate the change in their own names.

He observed that colonial names for Indigenous Peoples are increasingly falling out of use in Quebec – two of Quebec’s larger First Nations are now commonly known by their Indigenous names, the Innu and the Anishnabe, rather than the colonial Montagnais and Algonquin. “Zimbabwe used to be Southern Rhodesia,” he pointed out. “We’re not the only nation that has done this. … It’s a correction of history that has let outsiders define us. We want to define ourselves now.”

Huron-Wendat Nation mulls dropping “Huron” from official name Read More »

Grand Marché marks visitor boost and first-ever profit

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Grand Marché marks visitor boost and first-ever profit

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Thanks to a new business plan where the city assumes some major operational costs, the Grand Marché de Québec has turned a profit for the first time since it opened five years ago.

The market, located on the ExpoCité site near the Vidéotron Centre, is operated by the Coopérative des Horticulteurs de Québec, an association of local food producers.

The CHQ released its 2024 annual report recently; the report laid out the newfound stability and growth of the year-round site, which saw a total of 850,000 visitors, an increase of about 100,000 over the previous year.

Another strong indicator is the occupancy rate of vendor stalls that hit 92 per cent by the end of the year. The market normally accommodates some 30 permanent businesses as well as about 15 seasonal market gardeners.

General manager Mario Goulet said, “We are proud of these financial results and can already say that our goal for 2025 is to surpass them. With the results of the first few months of 2025 being very positive, we are confident that we are on the right track.”

The market opened in 2019 in a completely overhauled century-old former Pavillon du Commerce building. It replaced the farmers’ market that had been situated in the Old Port for many years.

Goulet said that under a new deal signed last year, the city, which owns all the buildings on the ExpoCité site, covers such significant costs as electricity, heating and snow removal in the large parking lot. The city estimates such costs amount to about a million dollars.

Goulet said, with these modifications of the terms of the rental contract, “Our business model is much more viable.” Revenue from sales is still paid to the city as well as about $450,000 in municipal and school taxes.

There are several changes among the market tenants. The Mexican-themed bistro La Cour arrière de Québec has taken over the premises previously occupied by SNO Microbrasserie Nordik and plans to create a lively terrasse over- looking Place Jean-Béliveau during the summer. Mexican music is on the menu as well.

Le Monde des Bières, in partnership with SaucesPiquantes.ca, has moved into a new location and will offer a selection of beers from microbreweries in Quebec City and surrounding areas. The sauce offerings are being called “the largest selection of hot sauces in town.”

Coming this month is Chimney’s Pastry Shop, featuring Hungarian chimney cake as well as other sweets and ice cream. Another new arrival is Origine en Vrac, “an eco- friendly grocery store based on a zero-waste shopping concept, offering local and environmentally friendly products as well as reusable items.”

Alongside the stalls and shops, the market will be offering a wide range of events, including musical entertainment and workshops.

Grand Marché marks visitor boost and first-ever profit Read More »

Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad runs for mayor

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Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad runs for mayor

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

It’s official. After months of speculation and a certain amount of teasing, Sam Hamad has entered the race for mayor of Quebec City.

The 67-year-old former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert made the announcement April 6 in front of an enthusiastic crowd of some 300 supporters packed into the Salle du Quai du Cap-Blanc meeting hall.

The site for the announcement, on Boul. Champlain, was a particularly symbolic one for Hamad, who said in his 15-minute speech that the creation of the three phases of the Promenade Champlain project was his proudest achievement.

Hamad, introduced by two Cégep de Ste-Foy students and his two sons, Jean-Simon and Louis-Joseph, said, “As you know, I left politics in 2017, but in reality, politics has never left me. Since then, I have found a quality of life, a rewarding job and precious time with my loved ones. It’s true, I have everything to lead a happy life, but I have always had the need to serve my community.”

Hamad was born in Syria and came to Canada in 1978 to study engineering. “I arrived in Quebec alone. Very young. All I had were two suitcases, but big dreams. This city welcomed me, it offered me exceptional opportunities and today, I feel more than ever a duty to give back to this city that has given me so much.”

Under the banner of a new party called Leadership Québec, Hamad said he is “running so that Quebec [City] can regain its momentum. So that it can start dreaming big again. So that we can finally emerge from the uncertainty, the division and the stagnation.”

First elected in Louis-Hébert in 2003, Hamad was a minister in a string of portfolios under Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard, including natural resources, labour, treasury board, economic development and transport, as well as minister for the capital region.

Besides the Promenade Champlain redevelopment, Hamad said he had “delivered the merchandise” for other major city projects, including the PEPS at Université Laval, the Videotron Centre, the expansion of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus.

Hamad noted his collaboration with former mayors Jean-Paul L’Allier and Régis Labeaume, former PQ minister and MNA for the downtown riding of Taschereau Agnès Maltais, Conservative MP Gérard Deltell and federal ministers and premiers from all parties.

“What has always guided me is working together in the best interests of the citizens of Quebec,” he said.

Hamad unveiled a five-point program at the launch: “Bring back strong, mobilizing leadership to Quebec City; put citizens back at the heart of municipal decisions; revive Quebec City’s economy with ambition and boldness; uphold its status as the national capital; and manage public finances responsibly, respecting taxpayers’ ability to pay.” As for his position on the current tramway project, Ha- mad said he would be laying out a detailed plan that serves both the downtown and the suburbs during the campaign. He has stated previously the tramway in its current form is too expensive. He told the QCT, “I will come back with this. It’s 210 days [in the campaign], so we have enough time to explain exactly what the project is, what we need.”

As for candidates for Leadership Québec, Hamad said, “I’ll launch with a solid team, rooted in the reality on the ground. We won’t campaign against an administration or another party. We’ll campaign for the citizens of Quebec. We want to rally all those who believe that Quebec can do better.”

Attendees the QCT spoke to cited Hamad’s experience as the main reason for support- ing him, as well as uncertainty about the tramway project.

One supporter was even more specific. Francine DeBlois, active in a Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood citizens group, said, “Hamad is a man who listens to us, which is not the case with the current mayor.” She said her group had gone to a city council meeting to raise concerns, but “it was always the same cassette. Everything was already decided.”

Besides Hamad, the other declared mayoral candidates are incumbent mayor Bruno Marchand of Quebec Forte et Fière, Claude Villeneuve of Quebec d’abord, Jackie Smith of Transition Québec and Stéphane Lachance of Parti Respect Citoyens.

Municipal elections in Quebec take place on Nov. 2.

Former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad runs for mayor Read More »

Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards

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Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Quebec’s English-language school boards are celebrating a major victory after the Quebec Court of Appeal largely upheld an earlier Superior Court ruling on the English- speaking community’s right to oversee its own school system as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In practice, advocates say, the ruling means Bill 40 – the reform passed by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government in 2020 which replaced elected school boards with government-run service centres overseen by unelected volunteer boards with limited power – cannot be applied to English school boards. English boards, they say, will continue to function as they have since 1998, when language-based school boards replaced sectarian ones.

“We’ve been functioning as if Bill 40 didn’t exist, and we plan to continue functioning that way,” said Joe Ortona, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), which brought the case along with Montreal’s Lester B. Pearson School Board and a concerned parent.

When Bill 40 was being debated, its backers argued that it would increase efficiency and remove the need for costly school board elections that relatively few people vote in. However, QESBA and its member boards saw an attempt to deprive Quebec’s English- speaking communities of their charter right to control their education system. Several months after the bill passed, a court suspended its application to English-language school boards while the case progressed. In August 2023, Superior Court Judge Sylvain Lussier struck down large parts of the law as it applied to English boards, in line with QESBA’s argument that the law limited the Charter rights of official language minority communities. In September of that year, the government appealed the ruling.

On April 3, the Court of Appeal essentially upheld Lussier’s original verdict. Judges Robert M. Mainville, Christine Baudouin and Judith Harvie found that the school governance scheme set out in Bill 40 infringed on the community’s right to control its education system and disincentivized parent and community involvement. The community is “entitled to independent school boards that must, at a minimum, allow minority language representatives to exercise exclusive authority relating to minority-language education and facilities,” they wrote, in a ruling that extensively cited jurisprudence involving francophone school districts in English Canada. “The court cannot accept the argument that the linguistic minority is represented through the staff hired by a service centre.”

“This is more than we could have hoped for,” Jean Robert, chair of the Central Québec School Board (CQSB) Council of Commissioners, told the QCT. “The major thing is that the ruling recognizes that Bill 40 was infringing on our rights under the Charter, which is the basis of all our arguments.”

“We have local elected representatives who are account- able to the English-speaking community, and that is how it should be,” Ortona said in an interview. “It means the community has a voice, because elected representatives [on] boards managed and controlled by commissioners are accountable to the community, rather than accountable to the minister elected by all Quebecers. Now, we get to cater to the will of the community when it comes to management. The French sector doesn’t have that.”

Eva Ludvig is the president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), which was granted intervenor status in the case. “The QCGN had reminded the court that although Quebec has broad authority over education, that authority is not limitless,” she said in a statement. “If a law interferes with minority- language rights, the burden is on the province to justify it … and that is a high bar to meet. This is why today’s ruling is such a landmark win for our community.”

Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association, said the parents’ group was “thrilled” with the “historic victory.” She called the deci- sion “a powerful reminder that our voices matter, and our right to govern our schools is non- negotiable.”

“We will be able to choose our own destiny, and the population will have the opportunity to choose their commissioners and their chairperson,” Robert said. “It will continue what we believe is a very successful way of governing our school system. … We can move ahead knowing the courts have clearly decided we have that right protected.”

The Quebec government has 60 days from the date of the ruling to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the ruling “out of respect for the judicial process.”

Ortona and Robert said they hoped the government would not appeal, and would instead use the ruling as the basis for a new working relationship with English school boards. “We want to sit down with the government and say, ‘Let’s accept it and move on and see what’s best for the students,’” said Robert. “They may decide otherwise, but we are hopeful that [because] the decision was so clear, the government will accept it and we can work together.”

Bill 40 ruling a victory for English school boards Read More »

TRAM TRACKER: Federal support for tramway in hands of voters

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TRAM TRACKER: Federal support for tramway in hands of voters

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The fate of Quebec City’s tramway project is at stake in the April 28 federal election.

With the choice of the next federal government, between the Liberal Party of Canada, which supports the project, and the Conservative Party of Canada, which opposes it, in essence, the voters of Canada will decide whether Quebec’s capital gets a structured urban transit system.

It’s uncertain whether the $7.6-billion project could proceed in its current form without federal funding. The federal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, and now current Prime Minister Mark Carney, has committed a total of $1.4 billion to the project, an initial $1.1 billion in 2019 and an ad- ditional $332 million in early March.

The city would like Ottawa to top that up to reach 40 per cent of the cost, the same as what the Coalition Avenir Québec government has promised.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, however, has been adamant about not putting “one cent” of federal money into the tramway. Further, he would take the money already committed and put it towards the Quebec government’s plan to build a third bridge over the St. Lawrence River.

At a March 26 rally in Quebec City, Poilievre repeated his vow “to end the war on cars.”

He took a shot at the position on urban transit taken by Carney and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet. “The Bloc and the Liberals refuse to build a third link – an important project for mobility and the economy of the greater Quebec City region. Worse still, Carney and Blanchet want to impose a tramway on the people of Quebec City – a project that the people of Quebec City reject.”

Poilievre said, “The tramway – it’s a white elephant worth over $7 billion, an unaffordable project, a project that the people of Quebec City don’t want. As prime minister, I will respect your wishes [and] refuse to waste your taxes on this unpopular project. The people of Quebec City need their trucks to get to work, to drive their children to the arena. That’s why I’m going to invest the federal money earmarked for the tramway in a third link.”

The two Conservative MPs in the central Quebec City ridings, Poilievre’s Quebec lieutenant and Charlesbourg– Haute-Saint-Charles MP Pierre Paul-Hus and Louis–Saint– Laurent–Akiawenhrahk MP Gérard Deltell, met Mayor Bruno Marchand last month before the launch of the election campaign. According to the mayor’s office, Poilievre has yet to meet with Marchand.

On the same day as Poilievre’s visit to the Quebec capital, Jean-Yves Duclos, the Liberal MP for the downtown riding of Québec-Centre, issued an open letter denouncing the Conservative leader’s policies for the city, particularly the tramway.

“The Conservative leader wants to steal our money and send it elsewhere in the country, like to his hometown of Calgary – where he proudly celebrates the Canadian government’s investments in public transit that reduce congestion and create housing and good jobs,” wrote Duclos, who is running for a fourth term.

Duclos said, “Pierre Poilievre talks about ‘responsible government,’ yet he is prepared to blindly fund a third link project whose route, de- sign or budget are unknown.”

Duclos recalled, “In September 2010, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives pulled this trick on us. They disguised themselves as Nordiques players wearing hockey jerseys to promise to fund the Videotron Centre. A few months later, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives broke their promise by not contributing a single cent to the centre, leaving Quebec City and the Quebec government to shoulder the entire bill.”

Carney, when he visited Quebec City in January as part of his Liberal leadership campaign, declared his support for the tramway as the kind of infrastructure investment needed in a time of economic crisis.

Simon Bérubé, the Bloc candidate in Québec-Centre, said in an interview with the QCT, regarding the Conserva- tive position on the tramway, “We’re against any interference from the federal government into the decisions of the city of Quebec and the government of Quebec. The project is quite underway, it’s ready to go, so we’re asking that, without any interference, that 40 per cent of the cost will be guaranteed by the federal government.”

Bérubé said the project will bring a lot of investments in the riding, through stimulation of housing developments, for example.

Asked what would happen to the tramway project in the event of Quebec declaring sovereignty should the Parti Québécois win the next election and a promised referendum, Bérubé said the federal money committed to the tramway “belongs to Quebecers who sent it to Ottawa through all kinds of taxes.”

TRAM TRACKER: Federal support for tramway in hands of voters Read More »

Anger at City Hall as CAQ nixes transit projects

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Anger at City Hall as CAQ nixes transit projects

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) govern- ment has quietly killed or postponed indefinitely at least four major traffic improvement projects in Quebec City, valued at some $2.5 billion.

The moves provoked a storm of reaction at City Hall and the National Assembly, with calls for Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault and Minister for the Capital Region Jonatan Julien to be held accountable.

The iced projects are the creation of reserved traffic lanes in the suburbs, a component of the overall tramway plan; the next phase of the reconfiguration of the “spaghetti” of access ramps to the Pierre-Laporte and Quebec bridges; the long-awaited overpass to relieve traffic congestion at the intersection of Boul. Lebourgneuf and Autoroute Robert-Bourassa; and the garage for the city’s new fleet of electric buses on Ave. Newton, which is already under construction.

In the wake of the revelations, Guilbault, claiming a communications error, said the Lebourgneuf overpass project would be reconsidered.

The cancellation of the reserved lanes first came to light when journalists took a close look at documents about infrastructure spending released as part of Finance Minister Eric Girard’s big-deficit budget on March 25.

The 104 kilometres worth of reserved bus lanes had been included in the CAQ government’s global plan for transit in the Quebec City region. At an estimated cost of some $850 million, the lanes would have been introduced on autoroutes Henri-IV, Robert- Bourassa, Laurentienne and Félix-Leclerc.

The Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC) reacted by way of a news release, saying it had not been informed of the change before the tabling of the budget.

The cancellation of the massive Newton garage project, under construction on the site of the former Simons distribution centre, caused the city to convene a news conference on April 3 to denounce the move, which the government said was due to the high cost, estimated at $647 million. Instead, the transport ministry is recommending a large shelter for the fleet of 180 electric buses the city was planning on acquiring.

Nicolas Girard, director general of the RTC, said, “It should be remembered that the Newton Centre project stems from the government’s decision to finance only the purchase of electric buses by public transit companies starting in 2025. In line with these government guidelines, the RTC is committed to carrying out this project, respecting all the required steps. The authorizations obtained to date have led us to spend several million, significant investments that have now been abandoned.”

According to the RTC, $94 million of the $146 million already approved for the project has been spent. Liberal MP Jean-Yves Duclos, speaking at an unrelated news conference April 4, said he wants to know what is happening to the $203 million Ottawa has committed to the Newton garage project. “In December 2024, the provincial government confirmed the federal grant to the RTC. We’re in a state of uncertainty.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand, who had not been officially informed of any of the CAQ government cuts to city projects, told reporters, “It’s been a hard week for Quebec City.”

The mayor said, “Planning a city, planning transportation and mobility can’t be done in the short term. You can’t plan for one month, two months, or three months. These are projects that take years to build, years to think about, design and then implement.”

Opposition and Québec d’abord Leader Claude Villeneuve said, “We talk to all the MNAs in the region, including the CAQ MNAs – and no one tells us the same thing. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

Transition Québec Leader and Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith, calling the CAQ “une gang de colons” (a bunch of morons), said, “They take us for idiots. The CAQ doesn’t respect the intelligence of the people of Quebec.”

At the National Assembly, Parti Québécois MNA for Jean-Talon Pascal Paradis said, “What a pathetic week for transportation and sustain- able mobility in the Capitale- Nationale region.”

Liberal interim leader Marc Tanguay said at a National Assembly news briefing, “They’re out of money, so the garage has been shut down. François Legault, to the garage! The CAQ, to the garage; let’s put them in the garage.”

In various media reports, Guilbault defended the CAQ government’s actions, saying it had committed large amounts in the Quebec City region to such projects as the new bridge for Île d’Orléans and the pro- posed “third link,” a new bridge across the St. Lawrence River.

Anger at City Hall as CAQ nixes transit projects Read More »

Cross-border trade uncertainty rattles Beauce entrepreneurs

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Cross-border trade uncertainty rattles Beauce entrepreneurs

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Businesses in the entrepreneurial Beauce region, southeast of Lévis, near Quebec’s border with Maine, have been on edge ever since U.S. President Donald Trump first announced plans to place tariffs on Canadian exports, in early February.

Marie-Christine Lavoie is the director general of the Chambre de commerce et industrie de la Nouvelle-Beauce (CCINB), based in Sainte- Marie de Beauce. The tariff uncertainty and the breakdown of what had been the cross-border status quo “has a huge impact on our companies,” she told the QCT shortly before the latest round of tariffs announced by Trump came into force.

“In Beauce, we’re very close to the border, so for a lot of our companies, geographically speaking, it’s easier for them to work with U.S. clients,” she said. “Boston or Maine is practically the same distance as Montreal. That’s how the market developed.”

The frictionless cross-border trade that made the development of that market possible essentially disappeared on Feb. 1, when Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports except for energy imports, which would be subject to a 10 per cent tariff. Those tariffs were delayed until March 4, then suspended on CUSMA-compliant imports and auto parts. A 250 per cent tariff on lumber and dairy imports was announced in March but not implemented as of this writing, according to the Toronto Star.

On March 12, the Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum imports; on April 3, the day after Trump announced blanket tariffs of 10 to 49 per cent on imports from countries around the world, Canadian- made auto parts were added to the list. Prime Minister Mark Carney has since announced 25 per cent counter-tariffs on U.S.-made auto parts and steel and aluminum products.

The uncertainty over tariff policy “has a huge impact” on the companies which are some of the Beauce region’s largest employers, Lavoie said. “We have businesses that export 70 to 90 per cent of their production to the U.S., and we also have members who import, which is another issue.

“If there’s another 25 per cent tariff starting in April, it will hurt our members, and we’re afraid of closures,” Lavoie said. “We’re hoping for an agreement.”

In the interim, some of the CCINB’s more than 1,700 members have made adaptations, and others have made agreements with U.S.-based clients to be shielded from the full impact of the tariffs. Others have been exploring new markets internationally or in other parts of Canada. A few, which rely on shipping heavy steel products into the United States, “might have to rethink their business model.”

In light of the upcoming election, Lavoie said, “We would like the next ministers to be really listening to our businesspeople, so that the decision made in the office reflects the decision on the ground. Things like counter-tariffs can impact certain businesses which [make] their supplies a lot more expensive.” She called on the next govern- ment to remove barriers to in- terprovincial trade, which both Carney, as Liberal leader, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have pledged to do. “There are some products that were easier to send to the United States than to Alberta – we should bring those [barriers] down for a strong, united, entrepreneurial Canada.”

She also called on the next government to take the needs of the region (which is chronically low on labour and relies heavily on economic immigration programs) into account when reforming the temporary foreign worker program, and to be more responsive to business owners who have questions about government programs. “We have three per cent unemployment. Our companies are always looking for staff and there are people who need to let their foreign workers go because they can’t renew their work permits. For a region like ours, the loss of these employees hurts more than the tariffs. They could allow a grandfather clause or make it dependent on employment rates instead of imposing a pan-Canadian measure. The realities [from one part of the country to the other] are totally different.”

Cross-border trade uncertainty rattles Beauce entrepreneurs Read More »

Transitional housing community planned for Beauport

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Transitional housing community planned for Beauport

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

If all goes according to plan, six formerly homeless Quebec City residents will move into temporary housing in Beauport in June, as part of a pilot project announced by the Ville de Québec, the city’s public housing authority, the Quebec government and the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale.

Four modular units similar to portable classrooms will be set up on vacant city-owned land adjacent to the Parc-O-Bus D’Estimauville. Three of the units will be divided into two studio apartments each, and the fourth will house a common area, a laundromat and offices.

“These new transitional housing spaces will provide individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless with a stable and safe living environment for a period of 30 to 60 days, before transitioning to independent housing,” city officials said in a statement.

“The small number of units will allow the CIUSSS de la Capitale- Nationale residential stability team to provide tailored support to residents. Admitted residents will be recommended by community organizations, partners and the healthcare network.”

The apartments will be maintained by the public housing authority, and a yet-to-be-determined community organization will be responsible for social activities. The city will loan the land, waive permit fees, reimburse costs related to site development and connect the units to municipal water and sewer networks. The $1.7-million project will be funded jointly by the Société d’habitation du Québec, the CIUSSS and the city.

Coun. Marie-Pierre Boucher, member of the city executive committee responsible for hous- ing, told the QCT the project takes some inspiration from a similar project backed by the Nova Scotia government; that project, launched in Lower Sackville, N.S. using tiny homes, opened in late 2024 with capacity for 70 people. Since then, two additional “shelter villages” have opened in Halifax, according to the Nova Scotia Ministry of Housing and Social Development. Boucher said a project of that size was not planned for Quebec City, but the city was open to expanding the Beauport project or creating others in other areas if the first pilot project went well. Quebec City chose a version of the “tiny home” model because “it can be installed quickly, and if we have to move it in two years, we can do that,” she said.

“We looked for city land that would be accessible, that was big enough and that could be hooked up [to the power and water networks] quickly, where there were support organizations and where people would have access to public transit and to things like a grocery store and a pharmacy,” she added.

She described the project as “a springboard for people who have lost their home or who are coming off the street … who will go live in an apartment afterward.”

Frédéric Keck, assistant director of partnerships in the mental health, homelessness and addictions division of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, said he hoped the project would help people at risk of homelessness stay off the street. “If we can get people soon after losing housing, that’s a win; after a year in the street it is a lot more complicated to bring people back into housing. Our shelters are overloaded and anything we can do to reduce pressure on them is a good thing.”

He acknowledged that amid the ongoing shortage of affordable rental housing, finding permanent housing for residents at the end of their two-month stay in the studio “will be our biggest challenge.”

An information session on the Beauport project was planned for April 8, after this newspaper went to press. “We’re not catapulting this project into people’s backyards,” Boucher said. “We’re working with the CIUSSS and the community sector to have a safety net around these people.”

“Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean they’re a delinquent,” Boucher said. “But a lot of people with chronic homelessness can have mental health problems or drug problems … and there’s an element of fear of the unknown – if you or I dress differently and hang out in a park, we might provoke anxiety and fear in some people,” she said. “The fear is legitimate and we need to understand where it comes from.”

Although Mayor Bruno Marchand campaigned on a long-term plan to reach “zero homelessness” in 2021, the city is dealing with a stubborn homelessness problem which advocates say is exacerbated by inflation, the ripple effects of the pandemic and an acute shortage of affordable housing. A recent report by the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services indicates that the number of homeless people in the Capitale-Nationale region living in shelters or other emergency resources rose by 16 per cent between 2022 and 2024.

On April 3, the city announced a campaign in collaboration with philanthropist Claude Choquette and his family and the Fondation Dufresne-Gauthier to raise $3.2 million to shore up the Porte-clés program, an initiative run by nine local organizations, including Lauberivière and YWCA Québec, aimed at offering people coming out of homelessness a place to live with no preconditions; the same week, Le Soleil reported that the CIUSSS had revived a plan — shelved when the pandemic hit — to open a shelter with medical services and social support in the former Salvation Army facility on Côte du Palais. That facility, with space for 30, should open in early 2026.

Transitional housing community planned for Beauport Read More »

English-speaking community groups welcome support in Quebec budget – with caveats

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

English-speaking community groups welcome support in Quebec budget – with caveats

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Presenting the Quebec budget on March 25, Finance Minister Eric Girard, who is also the minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers, announced that the Quebec government would receive $343 million from the federal government over the next four years aimed at funding education and other services for the English-speaking community.

According to the budget, the government plans to invest an additional $10 million over the next five years through the Secretariat for relations with English-speaking Quebecers to improve access to services for the English-speaking community, particularly health and social services, community- based mental health services and legal information.

While they say it’s still early to see how the funding will translate into concrete programs, advocates for access to services in English say they’re optimistic about the fact the funding has been promised.

“I’m happy to say that the government listened to the community and put money into resources the community suggested,” said Jennifer Johnson, executive director of the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), a Quebec City-based organization which advocates for access to health care in English in the regions.

“Historically, the Canada- Quebec Agreement [involved] a very small transfer from Canadian Heritage to the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services. The Quebec government said we’re not interested in doing this much work for this little money. The Secretariat [for relations with the English-speaking community] has worked very hard to make it worthwhile, and they succeeded.”

Johnson said CHSSN will receive a yet-to-be-determined portion of the funding and use it to support community-based mental health services and programs such as the patient navigator program, aimed at making it easier for vulnerable English speakers to access health care in Quebec City, Laval and Gaspé.

“I can say with some confidence that [some funding] will go to local or regional community organizations working in the area of mental health to support their population,” she added.

“Research indicates that people prefer to speak to a health care professional in their mother tongue, because of the personal nature and the emotional component [of those conversations],” Johnson said. “There are very few resources off the island of Montreal to support anglophones, and anglophones do have higher levels of stress associated with lower incomes and difficulty finding jobs to match their skills.”

While the CHSSN and the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) said they were pleased with the health funding, other organizations such as the Provincial Employment Round Table (PERT) and Montreal-based Youth Employment Services (YES) expressed alarm at the lack of investment in training and job search services targeted at the English- speaking community.

“There was nothing for employment for English speakers in this budget,” PERT executive director Nicholas Salter told the QCT, noting that for the past many years, unemployment has been higher among anglophones than francophones. In 2022, 8.9 per cent of working- age anglophone Quebecers were unemployed, compared to 7.2 per cent of all Quebecers. “Between 2016 and 2021, the employment gap between anglophones and francophones doubled and there has been no funding to address that. Things are not necessarily getting better.”

(QCT version)

English-speaking community groups welcome support in Quebec budget – with caveats Read More »

‘Civic duty’ compels Glenn O’Farrell to run for Liberals in Bellechasse

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

‘Civic duty’ compels Glenn O’Farrell to run for Liberals in Bellechasse

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Glenn O’Farrell, a senior communications executive, lawyer, St. Patrick’s High School graduate, Order of Canada recipient and native son of Saint-Malachie, is running for the Liberal Party in the Bellechasse–Les-Etchemins–Lévis riding on the South Shore.

O’Farrell, 66, will face Conservative Party incumbent Dominique Vien, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister who was defeated in the 2018 provincial election. She switched to the federal Conservatives in the 2021 election and won the seat held since 2006 by Conservative Steven Blaney.

Blaney, who served for many years in the cabinet of Stephen Harper, is now running for mayor of Lévis.

In 2022, Vien had been one of several Conservative MPs to urge former Quebec premier Jean Charest to run for the party leadership that he lost to Pierre Poilievre.

In a telephone interview with the QCT, O’Farrell ex- plained why he chose to leap into politics. “Very, very honestly and transparently, it was nothing more or less than a sense of civic duty at a time of what I would call an existential crisis for our country.”

He said, “Our former best partners, closest ally, certainly a nation that was related to us in more ways than we can imagine … [has] turned their backs on us and this new administration threatens us with economic terrorism that is designed to dismantle the very fabric of Canada.”

O’Farrell said, as a close observer of the political scene, he decided to get involved in Mark Carney’s campaign for the Liberal leadership. Carney’s team approached him about running, and “I was honoured by that, to be very honest with you. I said, well, maybe at this point in time, it’s time for me to exercise my civic duty and stand for election in a place that means a lot to me, that’s my home – Saint-Malachie, Bellechasse – where I was brought up, it’s been our home all our lives.”

O’Farrell said he still stays at a farm that’s been in the family for five generations.

After high school, O’Farrell got a degree in economics from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and in law from Université Laval. He joined a Quebec City law firm and in 1987 began a career in communications law and management that included TVA, Global Television, Canwest, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and TFO, Ontario’s independent French-language television channel.

He was a member of the board of governors for Ontario’s new French-language university and special adviser to the Ontario government on francophone economic development.

He received the Order of Canada in 2020 for his “vision for education and for his leadership in communications, having positioned a media outlet as a global symbol of French language and culture,” according to the citation.

Among the non-corporate boards he has served on are the Fondation du CHUL, the Jeffery Hale Foundation, the Théâtre du Bois-de-Coulonge in Quebec City and the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal.

In December, he gave a TED Talk in Montreal on the role of the media in shaping civil society.

As far as his chances of winning a riding that has not gone Liberal since a two-year blip in 2004, O’Farrell said the people of Bellechasse “need to make a choice.”

He said he respects the incumbent, but “my quarrel is with the leadership of that party that’s not in keeping with Canadian values.”

O’Farrell said Poilievre is “in no way, shape or form able to measure up to the competence, the experience, the calmness and the strength of character that Mark Carney brings — and I’m not trying to wax lyrical here. I mean this. We’re very fortunate as Canadians that a person of his calibre, with his networks, his background and experience, at this stage in life, would raise his hand and say ‘yes, I will serve and stand for prime minister.’” Besides O’Farrell and Vien, the nominated candidates in Bellechasse are Gaby Breton for the Bloc Québécois, Marie- Philippe Gagnon-Gauthier for the NDP, Raphaël Boilard for the Green Party, Mario Fréchette for the People’s Party of Canada and Yannick Lévesque for the Rhinoceros Party.

‘Civic duty’ compels Glenn O’Farrell to run for Liberals in Bellechasse Read More »

Still some holes to fill in local federal ridings

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Still some holes to fill in local federal ridings

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

With the federal election less than a month away, parties are still scrambling to find candidates for the seven Quebec City-area ridings.

Candidates have until Monday, April 7 at 2 p.m. to register with Elections Canada.

As of March 31, the main parties had chosen candidates in all but one riding, with the Liberals having not named a standard-bearer in Montmorency-Charlevoix.

The Bloc Québecois has candidates in all seven ridings. By contrast, the New Democratic Party has nominated only two, in Beauport-Limoilou and Québec-Centre.

Poll projections suggest most incumbents, all of whom are running again, are likely to be returned. The two exceptions are the two seats held by the Bloc – Caroline Desbiens in Montmorency-Charlevoix and Julie Vignola in Beauport-Limoilou.

That latter riding features well-known candidates for the Liberals and Conservatives. Hugo Langlois, a media host and commentator, has joined the Pierre Poilievre team, and Steeve Lavoie, a prominent entrepreneur and former head of Quebec City’s chamber of commerce and industry, will run for Mark Carney’s Liberals. Former MP Raymond Côté is running for the NDP.

The seat has bounced back and forth between Bloc and Conservative since 1993, with Côté and the NDP winning it in the 2011 Orange Wave. The last time it was Liberal was 1988.

The 2021 election saw a tight three-way race; Vignola edged out incumbent Conservative Alupa Clark with Liberal Ann Gingras a close third. Current poll projections, according to Canada338, have the candidates for the three parties within eight points of each other, with the potential result described as “CPC leaning.”

The same poll cruncher has Montmorency-Charlevoix as “CPC likely” with the Bloc well back in second place. Gym owner Gabriel Hardy is the Conservative candidate. Desbiens first won the riding in 2019, defeating Conservative Sylvie Boucher.

Still some holes to fill in local federal ridings Read More »

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors 

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The race for mayor of Quebec City in November is shaping up to feature at least four candidates, with former provincial Liberal minister Sam Hamad preparing to jump into the fray.

Several media outlets re- ported last week that Hamad, the former MNA for the suburban Louis-Hébert riding, has set April 6 as the date he will launch his campaign.

There are also reports Hamad has been in discussion with Équipe Priorité Québec (EPQ), the second Opposition at City Hall with two seats. The new interim leader of the party, Coun. Stevens Melançon, told reporters he would not be the party’s candidate for mayor. Former councillor Patrick Paquet had been party leader without a seat on council.

EPQ is the current name for the party that ran in the previous two elections as Québec 21, under the leadership of Coun. Jean-François Gosselin. Gosselin came a close third in the 2021 mayoral race, behind winner Bruno Marchand of Québec Forte et Fière and Marie-Josée Savard, running for what was the party of longtime mayor Régis Labeaume.

Gosselin joined the Marchand administration as executive committee member responsible for sports and recreation. He has decided to finish his term and not run again.

Hamad had been courting sitting councillors to join his team, including Louis Martin of Québec d’abord, who left the party two weeks ago and was voted out as council chair.

Another Hamad target was Isabelle Roy, councillor for the Robert-Giffard district;  Québec d’abord leader Claude Villeneuve kicked her out of the party caucus for having talks with Hamad.

A central plank of Hamad’s platform, according to his statements, will be opposition to the tramway project.

With this game of musical chairs underway, other councillors are joining Gosselin in departing City Hall. Pierre-Luc Lachance, the executive committee member responsible for finance and councillor for Saint-Roch–Saint-Sauveur, announced his departure several weeks ago.

Longtime councillor Steeve Verret of Lac-Saint-Charles–Saint-Émile has also let it be known he plans to leave city hall once his current term is up. He replaced Martin as chair of council following the latter’s ouster.

The other confirmed departure from Marchand’s team is Maude Mercier Larouche, the first-term councillor for Sainte-Foy–Sillery-Cap-Rouge and member of the executive committee responsible for the Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC), as well as large projects.

She told reporters she is taking a break from politics to spend more time with her family and to take care of her mother.

Meanwhile, Québec d’abord has officially confirmed the party’s four remaining councillors will be running for re-election. They are Patricia Boudreault-Bruyère in Neufchâtel–Lebourgneuf, Anne Corriveau in Pointe-de-Sainte-Foy, Véronique Dallaire in Les Saules–Les-Méandres and Alicia Despins in Vanier-Duberger.

Despins, a St. Patrick’s High School graduate, told the QCT “it’ll surely be a few weeks” before the party announces new candidates for the open seats on council. She said the party recently held its general assembly and “we voted on the overarching political orientations.”

The party now called Québec d’abord elected 10 councillors in the 2021 election, with Marchand’s QFF winning seven seats and Québec 21 four.

Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith ran unsuccessfully for mayor as leader of Transition Québec, but won her council seat. She is running again for mayor. The only other declared mayoral candidate as of this writing is Stéphane Lachance of the newly created Parti Respect Citoyens.

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors Read More »

Smith moves vote to oust council chair Martin

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Smith moves vote that ousts city council chair Martin

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

There was a bit of drama to start off the regular Quebec City council meeting on March 18.

Jackie Smith, the councillor for Limoilou and leader of Transition Québec, proposed a vote to remove Louis Martin, the councillor for Cap-Rouge–Laurentien, as the chair of council sessions.

Martin had recently left the opposition Québec d’abord caucus over unspecified differences, and had been courted by potential mayoral candidate Sam Hamad.

Another Québec d’abord councillor, Isabelle Roy, who represents Robert-Giffard district, also now sits as an independent after being booted from the party caucus for having discussed her political future with Hamad.

The motion to remove Martin was approved, with three councillors, Roy and the two members from Équipe priorité Québec, voting against.

The vice-chair of the council, Steve Verret, the long-serving councillor for Lac-Saint- Charles–Saint-Émile, accepted the proposal to replace Martin. Verret was elected in 2021 under the banner of former mayor Régis Labeaume’s party, but defected to the ruling Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party of Mayor Bruno Marchand. Verret has decided not to run again in the November election.

Contacted by the QCT, Martin said about his ouster, “I’m surprised and disappointed. A few months ago, Ms. Smith asked for my removal because I was ‘too partial.’ This time she mentioned it was because I am too independent. But it’s a decision made by the city council; I respect it.”

In explaining her move to remove Martin, Smith said, “It was not a question of competence” and that Martin had done “an excellent job as chair.” She said that it was “a question of the role of chair” of the council, and now that Martin has shifted allegiances, council needs to know where the chair stands on certain issues.

Smith said, “I was uncomfortable with some of the actions you took as chair, but at least we could see [where you stood]. With the political decisions you made, we’re not certain.”

Équipe priorité Québec Coun. Stevens Melançon, angered at the removal of “a neutral and rigorous chairperson,” took a shot at Smith, saying she is “ready to denounce the authorities in place and political manoeuvring, except when it suits her.”

Melançon said, “Our role is to defend a healthy municipal democracy, not to be extras in a theatre where everything is predetermined.”

Roy said, “It’s hard not to see reprisals in this gesture from Québec d’abord, Transition Québec and Québec Forte et Fière … I expected a little better from my colleagues on city council.”

Opposition and Québec d’abord leader Claude Villeneuve said, “To judge the chair’s neutrality, you have to know … at what point … there is a bias or not.”

Villeneuve said Martin’s change in political affiliation “leads us to have doubts about” meetings chaired “by someone whose intentions and point of view we do not know.”

No one from the ruling QFF party spoke to the motion to remove Martin.

Losing the position means Martin will have $10,000 less remuneration for council service.

When he left the chair after his ouster, Martin took the seat next to Smith and they exchanged a few polite words.

At many points during the meeting, councillors were drowned out by blaring truck horns from a group of protesting blue-collar workers outside City Hall.

Smith moves vote to oust council chair Martin Read More »

TRAM TRACKER: More federal money, big contracts coming for TramCité project

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

TRAM TRACKER: More federal money, big contracts coming for TramCité project

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

A boost in federal funding for Quebec City’s tramway project was one of the flurry of announcements made within hours of the federal election call on March 23.

The additional $332.2 million from Ottawa is on top of the $1.1 billion committed in 2019 when the initial version of the tramway project was announced. The total contribution of $1.4 billion is still short of the target of 40 per cent of the total $7.6 billion cost the city had hoped for.

Mayor Bruno Marchand told reporters while on a visit to Texas, “We definitely want more. We want the full 40 per cent. But it’s definitely a step up the ladder. … It allows the Quebec government and CDPQ-Infra to count on it and spend.”

While funding the project is firming up, preparations are accelerating to get the TramCité project under construction.

Last week the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Infra (CDPQ-Infra) agency, which is managing the project, issued a call for expression of interest for contracts to build two major components of the system.

By far the largest contract would be for the civil engineering work for infrastructure and buildings for the rail network. That would include, for example, excavation of the tunnel between Saint-Roch and Upper Town and three underground stations. Also included would be other structures such as interchange hubs, bridges and viaducts.

The other contract, accord- ing to the tender specifications, would be for “systems” associated with the main tramway infrastructure. This includes “the supply, integration, commissioning and maintenance of assets such as railway tracks, the overhead contact line, traction energy systems, electrical, communication and signalling systems.”

When the Quebec government gave the official green light to the project in December, CDPQ- Infra said there likely would be eight separate contracts with private sector interests to build the system,

The call for expression of interest is the first step in what could be a drawn-out process. Once the government has received responses, the potential bidders will be evaluated for their ability and qualification to take on the job.

A CDPQ-Infra spokesperson said the results of the call for interest would be known later in the spring. Some 120 companies are known to be ready to enter the bidding process.

The group of two or three bid- ders selected would then enter the “co-development process” with CDPQ-Infra and transport ministry officials to draw up proposals with cost and timelines. No contract is likely to be signed until well into 2026.

While construction of the tramway line won’t likely begin in earnest until next year, work already done on the now-aborted eastern leg of the tramway route has cost many millions of dollars.

According to a report in Le Soleil, $34.4 million has been spent on work to prepare the D’Estimauville tramway line and hub. The initial plan for the tramway presented under former mayor Régis Labeaume called for the line to run north to Charlesbourg.

The Coalition Avenir Québec government imposed the choice of D’Estimauville, which was then switched back to Charlesbourg in the June 2024 CDPQ- Infra report on the tramway project.

The work included relocation of a water main, demolition of buildings, relocation of underground infrastructure and reconstruction of a railway viaduct, as well as an archeological inventory and survey of trees affected by the work.

City officials say most of the work would need to be done eventually, but the tramway project made it more of a priority.

The D’Estimauville extension is still in the CDPQ-Infra plan as part of a second phase, although the current government has made no firm commitment to moving it forward.

CDPQ-Infra spokesperson Claudie Côté-Chabot said the decision to favour the Charlesbourg route was based on data showing a much higher bus ridership rate.

The agency estimates it will cost about $480 million to build the Charlesbourg line, compared to $620 million for the D’Estimauville extension.

TRAM TRACKER: More federal money, big contracts coming for TramCité project Read More »

Alexander Reford to run for Liberals in Rimouski

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Reford Gardens’ Alexander Reford runs for Liberals in Rimouski

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Concern about the future of Canada and a personal connection with Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney convinced Alexander Reford, the soon- to-be former director of the Reford Gardens (known in French as the Jardins de Métis), to be a candidate in the April 28 election.

Reford, 62, was acclaimed as the candidate in Rimouski- La Matapédia on March 21, two days before Carney called the federal vote. He has been a resident of the area for 31 years, ever since he took on the task of transforming his family’s estate and gardens on the St. Lawrence River into a world-class botanical and tour- ism destination.

A historian by training and author of several books and other publications, Reford had hit the campaign trail early, meeting with crab fishermen and ski resort operators, from whom he learned “there’s a general anxiety over the future of the economy, which is going to be pushed in a different direction.”

It’s not likely to be an easy race for the rookie politician. Although the riding was re- configured since the last election, the seat has not had a Liberal member since the 1980 election, which brought a majority under Pierre Trudeau.

The current MP is Maxime Blanchette-Joncas of the Bloc Québécois, who wrested the seat from the NDP’s Guy Caron in 2019. Blanchette-Joncas, a former call centre worker and Parti Québécois youth activist, beat the second-place Liberal in the 2021 election by nearly 25 per cent of the vote.

The last time the area had a member in government was when Monique Vézina was a minister in Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government from 1984-93. Vézina died in December at age 89. The riding voted Bloc until Caron – now mayor of Rimouski – won it in the 2011 Orange Wave.

Reford said, “Frankly, the riding has chosen to be in voluntary exile for a very long time. But I think things have changed, you know, the mood has swung.”

He added, “It’s a new challenge, and I realistically think that with the leadership shown by Mark just over the last two weeks in government, it’s clear that there’s a new orientation, a new direction and hopefully I can be part of that new thing.” Reford’s connection to Carney goes back to when the two were Canadian students at Oxford University – Reford in history, Carney in economics. “So, following his career and having had occasion to read his publications and chat with him, it was easy to convince me that he was the right person for this job.”

It was another mutual Ox- ford friend, former Trudeau justice minister and Montreal MP David Lametti, now an advisor to Carney, who called Reford and said, “It’s time. What do you think?’

The timing coincidentally worked well for Reford, as he is in the process of handing over management of the Reford Gardens to a new team. Preparations are in the works to celebrate the centennial of his great-grandmother Elsie Reford’s gardens this summer.

Reford, recipient of the Order of Canada in 2021, said he’s learning the ropes as a novice political campaigner. “I think this is very interesting, you know. I met more people yes- terday than I had in a month.”

Besides Reford and Blanchette-Joncas, the only other nominated candidate in the riding as of March 23 was Taraneh Javanbakh of the People’s Party of Canada.

Alexander Reford to run for Liberals in Rimouski Read More »

City announces $2-million plan for St-Roch

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

City announces $2-million plan for St-Roch

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

On March 18, arguing that “the house has to be in order before company comes,” Mayor Bruno Marchand announced plans to invest $2 million in city funds on a range of projects aimed at shoring up “safety and cleanliness” in the Saint-Roch sector of Lower Town.

City officials announced that a team of five people would be hired to clean public spaces in Saint-Roch, including the Jardin Jean-Paul-L’Allier, the Place de l’Université-du- Québec and the forecourt of Église Saint-Roch. Four seasonal graffiti removal workers, hired through the Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi youth employment bureau, and four additional cleaners, part of a “cleanliness brigade” man- aged by the local Société de développement commercial (SDC), would also be hired. The Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) will receive funding to add an undisclosed number of personnel to its Équipe MULTI community policing division, which patrols the area on foot. The remaining funds – $27,000 – will go toward planters and other urban decor to beautify the area in summer.

In recent months, residents, business owners, people who work in Lower Town and labour unions have raised concerns about safety and hygiene problems in Saint-Roch, including visible drug use and violent behaviour. Benjo, the city’s largest toy store and a Saint-Roch landmark, closed late last year, and Le Soleil recently reported that the Office québécois de la langue française is considering moving its office to another part of the city.

“When I first came here, I met some members to discuss their concerns, and what kept coming back was cleanliness and safety – not just from our members [business owners] but from their employees,” said SDC Saint-Roch director general Marie-Pier Menard. “They have to pick up the trash. When something comes up security- wise, they are told to call 311 or 911 or hire a security guard. I know of a few major employers who have hired a guard or invested in a security system.”

Menard said she hopes the measures will make a difference in the neighbourhood. “Now, people keep themselves from coming here because of the safety and cleanliness situation,” she said. “We hope residents and tourists will want to come here.”

Coun. Pierre-Luc Lachance, who represents the district of Saint-Roch–Saint-Sauveur, said the measures were put in place to help “give quality of life back to residents and businesspeople.”

The Réseau d’aide aux itinérants et itinérantes de Québec (RAIIQ), a network of organizations supporting homeless and marginalized people in the city, has raised concerns about the potential negative impacts of cleanliness drives and an increased police presence on the area’s poorest residents. Lachance has an office across the street from Lauberivière, the city’s largest homeless shelter, which moved into the area in 2022. He said he sees the shelter as an “ally” in the fight against homelessness and desperation.

“I recognize that people are dealing with safety issues, I recognize the situation and I recognize that a lot of people who are homeless or intoxicated or dealing with mental health issues can be out of control,” he said. “The pandemic was a bigger catalyst [for the homelessness crisis] than the moving of Lauberivière. People in need need resources, and Lauberivière is one.”

Lachance rejected the argument that by investing in cleanliness and beautification, the city is sweeping the localized homelessness cri- sis under the rug. “We’re not just investing in cleanliness,” he said, noting that the city had invested $1 million in homelessness prevention and outreach efforts in 2025, and had repeatedly called on other levels of government to invest more in social services, supported housing and support for community organizations. “We want to have more workers and residents, more resources in place to help people in crisis, and a clean neighbourhood.”

City announces $2-million plan for St-Roch Read More »

Quebecers speak out about long COVID at National Assembly rally

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Quebecers speak out about long COVID at National Assembly

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Five years ago, life on Earth seemed to stand still as a new disease spread from person to person and continent to continent. Hundreds of millions of people around the world contracted COVID-19 and millions died from it. Many people contracted it more than once, leading to a post-COVID-19 condition commonly known as “long COVID,” which as yet has no cure. The condition can lead to debilitating fatigue, breathing problems, cognitive struggles and other symptoms which persist for months or years after a COVID infection.

On March 15, several dozen people affected by the condition, doctors and supporters gathered in front of the National Assembly to mark Long COVID Awareness Day. They placed some 200 pillowcases with written testimonies from long COVID sufferers of varying ages and backgrounds on the sidewalk in front of the National Assembly building. Athletes have been forced to quit their sports and drop out of school. Adults have been forced to find less demanding employment. Parents have been forced to choose between caring for their family and keeping a job. Some patients have become handicapped, adding yet another challenge to their lives. These are only some of the devastating stories.

The World Health Organization, Health Canada and the Ministry of Health and Social Services remind Canadians that five years after the beginning of the pandemic, coronavirus is still infecting people, some of whom will develop long COVID. Although many long COVID patients appear healthy, they are more susceptible to contracting other infections, forcing them to self-isolate for long periods.

“Long COVID is invisible. [Patients] have chronic fatigue, difficulty concentrating and fogginess,” said Dr. Marie- Michelle Bellon, an internist and member of the board of directors of the Canadian COVID Society. As a doctor and a mother, she has observed patients with these symptoms daily since her son was diagnosed with the condition in July 2022, and her daughter is also showing symptoms.

Dr. Amir Khadir, a microbiologist and specialist in infectious diseases, shares Bellon’s concerns. “Since the 10 to 15 per cent of patients who develop COVID are affected to varying degrees, these numbers could misrepresent reality because the symptoms are wrongly attributed to other medical conditions … lifestyle and stress. Their condition can worsen, especially for those who are unaware of their diagnosis, overwork their health and infect others.

“Since the first diagnosed cases of COVID-19, governments have been doing re- search. It is important to continue because we have yet to find a cure for long COVID,” said Khadir, a former Québec solidaire MNA who returned to his Montreal medical practice after leaving politics in 2018. “Currently, we do not know the precise mechanism by which some people become infected with symptoms and remain ill, while others don’t. We need to do more research. To do that, we need the help and investment of the government. If we don’t invest in clinical research, we won’t be able to offer anything for years.”

On March 15, the Association québécoise de la COVID longue (Quebec Long COVID Association) officially established plans to eventually offer home care, psychological sup- port and a dedicated helpline, as announced in August 2024. For now, the association has a basic website and about 10 trained people working on the support line. It even has a ready-to-print two-page letter for elected officials, explaining everything from diagnosis to the current state of research to fundraising and awareness-raising suggestions. Members hope that if more voters bombard elected officials with these letters, they will be more inclined to invest in long COVID research and care.

For more information in English, visit longcovidtheanswers.com or covidsociety.ca.

Quebecers speak out about long COVID at National Assembly rally Read More »

Quebec to form civilian disaster response force

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Quebec to form civilian disaster response force

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Anywhere disaster strikes in Quebec, the Réserve d’intervention d’urgence en sécurité civile (RIUSC) will be there. At a press conference in Quebec City on March 21, Public Safety Minister François Bonnardel announced that the emergency response force would be fully functional on April 1, with 200 men and women ready to be deployed across the province.

“Climate change is hitting us. The year 2023 was immensely difficult with the floods in Baie-Saint-Paul, where we lost two firefighters, and with the forest fires,” said Bonnardel. “The government is preparing for future disasters with concrete means to protect Quebecers, their property and infrastructure. RIUSC crews could be called upon install sandbags to protect infrastructure, for example, during a flood. They could also set up an emergency shelter.”

According to Bonnardel, this provincial emergency force is a first for Canada. It will allow municipalities and regions to be less reliant on the Canadian Armed Forces for assistance in case of natural disasters. The RIUSC is currently training 200 volunteers in four qualification camps set to last from Feb. 21 to March 29, for them to be deployed as early as April 1. The majority of these trainees are already part of the Quebec Search and Rescue Volunteer Association, while others are members of the Société de Protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), the Canadian Red Cross and other emergency management organizations.

Bonnardel hopes to attract another 1,000 trained volunteers in the coming years. The province has set aside a budget of $30.5 million over five years for the RIUSC.

The Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) supports this initiative, but is calling for clarifications around the funding. After establishing their disaster response coordination structure, municipalities requesting this aid must accept paying for a portion of it and will receive a bill, according to a statement from the RIUSC.

According to a report by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, bilingual personnel are especially helpful in disaster response, because people often resort to their native language in stressful situations.

For more information or to apply to become a RIUSC member, visit quebec.ca/securite-situations-urgence/securite-civile/soutien-municipalites/reserve-intervention-urgence-securite-civile-riusc.

Quebec to form civilian disaster response force Read More »

Irish flag flies over City Hall for St. Patrick’s Day 

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Irish flag flies over City Hall for St. Patrick’s Day 

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

The green, white and orange flag of Ireland was raised at City Hall on March 17, the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. For the occasion, the mayor, city councillors, consuls of Ireland and Spain, members of the organizing committee of the Défilé de la Saint-Patrick de Québec (DSPQ) and two Irish wolfhounds were present.

“This flag on this mast is a decisive beacon so that people understand that we are wel- come here in Quebec City,” said the grand marshal of the 2025 DSPQ, Bruce Kirkwood. “Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

“Heritage, history and the Irish community are very im- portant for Quebecers,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand. “It is important to renew and celebrate it annually and to repeat it again and again. We can talk about St. Patrick’s High School, Saint Brigid’s Home, the Celtic Cross, the Irish culture, Irish food, the pubs, the music, the festivities, et cetera. Quebec was and will continue to be influenced by the green, by what made us.”

The Irish community has been an integral part of Quebec City’s social fabric since the early 19th century. Countless St. Patrick’s High School alumni have left their mark on Quebec City, Quebec and Canada. Irish Quebecers celebrate their rich heritage and complex history loudly on the days leading to and following St. Patrick’s Day.

Among the numerous 2025 festivities in Quebec City, from March 15 to 22, is the DSPQ on March 22. The parade leaves St. Patrick’s High School at 2 p.m. Participants will march up Avenue Cartier and along Grande Allée and Rue Saint- Louis up to the Château Frontenac, where they will turn on Rue du Fort and Rue de Buade, ending at Place de l’Hôtel- de-Ville. Before and after the parade, families can search for the leprechauns who play tricks throughout the Old City.

Local historian Steven Cam- eron and his guests will give a talk at McMahon Hall on March 19 at 7:30 p.m. about Irish history in Quebec City. Celtic bands from near and far will perform throughout

the week, including Rosheen on March 20 at the Théâtre du Petit Champlain; the Pipes and Drums of the Chicago Police Department at the Blaxton on Avenue Cartier on March 21; the Toronto Fire Services Pipes and Drums at Le Trèfle on 3e Avenue the same evening; and Irish Moutarde at Grizzly Fuzz on March 22.

For more information, visit ville.quebec.qc.ca/saintpatrick.

Irish flag flies over City Hall for St. Patrick’s Day  Read More »

Possible mayoral candidate Hamad slams cost of tramway

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Possible mayoral candidate Hamad slams cost of tramway

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

He’s not yet officially in the race for mayor of Quebec City, but former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad appears to be staking his campaign on killing the tramway project.

Hamad’s concerns about the cost and nature of the mega-project are well known. In August, as reports surfaced of his interest in a bid for mayor, Hamad told the QCT, “There is a lot of missing data, so I can’t judge it. How much is it going to cost citizens? Nobody knows that.”

Now, in a Radio-Canada report, Hamad has declared himself ready to fight for an alternative. He said, “We have completely lost control of this project. I will propose a vision of mobility that respects the ability of Quebec citizens to pay.”

As of last week, Hamad has yet to set a date for the anticipated launch of his campaign.

His stance against the tramway, however, may have cost him a potential candidate. Isabelle Roy, the councillor for Québec d’abord in the Robert-Giffard district, had been booted from the party caucus by leader Claude Villeneuve for having had discussions with Hamad about possibly running for a party he would form.

Roy, who now sits as an independent, had told the QCT she is keeping her options open regarding the next election, and not ruling out running on a Hamad ticket.

In the wake of Hamad taking a public stand against the tramway, though, Roy may avoid hopping on board his possible campaign. In a message to the QCT, Roy said, “Quebec [City] needs a structuring transport network. It needs to be done! For four years, we’ve been going around in circles, and the project isn’t moving forward. We need to get a project off the ground!”

A “structuring transport network” is assumed to mean a system of light rail cars running on tracks.

Another former Québec d’abord councillor, now sit- ting as an independent, is taking more of a wait-and-see stance regarding Hamad and the tramway. Louis Martin, who represents the Cap-Rouge–Laurentien district, told the QCT in a message, “I haven’t seen any official statements from Mr. Hamad on the tramway, so I can’t comment on that.” Martin is a first-term councillor, having won the seat vacated by Marie-Josée Savard, former mayor Régis Labeaume’s hand- picked successor for mayor leading the party he created. Savard, who chose not to have a running mate in her district, lost the 2021 mayoral race by a slim margin to current mayor Bruno Marchand, head of Québec Forte et Fière.

Martin left Québec d’abord last week following what he told the media were “decisions and directions taken by Québec d’abord in recent months, with which I was less comfortable. Preparations for the election campaign are progressing. I found it more elegant to withdraw before all the decisions, platforms and directions were made.”

With the departure of Martin and Roy, Québec d’abord is left with five councillors, including leader and mayoral candidate Claude Villeneuve. In the 2021 election, Savard’s team won 10 of the 21 council seats. Since then, three councillors defected to the governing QFF caucus.

Hamad approached Roy and Martin directly about running for his party should he decide to run for mayor. In a telephone interview with the QCT, Roy said she met with Hamad for a cof- fee at his invitation. She said, although she does not know how, Hamad had heard she was having misgivings about Québec d’abord.

“I was drifting apart” from the party, she said. “I was considering many things. I love my colleagues and I respect them. It has nothing to do with them.”

Roy said, “I’m very, very comfortable being an independent right now.”

Of Québec d’abord’s four remaining councillors, only Alicia Despins (Vanier-Duberger) has officially declared she is run- ning again for the party. As of this writing, Anne Corriveau, Véronique Dallaire and Patricia Boudreault-Bruyère had not stated their intention to seek another term.

Possible mayoral candidate Hamad slams cost of tramway Read More »

Local Liberal MPs absent from Carney cabinet

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Local Liberal MPs absent from Carney cabinet

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

As Prime Minister Mark Carney and the 23 ministers of his Cabinet were sworn in at Rideau Hall on March 14, several faces and portfolios were noticeably absent. Former public services and procurement minister and MP for Québec Jean-Yves Duclos and former fisheries minister and Gaspésie–Îles- de-la-Madeleine MP Diane LeBouthiller, both of whom had served continuously in outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet since 2015, were not part of Carney’s cabinet; of the seven Quebecers in Carney’s cabinet, none was from a riding east of Montreal. The official languages; seniors; women, gender equality and youth; labour and regional economic development port- folios were among those that went unfilled or were consolidated into other ministries.

In a brief address to reporters, Carney said his slimmed- down cabinet would “focus on the essentials and focus on action to [address] challenges which we face … changing the way we work so we can deliver better results faster.” He said the “smaller but more experienced team” of ministers was “made to meet the moment we were in.”

Opposition leaders were quick to spotlight what they saw as omissions in Carney’s cabinet. Conservative Lead- er Pierre Poilievre and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet criticized the lack of eastern Quebec representation, presenting it as an indication of lack of respect for francophones. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, for his part, said the lack of ministers for women and gender equality, youth and labour sent the message that issues important for women, minorities and workers “didn’t matter” to the Carney government. “His plan is to ignore the plight of working people … to cut services and cut workers, which is not the right plan for Canadians,” he said.

Louis-Hébert Liberal MP Joël Lightbound, who was named parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness before a public disagreement with Trudeau over COVID policy in 2022 cost him his Cabinet seat, said he understood Carney’s desire for a smaller Cabinet.

“I understand the desire for Mr. Carney to have a very lean cabinet focused on the challenges that we’re facing and have a clear and sharp focus on how we build resilience,” Lightbound told the QCT. “This a special circumstance given that we are heading into an election, probably in the next few days.

“I’m very honoured to have worked with Mr. [Jean-Yves] Duclos. I’m proud of the work he has done over the years and I’m not worried about the weight of Quebec City in the Carney government,” said Lightbound. “The two of us, the two Liberal MPs [in the region] for the last 10 years, we have done a lot more than Conservative ministers in the region have done in the previous decade, and certainly more than the Bloc have done.” Lightbound highlighted the federal government’s preservation of the Quebec Bridge and the inclusion of the Davie Shipyard in Lévis in the long-term naval strategy as achievements he was particularly proud of.

Both Duclos, who could not immediately be reached for comment, and Lightbound have announced their intention to run again in the upcoming election, widely expected to take place this spring.

“We want to make sure that the government is there to finance the TramCité project [and] to fund research at Université Laval in my riding,” Lightbound said. “Top of mind for me will be to make sure we are smart in the way we address tariffs, so Quebec entrepreneurs and jobs are protected.”

Lightbound said he was “really looking forward” to working with Carney and his appointees. “He is the right person at the right time for this extraordinary junction in our country’s history,” he concluded.

Local Liberal MPs absent from Carney cabinet Read More »

Few party candidates nominated in city as federal election looms

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

Few party candidates nominated in city as federal election looms

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

With a federal election call expected sometime soon, only the Bloc Québécois has candidates nominated in all seven ridings in the Quebec City region.

The Bloc, with leader Yves- François Blanchet in attendance, introduced its slate at a news conference in the city on March 13.

In addition to its two incumbent MPs – Caroline Desbiens in Montmorency-Charlevoix and Julie Vignola in Beauport- Limoilou – the Bloc has nominated Simon Bérubé in the riding of Québec-Centre (formerly Québec), Christian Hébert in Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier, Valérie Savard in Louis-Hébert, Bladimir Labonite Infante in Charlesbourg–Haute-Sainte-Charles, and Martin Trudel in Louis-Saint-Laurent–Akiawenhrahk.

That latter riding is one of several in the country whose name has been changed to reflect Indigenous heritage.

Conservatives hold three seats in the region, and all three incumbent MPs are nominated to run again: Pierre Paul-Hus, the Quebec lieutenant of leader Pierre Poilievre, in Charlesbourg–Haute-Saint- Charles; Gérard Deltell in Louis-Saint-Laurent–Akiawenhrahk; and Joël Godin in Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier.

According to the party website, no other candidates have been nominated. Paul-Hus’s office had not returned a call by press time.

The Liberals are only slightly more advanced in finding and nominating candidates. The two incumbents are running again: Jean-Yves Duclos, recently excluded from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s slimmed-down cabinet, in Québec-Centre; and Joël Lightbound in Louis-Hébert.

The only other nominated candidate for the Liberals as of late last week was Denise Coulonval in Beauport-Limoilou. The seat has seen close three- way races between the Bloc, Conservatives and Liberals over the past three elections (2015, 2029, 2021).

A Liberal party official who asked to remain anonymous said there has been an increased interest in Quebec from potential candidates now that Mark Carney is leader and prime minister.

The New Democratic Party, which swept most ridings in the city in the “Orange Wave” of 2011, has nominated two candidates so far, both repeat candidates. Former Beauport- Limoilou MP Raymond Coté is making his second attempt since the 2015 election to recapture the riding. Tommy Bureau is running for a third time in Québec-Centre, after coming fourth in 2021 and 2019. The NDP won the seat in the 2011 election, ending the Bloc’s Christiane Gagnon’s 18-year hold on the downtown riding.

Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada has no seats in Parliament, but it has can- didates nominated in five of the seven ridings in the region. The Green Party, which has yet to elect a candidate in Quebec, has so far nominated candidates in three area ridings.

On the South Shore, Conservative incumbent Jacques Gourde and Liberal challenger Ghislain Daigle are nominated in Lévis-Lotbinière. In Bellechasse–Les-Etchemins–Lévis, Conservative MP Dominique Vien is nominated, as is Marie-Philippe Gagnon- Gauthier for the NDP.

Few party candidates nominated in city as federal election looms Read More »

Christmas Hamper Campaign in final push to meet 2024 goal

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Christmas Hamper Campaign in final push to meet 2024 goal

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

More than two months after delivering its last hamper, the 2024 Quebec Community Christmas Hamper Campaign is still striving to reach its $50,000 fundraising goal. As of March 11, the campaign had raised $45,157.

“We are not too far off, but expenses are a bit more significant than in the past, so even with $50,000, we are a little bit in the hole,” campaign spokesperson Brigitte Wellens told the QCT. Wellens, who has been involved with the annual fundraiser for about a decade, said 2024 was “one of the first years” that the $50,000 goal hadn’t been reached by the end of the campaign, although organizers were still waiting for numbers from the last few fundraising events.

In previous years, she said, “We’ve always reached the goal with donations that have trickled in over the holidays.”

Wellens said the rising cost of living and the postal strike which kept people from mail- ing in donations through much of November and December might have had an impact on donors’ giving habits. Demand for food aid has also risen – more than 280 households received a Christmas hamper in 2024, a 12 per cent increase from the previous year.

What Wellens has witnessed echoes current trends – over the past decade, according to Canada Helps, the number of Canadians making charitable donations has gone down continually, while the number of people relying on the services of Canadian nonprofits has continued to rise. “With the current financial situation across the country, with everything costing more – food, rent, interest rates – it was kind of like a perfect storm,” Wellens said. “Things have not stabilized and people have been hurting financially a bit more than they have in the past. It’s a sad reality.”

She added that the number of people who donated to this past year’s campaign is about the same as in previous years. “Maybe potentially, some people had to give a little less because costs were rising. Those who were able to give more did give more, and others gave what they were able.” She said the difficulty the hamper campaign faced in meeting its goal was “maybe a wakeup call that our community isn’t doing so well” financially.

The CCHC is not the only lo- cal nonprofit which has struggled to raise funds amid the rising cost of living. “We had an objective to raise $100,000 with our [year-end] campaign, but we aren’t reaching it,” said Karina Painchaud of the SPA de Québec, which relies heavily on donations to care for more than 7,000 stray animals in the city every year. “It’s hard to say without a doubt why we didn’t reach our goal – the postal strike has hurt us, and the other thing is the amount of money in people’s pockets. The cost of living has gone up, the cost of food has gone up, and there’s a limit to what people can pay.”

Neither Painchaud nor Wellens intends to let fundraising struggles impact the support given to those who need it. “If the annual campaign doesn’t work, we’re going to have to think of something else,” Painchaud said.

“No one who has asked for a hamper has ever been told they couldn’t receive one, and that is going to remain our goal going forward,” Wellens said. “Things are not getting less expensive, but that doesn’t mean we’ll start turning people away. We’re going to have to strategize.”

Christmas Hamper Campaign in final push to meet 2024 goal Read More »

Pôle Montcalm explores future of QHS building

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Pôle Montcalm looks to the future of QHS building

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

As the English-speaking community anxiously awaits the opening of the new consolidated English high school resulting from the merger of Quebec High School (QHS) and St. Patrick’s High School, residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods are exploring plans for the future of these buildings. On March 12, the Montcalm Community Hub (MCH) held its first annual general meeting at QHS to inform the public about its mission and projects, as well as the current situation surrounding this specific property.

After seeing many culturally and historically significant buildings abandoned and demolished in favour of more modern urban projects, residents of Montcalm, Saint- Sacrement, Saint-Sauveur and Sillery who spoke at the event do not want this fate to befall the QHS building. With that in mind, in 2024, five people created the MCH. Their mission, according to their website, “is to protect and enhance an essential community space. It is committed to supporting the transition of the QHS building and its green space into a sustainable community-use area.”

The cofounders “are calling on the community and all three levels of government to preserve this unique space in the face of real estate development projects. This place is not just a plot of land; it represents a gathering space, a hub for recreation and valuable con- nection between generations.”

Before any plans can be discussed, there is much to consider. This plot and its building are currently zoned institutional, meaning that the QHS lot can only be used for schools, hospitals, fire stations, libraries or government buildings. The zoning will have to be modified for any other use.

The MCH is inspired by similar successful projects, like the city’s Plan particulier d’urbanisme (PPU) for the Pôle urbain Belvédère. According to the city website, this plan favours harmonious development, respects the local population and fulfills the city’s overall objectives.

Pôle Montcalm explores future of QHS building Read More »

Star lawyer Olga Farman is new Port of Quebec boss

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Star lawyer Olga Farman is new Port of Quebec boss

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Once touted by former mayor Régis Labeaume as a worthy potential successor, lawyer Olga Farman now heads another major city institution, the Port of Quebec.

Farman, 46, replaced Mario Girard as CEO of the Port as of Feb. 1. Girard, who has held the position for the past 14 years, has accepted the post of Quebec delegate general in Tokyo.

The Port board announced Farman’s appointment on Jan. 22. Until last fall the managing partner of Norton Rose Fulbright, one of Canada’s largest law firms, Farman is no stranger to Port operations. She has been a member of the Port board since 2020 and chaired the board since June. Farman, who was not yet giving interviews about her new role as of this writing, said in a news release, “My involvement with the Port of Québec’s board of directors has given me a closer look at the fascinating world of Québec as a local and international port city.

“It also allowed me to better understand the unique issues of vital cohabitation among the various stakeholders within the social, economic and community fabric of the greater Quebec City region. I am very grateful for the opportunity to devote myself to it full-time.”

Farman’s decision to accept an administrative position, although an important one, would seem like a detour to those who saw her destined for elected office. She has admitted to having been courted by various political organizations but has so far resisted.

In 2020, Labeaume, then pondering his exit as mayor, had named Farman as having “everything it takes to be mayor of Quebec.”

Her list of corporate and community involvements is staggering, especially for some- one who headed up a sprawling law firm with offices around the world. Beside sitting on the Port board, Farman is at the governance table of the Beneva insurance and finance giant, the Caisse de dépôt et place- ment du Québec, the Musée de la Civilisation, Festival d’été de Québec and Centraide, among many others.

She has received a heap of awards, according to her resumé. She was named Avocate émérite by the Quebec Bar in 2021 and one of Lexpert’s Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in Canada in 2010. In 2011, she was named one of the 20 Young Women in Power by Canadian Business magazine, and one of the leading US/Canada cross-border corporate lawyers in Canada by Lexpert.

Farman is the daughter of immigrants from Iran who in the 1970s settled in Rivière-du- Loup, where her father taught literature at the local CEGEP. She obtained a law degree and masters of business administration from Université Laval.

In announcing her appointment, François Amyot, chair of the Port’s governance committee, said, “Olga has demonstrated beyond any doubt her ability to mobilize teams, develop talent, manage innovation and implement concrete solutions to ensure the sustainable growth of organizations.”

The Quebec Port Authority, one of seven port bodies in Quebec and 10 elsewhere in Canada, is a non-profit organization operated at arm’s length from the federal government.

Star lawyer Olga Farman is new Port of Quebec boss Read More »

Musée de la Civilisation explores the teenage brain

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Teenagers’ minds are full of wonder. Even though they might appear to be lazing around, their minds are active, creative and inventive, as demonstrated in the latest exhibit at the Musée de la Civilisation (MCQ), Teens: Creative Minds. Within the 170 square metres, 11 Canadian teens and their creations are showcased to educate and inspire future inventors.

The source of this exhibit sprouted from one of Quebec’s most innovative and renowned inventors, Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who, at the age of 15 in 1922, built the prototype of what would become the snowmobile. “We wondered how adolescence is creative. [Looking at Bombardier], we wondered why he is so creative and what drove him to be so,” said Antoine Laprade, manager of exhibits at the Musée de l’ingéniosité J. Armand Bombardier (MIJAB) in Valcourt.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of this invention, the MIJAB created this exhibit in collaboration with the Université de Sherbrooke by researching other ingenious Canadian teens. Visitors will discover 11 young Canadian inventors and their inventions, from the airless baby bottles created by Jean Saint- Germain, then 16, in 1953, to the QualyL, the robotic heart adaptable to patients’ efforts devised by Jonathan Lévesque, then 17, in 2018, to other innovations such as self-heating ski poles. The MCQ even invites visitors to test some of these inventions. The exhibit also takes a closer look at how teenagers’ brains work. At the heart of Teens: Creative Minds stands a giant structure representing the shape of the brain. Stepping into it, visitors will discover the parts of this vital organ and learn how it keeps developing right through adolescence up to around age 25, despite reaching its full size by the time a child turns six.

“By presenting this exhibition, we wanted to reach and engage an audience that is dear to us: teenagers,” said MCQ general director Julie Lemieux. “We wanted to offer a space where their dynamism and ideas take on their full dimension. It also allows us to discover unsuspected inventions, purely from our region, to which we had not previously paid attention.”Until Sept. 1, the MCQ invites the public to discover and even test these inventions.

For more information, visit mcq.org/en/discover/exhibitions/ados-cerveaux-inventifs.

Musée de la Civilisation explores the teenage brain Read More »

Bruce Kirkwood is the Grand Marshal of the 2025 Défilé de la Saint-Patrick de Québec

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

Bruce Kirkwood is the Grand Marshal of the 2025 Défilé de la Saint-Patrick de Québec

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

Green season is in full swing in Quebec City and around the region. Green, white and orange flags are being raised everywhere. Irish jigs and reels are heard loud and clear. Traditional emblems decorate Quebec City in preparation for the 2025 Défilé de la Saint- Patrick de Québec (DPSQ).

The organizers of the annual parade traditionally choose a grand marshal who has been deeply involved in the local Irish community. This year, the selection committee chose Bruce Kirkwood, a career volunteer.

“[When I was told that I was this year’s Grand Marshal], I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke or that someone was pulling my leg,” said Kirkwood. “But when I saw the seriousness in the president of the committee, Félix-Antoine Paradis’s face, I realized that the time was now. It is big. When you are named grand marshal, you are walking in some big shoes, following Dennis Dawson, Pauline Bigaouette McCarthy and the original [grand marshal], Marianna O’Gallagher, to name a few.

“Having been on the committee for a number of years, I have the list, but I did not consult it to see how I’d fit in,” said Kirkwood. “It is interesting to know that being a professional volunteer gets recognized. That is what is appreciated.”

Kirkwood is everywhere and involved in almost everything in the Irish community. He is a handyman, musician, photographer, sound engineer, driver, genealogist and more, known for his intelligence, quick wit and diplomacy. He has lent a hand at Shannon Irish Shows, Irish dancing shows and com- petitions, parades and a multitude of other events over the years. He was on the board of the DSPQ until 2023, when he stepped down as vice-president of operations.

“It is a wonderful recognition of all I have done for the Irish community and the DSPQ,” said Kirkwood. “I re- tired because I felt that I had done my part, and my role had run its course after 10 years. I had been part of the committee during the pandemic, which was a little rough, to say the least. Should I mention that [Terry Kerwin’s] passing cut my legs out from under me?”

Kerwin*, as president of the DSPQ, and Kirkwood, as vice-president of operations, complemented each other. Kirkwood said they had hit their stride to bring the DSPQ to its full potential when Kerwin died in January 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic hit a few weeks later, and the parade didn’t return until 2023.

Kirkwood and Kerwin were behind one of the parade’s most cherished traditions – the visit of five police pipe- and-drum bands from Chicago, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto, as well as the civilian Montreal Pipes and Drums, to Quebec City. The Quebec City parade is always held a week after St. Patrick’s Day, to allow all bands to march in their respective hometown parades.

Kirkwood was born and raised in Quebec City and baptized at St. Patrick’s Church. He has been volunteering since the age of 12, starting as an “in-house” DJ at the original Shannon Hall for weekend dances and events. In 1974, his family settled in Shannon, “a move that helped forge a sense of community spirit and belonging,” he wrote. “It takes a village – in this case, two: Shannon and Valcartier – to raise a passionate volunteer.” Having felt at home in Shannon, he built a home in neighbouring Saint-Gabriel- de-Valcartier, where he resides with his family and continues to volunteer.

*Disclosure: The late Terry Kerwin, former president of the Défilé de la Saint-Patrick de Québec committee, is the author’s father.

Bruce Kirkwood is the Grand Marshal of the 2025 Défilé de la Saint-Patrick de Québec Read More »

Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

On March 8, hundreds of women in red capes and white bonnets marched through Quebec City for International Women’s Day, at Laurier Québec in Sainte-Foy, in front of the U.S. Consulate in Old Quebec and in a march that ended at the Palais de Justice de Québec on Boul. Jean-Lesage. Similar protests took place at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and in 14 cities and towns across Quebec, including Montreal, Sherbrooke and Frelighsburg, on the U.S.-Canada border.

The capes and bonnets are taken from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a dystopian world in the near future, where women are stripped of their rights to read, write and control their reproductive choices. Handmaids – lower-class women whose red dresses and capes and white bonnets make them stand out – are forced to give birth to the babies of higher-class families, who wear green. The book was adapted into a popular TV series in 2017.

Inspired by the story, the Regroupement des groupes de femmes de la région de la Cap- itale-Nationale dressed in red capes and white bonnets for their protests on International Women’s Day. One red-clad group of protesters surprised shoppers at Laurier Québec around noon by walking in tight unison into the atrium with signs bearing misogynistic quotes from public figures.

Less than an hour later, the women attracted a rather large crowd when they assembled at the corner of Avenue Sainte- Geneviève and Place Terrasse-Dufferin in front of the U.S. consulate, protesting the rise of anti-feminist sentiment in the United States under President Donald Trump.

At 2 p.m., these women joined the crowd at the Centre résidentiel et communautaire Jacques-Cartier in Lower Town.

The year 2025 is the 30th anniversary of the of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a sweeping inter- national plan to achieve a better world for women and girls. To mark this milestone, feminist groups around the world, including in Quebec City, marched under the theme of “Still Fighting.” The local groups chanted in French, “Still fighting to end violence against women! Still fighting against the poverty experi- enced by women! Still fighting for feminist climate justice!”

“With everything that’s going on right now, it’s really a good

time to come together and feel less alone,” said activist Maria Tremblay. “It is not a question of gaining something over men, but equal to men. Some toxic masculine-misogynistic groups are growing in popular- ity, mainly in the States, and passing laws there that are removing the rights of women. We hear not only men but also women speak about how women must become wives, mothers and even servants to men. That boggles our minds. It is exactly what Margaret Atwood wrote about 40 years ago.”

The march ended in front of the Palais de Justice in Saint- Roch, where the handmaids in red raised their white bonnets and chanted along with the crowd, “Mother, daughter, sister, never again in fear.”

With files from Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day Read More »

City unveils $204 million for 200 infrastructure projects

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

City unveils $204 million for 200 infrastructure projects

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Starting next month, many streets and alleys throughout the city will be construction sites as crews embark on a busy program of repairs and improvements to roadways and infrastructure.

City officials unveiled the 2025 infrastructure plan at a March 4 news conference at the municipal offices in Sainte-Foy. The $204.5-million budget for some 200 different projects is $4 million more than last year, but its allot- ment for preparatory work for the tramway is the lowest in five years.

The biggest chunk of the budget, about $136 million, is to go toward repairs and upgrades to existing infrastructure. A few examples include continued work on the redevelopment of Rue Saint-Vallier Ouest, Ave. D’Estimauville rain runoff drainage, anti-flooding installations on the Lorette River, and consolidation of aqueducts and sewers on Rue Bourget.

Tramway – officially TramCité – work this year has a budget of $10 million, compared to $30 million last year, $73 million in 2023 and $58 million in 2022.

Tramway preparation projects include the relocation of underground infrastructure on Boul. Laurier between Route de l’Église and Université Laval, completion of the RTC interconnection zone in Parc Victoria, redevelopment of the former gas station property at Boul. René-Lévesque and Ave. Belvédère, as well as other infrastructure work on this major stretch of the tramway route.

Work on the tramway is at a lull while the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec infrastructure division (CDPQ-Infra) , which is managing the project, finalizes plans for the full resumption of construction next year.

Expansion and improvement of the city’s network of bicycle paths will continue with seven projects involving 12.7 kilometres of trails. Two new paths will be added: on 3e Avenue between Boul. Henri-Bourassa and 79e Rue, and on Chemin de la Canardière/Boul. Sainte- Anne between 8e Avenue and Boul. François-de-Laval.

Other bike path work entails a complete upgrade of the stretch on 4e Avenue between 25e and 52e Rues, the redo of the curb along Côte de la Pente-Douce and the improve- ment of the intersection of Rue Marie-de-l’Incarnation at Boul. Charest.

The city also plans to try a pilot project on Chemin Sainte-Foy at Ave. Brown, where a bus stop platform will be tested that allows pedestrians to board an RTC bus without hindering cyclists us- ing the bike path. It’s a system already in use in Montreal and other cities.

Among other road work slated to get underway in the spring is the creation of 1,850 metres of new sidewalks, safety zones for 13 schools, traffic lights at six more intersections and installation of sound traffic signals at 21 intersections.

Public consultations will be held for some of the projects on the city’s books. The full list can be viewed on the city website.

City unveils $204 million for 200 infrastructure projects Read More »

Tariff whiplash bad for business, CCIQ head says

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

Tariff whiplash bad for business, CCIQ head says

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Quebec City-area businesspeople are “tired of getting yanked back and forth” after months of uncertainty over tariffs on imports to the United States, Frédérik Boisvert, president-director general of the Chambre de commerce et industrie de Québec (CCIQ; Quebec City chamber of commerce and industry) told the QCT late last week, shortly after the Trump administration suspended plans to put tariffs on Canadian goods for a second time.

On Feb. 1, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian products entering the U.S., except for energy imports, which would be subject to a 10 per cent tariff. On Feb. 3, the day before tariffs were to take effect, the imposition of the tariffs was suspended for 30 days, leading Canada to pause its own planned retaliatory tariffs. On March 3, the Trump administration confirmed its intention to impose tariffs; three days later, Trump announced another pause until April 2. As of this writing, separate 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports were expected to go into effect March 12. Outgoing federal finance minister Dominic LeBlanc has said Canada plans to introduce retaliatory tariffs on April 2.

On March 4, Premier François Legault and Economy Minister Christine Fréchette announced two emergency loan programs for affected and potentially affected businesses planning to scale up productivity or diversify markets, and a 25 per cent penalty measure for U.S. businesses applying for Quebec government contracts. A spokesperson for Fréchette told the QCT the measures would remain in effect for the time being.

Boisvert said there were many local businesses that exported to the United States, both in the industrial parks and in the city proper. “Seventy per cent of our manufacturing exports go to the United States. There’s been an impact on the number of orders received, which is also impacting jobs. I have met with some members who had expansions planned, which they can’t go ahead with because there’s too much uncertainty; others wanted to scale up capacity and now that is cancelled.” He said hundreds of jobs were at stake in the region; Legault has said provincewide job losses could surpass 160,000 if the tariffs are fully implemented.

Boisvert said he hoped to see a “muscular” response from the Quebec and Canadian governments if the trade war drags on. “We are reliable and faithful partners being dragged through the mud … because of the will of one person and a few people around him.”

Boisvert said the CCIQ is trying to keep its members informed, and accompanying companies that are trying to diversify their markets and reduce their reliance on the

United States. “Europe is the biggest market in the world, there are incredible things going on in Asia … and in the francophone African market, Quebec is well-regarded there and there’s a lot of demographic growth.

“I believe we will find a solution [to the trade dispute], but there will be a pretty much complete loss of trust in the U.S. administration,” Boisvert concluded. “We need reliable partners and we’re getting the opposite.”

Tariff whiplash bad for business, CCIQ head says Read More »

Sam Hamad recruiting candidates for City Hall campaign

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Sam Hamad recruiting candidates for City Hall campaign

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

An effort to “poach” a candidate from another party is providing more proof former Liberal cabinet minister Sam Hamad is preparing to launch a campaign for the municipal election in November.

Last week, Québec D’abord, the official opposition at City Hall, announced via news release the expulsion of Isa- belle Roy, one of the party’s seven councillors, when it was learned Roy “was in discus- sions with Sam Hamad to run as a municipal councillor on his team.”

Leader and mayoral candidate Claude Villeneuve said in the release, “This situation is causing a breakdown in the bond of trust between Ms. Roy and Québec D’abord. As a re- sult, I have made the decision, with the support of our caucus, to exclude Ms. Roy from our team.”

According to a source familiar with the situation the QCT contacted, Villeneuve became aware of Hamad’s overtures to Roy when a journalist who had learned of the “discussions” called him to get his reaction. Villeneuve then called Roy to confirm her conversation with Hamad.

Roy was on vacation with her family during March Break last week; she told the QCT in a message that she was not ready to comment on the situation. She has represented the Robert-Giffard district since her election in 2021 under the banner of Marie-Josée Savard, the designated successor of longtime mayor Régis Labeaume, who narrowly lost that year’s mayoral race.

Before running for council, Roy had a long career in event organization, including the 400th anniversary celebrations of Quebec City in 2008.

Quebec’s director of elections, meanwhile, has con- firmed it has received a request to reserve the name of a new party, called Leadership Québec, in the name of temporary leader André Simard.

Simard confirmed to Radio- Canada the request had been submitted with the list of at least 100 prospective party members, the names of two leaders and an official representative.

Simard, who ran Hamad’s provincial election campaigns, said, “I won’t hide from you that we would like Sam to launch in the coming weeks, so we are preparing the ground.”

The party name – which could be adapted to include Hamad’s name – has not yet been posted on the Elections Québec website.

In a related development, the Journal de Québec reported last week that two internet domain names had been reserved: samhamad.ca and equipesamhamad.ca. When accessed, both sites are said to be “under construction.”

Reached at his office for comment, Hamad told the QCT he’d “call back later.”

Hamad, 67, was the Liberal MNA for the Quebec City riding of Louis-Hébert from 2003 to 2017. Hamad was a minister in several portfolios in the governments of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard, including minister of transport and minister responsible for the Quebec capital region. He resigned from cabinet and left politics in April 2017.

Mayor Bruno Marchand said in media reports he was “very eager” for Hamad to jump in the race. He told the Journal de Québec, “It’s about time. It’s been a long time. It’s the longest striptease in history. I can’t wait. He’s been telling everyone for months that he’s going to do it.”

Marchand said a Hamad administration would be “a step backward.”

Sam Hamad recruiting candidates for City Hall campaign Read More »

English-speaking youth from Quebec City, Lévis welcome at Youth Forum

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

English-speaking youth from Quebec City, Lévis welcome at Youth Forum

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Provincewide youth civic participation organization Youth 4 Youth Québec (Y4Y) is seeking young people aged 16-30 from the English- speaking community of the Capitale-Nationale region to participate in its annual youth forum in Montreal on Wednesday, March 19.*

The free day-long event at the Coeur des Sciences pavilion at the Université du Québec à Montréal, held under the theme “Inform, Engage and Empower,” will give teens and young adults the chance to meet other young anglophones from around the province and discuss issues facing English- speaking youth, including outmigration, media consumption and how they identify as citizens of Quebec, Canada and their local communities. The day will end with an in- formation fair featuring civic participation and career guidance organizations, health and social services agencies and an exhibition by young English- speaking artists.

“Through consultations and research, we know that English-speaking young people are often less informed than we’d like them to be about the information, the people and the resources available to them in Quebec,” said Y4Y executive director Adrienne Winrow. “At Y4Y, we always seek to inform our English-speaking youth community in a non-partisan way about various issues … and ways to get more involved in their local communities, but also in the wider society.”

Winrow said participants can expect “a warm and welcoming space where youth are the main event and their voices being heard is the main goal.”

During the panel discussions, Winrow said “we’ll be talking about the democratic deficit. We’ll be talking about identity and all the forms that it takes, particularly in youth culture. We’ll be talking about media consumption – how do people get their news these days? How important is it to them to get news? Do they make distinctions about sources and the veracity of the information they’re receiving?”

Panels will feature high school, college and university students and young professionals from around the province, and interaction between panellists and other participants will be encouraged. Winrow said she hopes the forum will start conversations about civic participation and belonging among young anglophones. About 300 youth from several regions of Quebec, including Montreal, the Eastern Town- ships, the Gaspé and the Lower North Shore, are expected to attend.

“Young people who are already engaged, who are think- ing about maybe joining the student union or becoming president of their club at school, if they’re at that level on the ladder of engagement, the Youth Forum can be a way for them to think about how they could push it further, be- cause there will be youth there who have achieved a great deal of things in their lives as English-speaking youth here in Quebec. If a student is less engaged, maybe because they feel, as many young people do, that they … don’t have a seat at the table in decision-making circles, [they can] come to the Youth Forum and see that that’s not true. This Youth Forum is for everybody … we don’t want anyone to feel like it’s not for them.”

Participants will also be offered breakfast and lunch. “We want it to be a free, fun and accessible day … a meeting of the minds,” said Winrow.

It’s not too late to sign up! To register for the Y4Y Youth Forum or learn more, visit y4y-quebec.org/youth-forum-2025.

*A previous version of this story said the Youth Forum was scheduled for March 15. March 19 is the correct date. 

English-speaking youth from Quebec City, Lévis welcome at Youth Forum Read More »

Changes to Grande Allée residential project get city approval

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Changes to 955 Grande Allée residential project get city approval

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Six years after buying the former Loto-Québec building on a prestigious site on Grande Allée, the family-owned development company appears to have the green light to transform the property into a housing complex.

It took three revisions of the initial plan, but according to Karine Simard, vice-president of Immeubles Simard, the city now seems ready to endorse the 145-unit project.

“We hope to obtain the change to the PPU (plan particulier d’urbanisme or urban development plan) in the spring and begin construction of the project in the fall. Look- ing forward to it,” Simard said in an email to the QCT.

The latest changes were unveiled at a Feb. 25 public consultation session. According to city documents, the zoning changes will be voted on and presumably approved by the end of April. The changes pertain to residential usage, maximum building height, the number of parking spaces and the amount of green space. The essentials of the plan are to build a residential building on the parking lot in a U shape behind and beside the existing building, located on Grande Allée between Ave. de Laune and Ave. de Mérici. The key to the city’s approval was the addition of green space between the buildings and the street, as well as the reduction in height of the building along Ave. de Mérici Sud from four to three storeys.

The cedar hedge that currently runs along that section of Ave. de Mérici will be preserved and all but six of some 80 mature trees on the property will be retained. Simard said the changes are “the result of several compromises that will allow Grande Allée to retain its beauty.”

The original building, opened in 1958 as an insurance company office, served for many years as the head office of Loto-Québec. The structure would stay essentially the same under the development plan, although it would be renovated to accommodate office tenants and a daycare centre.

Fifteen per cent of the units would be reserved for affordable housing; the entire project has sanction from the city based on its plan to increase the number of residential units.

Besides the 955 Grande Allée project, Immeubles Simard has several other projects under construction or in development around the city.

It was involved in two major projects in the Montcalm district in recent years, the Le Vitrail complex incorporating two historic villas on Chemin Sainte-Foy, and Les Étoiles on Grande Allée Est, a project on the site of a former monastery.

Changes to Grande Allée residential project get city approval Read More »

Day camp registration season around the corner

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Day camp registration season around the corner

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

With spring just weeks away, cities across the province are preparing for summer. Quebec City and Lévis recently announced rates, schedules and registration timelines for their summer day camps. Registration starts in early April with limited spots: 15,000 in Quebec City and 1,130 in Lévis.

With the support of 22 partner organizations, the Ville de Québec has an $11.5-million budget to cover 65 per cent of the weekly costs per child, with families paying the remaining 35 per cent. This budget includes $3.2 million for integration programs for children with disabilities. In Lévis, families pay 34 per cent and the city takes care of the remaining 66 per cent. Other Quebec cities have similar pricing structures for city-run camps.

In Quebec City, the early- bird registration price is set at $68 per week for the first child – a $2 increase from 2024 – with slightly lower rates for the child’s younger siblings, plateauing at four children or more. The city will also accommodate non-resident campers for $155 per child. Registration begins April 14 and prices go up May 6. Summer day camps will run from June 24 to Aug. 15.

Low-income families can receive financial assistance from the 22 partner recreational organizations listed on ville.quebec.qc.ca/citoyens/loisirs_sports/camps-de-jour.

Families pay more in Lévis, with the price set at $113 per child per week from June 30 to Aug. 8. Registration will take place April 7 and 8 in the west sector and April 9 and 10 in the east sector. The camp will run from June 30 to Aug. 8.

“Quebec City is a major city that offers the most accessible, most affordable day camps in the province,” said Coun. Marie-Pierre Boucher, member of the executive committee responsible for summer day camps.

In 2024, 18,449 children participated in the camps offered by Quebec City. Attendance fluctuated over the eight weeks because Quebec City offers families the option to register children for two, three or five days per week, with prices adjusted accordingly. Similar information for Lévis was not available at press time.

Both Quebec City and Lévis are currently hiring camp counsellors. Quebec City offers rates of $17.60 per hour for 35 days, while Lévis pays $16.50 per hour over 30 days. Quebec City has 2,000 positions to fill. The number of vacancies for Lévis was not available at press time. Both municipalities expect to fill the positions quickly.

City-run summer camps are offered in French only.  Voice of English-speaking Québec offers an English-language camp; visit veq.ca/directory/fit-fun-english-summer-day-camp to learn more.

For more information about city-run day camps in Quebec City, visit ville.quebec.qc.ca/ citoyens/loisirs_sports/camp-jour.

Day camp registration season around the corner Read More »

Colisée destined for demolition after 75 years

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Colisée destined for demolition after 75 years

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

On March 5, the Ville de Québec opened the doors of the Colisée de Québec to the media for a final photo-op. The group walked the vacant halls, rooms, restaurants and stands vibrating with 75 years of sports and entertainment history.

During this visit, there were no official speeches, only remarks by people who shared memories of watching famous games and shows. Many photographers and reporters recalled their first assignments covering hockey games and concerts, from the stands to the press gallery up in the rafters. The final event was a Metallica concert on Sept. 14, 2015. Two days later, the new Videotron Centre, with a capacity of over 18,000 spectators for games and 19,000 for concerts, opened for the first time.

If the walls of the Colisée could talk, they would have many stories to tell. Construction of the original building started on May 24, 1949. It still stands today, despite being hidden in plain sight after the 1980 renovations, which gave it its glass facade and more entrances. While maintaining its charm, the modernized Colisée grew to accommodate an additional 5,000 spectators, just one of the NHL requirements.

From December 1949 to May 2015, families and fans flocked to the home games of the As, Nordiques, Citadelles and Remparts, as well as the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament every February from 1960 to 2015.

The Colisée was originally nicknamed “the House Béliveau Built,” in honour of Jean Béliveau, whose minor hockey heroics filled the arena in the early days. From those games on, the ambience and atmosphere at the Colisée were electrifying, especially during Nordiques-Canadiens games. Between periods, children played street hockey in the corridors as their parents bought hot dogs, drinks and popcorn. In the meantime, players and coaches planned their moves in the locker rooms. Now vacant and stripped clean, the rooms appear tiny in comparison to those in modern arenas. For hockey fans, it’s a privilege to step onto the ice in an arena that saw the likes of Béliveau, Guy Lafleur, Jacques Cloutier, the Stastny brothers and Patrick Roy. Even Maurice “The Rocket” Richard left his mark there when he coached the Nordiques’ first two games in 1972. It’s hard to imagine the roar of the crowd when the ice has long since melted away and the vast space converted into storage facilities for the Festival d’été de Québec.

Besides hockey games, the Colisée also hosted thousands of concerts. Fans filled the amphitheatre to see and hear Céline Dion, James Blunt, Ozzy Osbourne, Korn, Blink-182, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and KISS, to name a few.

The once lively amphitheatre is now a shadow of its former self. Dust covers everything. Metal bolts on the concrete bleachers are all that is left of the 15,176 seats. The souvenir boutique is bare; the ticket counters are vacant. The lobbies are filled with neatly piled chairs, plywood and tables. A ghost-like “COLISÉE PEPSI” can still be seen on the facade, although the letters were removed in September 2019.

No demolition schedule has yet been set for the Colisée. The estimated cost is $20 million over two years.

Colisée destined for demolition after 75 years Read More »

Fewer American headliners on giant Plains stage

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Fewer American headliners on giant Plains stage

Fewer American headliners on giant FEQ Plains stage

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

With President Donald Trump ratcheting up tensions between Canada and the United States, fewer big-name American acts are headliners at this year’s Festival d’été de Québec. That’s partly intentional and partly a coincidence, according to festival organizers.

Of the 11 nights of shows on the giant Bell stage on the Plains of Abraham from July 3 to 13, only two bill-toppers are from south of the border – pop sensation Benson Boone on July 5 and heavy metal leg- ends Slayer on July 11. Latin star Farruko (July 13) is from Puerto Rico, so also American.

All other headliners are either Canadian – Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne, for example – or from elsewhere: Def Leppard from England, Hosier from Ireland and Kygo from Norway.

FEQ programming director Louis Bellavance said the fact fewer American headliners were booked was due in part to how the schedule started to come together with the avail- ability of international acts. It was also “great timing” to bag big Canadian names like Twain and Lavigne.

He said there was a sentiment to sign as few Americans as possible, “but we’re not going to say no to Benson Boone and Slayer.”

Bellavance said, “Hopefully we’ll be friends again sooner rather than later.”

Less American content or not, the FEQ lineup was strong enough to sell out quickly, with the predictable grumbling from those who were unable to secure passes, priced this year at $165.

Bellavance said the online sale “went perfectly from our end. We controlled everything we could. We can guarantee the proper amount of tickets are sold. No robots bought a pass.”

Including discounted passes for Desjardins credit union members, a total of 125,000 general admission passes found takers within three hours of going on sale Feb. 26 at noon.

Bellavance said there are no laws against individuals reselling their passes. “People are allowed to do what they want.”

For most people, Bellavance said, even if festival-goers see just one show they really enjoy, “it’s value for their money.” He said the system is designed on the expectation that not all pass-holders will want to see every show and people will be interested in sharing or renting out passes for other shows.

Bellavance said he is thrilled with yet another resounding response to the festival offerings. “I think we are surfing on something spectacular and amazing,” he said, adding that organizers “never take it [fans’ support] for granted.”

Fewer American headliners on giant Plains stage Read More »

Caire resigns as minister over SAAQClic debacle

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Caire resigns as minister over SAAQClic debacle

Caire resigns over SAAQClic fiasco

Kevin Dougherty

kevindougherty@qctonline.com

Cybersecurity minister Éric Caire has stepped down in the wake of the scandal engulfing Quebec’s public auto insurance agency. The Société d’assurance auto- mobile du Québec (SAAQ), which manages the province’s no-fault car insurance and issues drivers’ licences and vehicle registrations, has been under fire since a failed transition to a new online platform two years ago caused chaos at service centres. In a report released Feb. 20, Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc found a planned $638-million update to the online system ultimately cost taxpayers over $1 billion. Opposition MNAs were outraged, calling for an investigation.

When asked if government ministers were aware of the overrun before the new SAAQclic system crashed two years ago, resulting in some Quebec motorists still without metal licence plates, Leclerc said she could not answer that. However, in an interview with Le Devoir, Karl Malenfant, then SAAQ vice-president in charge of the project, said he did inform Caire in June 2022. Caire denied Malenfant’s version of events, but ultimately resigned as minister on Feb. 27. On March 2, as this newspaper was being prepared for publication, Premier François Legault said an independent public inquiry would be launched in the coming days. “When there are failures in government, even if it is within a Crown corporation, at the end of the day we are the ones accountable to the population and we must assume this responsibility. I want us to get to the bottom of things and there are several issues that we must clarify,” the premier wrote on social media.

Caire has said he plans to stay on as MNA for the riding of La Peltrie, which includes Shannon and Sainte-Catherine de la Jacques-Cartier. Gilles Bélanger, MNA for the riding of Orford in the Eastern Townships, until recently the government’s point person on expanding access to high-speed internet, will succeed Caire as minister.

With files from Ruby Pratka, LJI reporter

Caire resigns as minister over SAAQClic debacle Read More »

Union suspends manual workers’ strike before March Break

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Union suspends manual workers’ strike before March Break 

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The union representing manual workers at the Ville de Québec suspended its indefinite strike on Feb. 27 after one week, citing “positive developments” in its discussions with the city administration.

The union’s most recent collective agreement expired at the end of 2023, and negotiations have been ongoing since February of last year; members also held a six-day strike last July. Last month, 90 per cent of members voted to reject the city’s final offer. In a statement at the time, SCFP local 1638 president Luc Boissonneault, said pay equity, work-life balance and predictable schedules were major sticking points in the negotiations, and that members were increasingly leaving to work in Lévis or in the private sector.

However, on Feb. 27, Boissonneault said negotiations were moving forward. “The employer’s representatives, like ours, have shown interest in exploring possible solutions that give us hope of finally find- ing a mutually satisfactory way forward,” he said in a statement. “Resuming activities is the right thing to do.”

Over the course of the weeklong strike, snow removal and garbage pickup were delayed and city-run ice rinks, pools, recreation centres and outdoor activity centres were closed. In a series of statements, city officials said normal opening hours at affected facilities would resume by March 3, and snow removal and garbage collection would also return to normal.

“The Ville de Québec welcomes the decision of the Syndicat des employés manuels to suspend its unlimited general strike … in order to facilitate a rapid settlement for the benefit of both parties and all citizens of Quebec. The discussions that took place yesterday, in the presence of the mediator, were constructive and allowed the city to reiterate that the desired solution must necessarily take into account citizens’ ability to pay,” city officials said Feb. 27. Mayor Bruno Marchand told reporters the suspension of the strike was “damned good news.”

“It’s a relief, and I thank them,” he said.

As of this writing, negotiations between the two parties are ongoing.

Union suspends manual workers’ strike before March Break Read More »

Former hotel and homeless shelter to become apartment complex

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Former hotel and homeless shelter to become apartment complex

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

It was once an upscale hotel, then it became a homeless shelter; now the landmark building on Rue Saint-Paul across from the train station is being transformed into a modern housing and commercial complex.

The home until recently of the Lauberivière homeless shelter, the four-storey corner building with the distinctive tower will become Le 401, reflecting the building’s civic address, with 142 apartments built into the existing structure plus a new annex.

The project’s lead developer is family-owned C76 Investissements, in partnership with other companies, including Beauce-based steelmaker Groupe Canam.

The $52-million project, with some $3 million from city funds, was announced at a news conference on Feb. 24, with municipal officials in attendance.

The project will give the building “a third life,” C67 president Jérôme Côté told the QCT. The building opened in 1927 as the Château Champlain, in which then-mayor Joseph Samson was a share- holder; the hotel was strategically located across the street from the train station.

In 1981, the building was put up for sale and a group organized by the Catholic Diocese of Quebec turned it into a shelter two years later. In 2018, Lauberivière announced a project for a new shelter in Saint-Roch, financed in part by proceeds from the sale of the building.

The timing was right for his company, Côté said, as it had been seeking a project of its own to put some innovative construction practices into action without being constrained by pressure from clients.

After buying the building in 2021, the company had to remove asbestos insulation from the interior before renovation work could begin.

Côté said Le 401 is a pilot project for such environmental techniques as recycling the existing masonry and especially the steel, hence the involvement of Groupe Canam. Côté said the “circularity” of steel repurposing in the project means some of the steel in the current structure will be used in the new annex, and what can’t be used will be turned into furnishings or decoration for Le 401 or used to build something elsewhere in the city.

Another environmental feature, Côté said, will be a geothermal system and an energy loop to maximize energy efficiency. He said the project is aiming for a zero-carbon certification.

Because of the limitations of the structure of the building, Côté said most units would be studio or one-bedroom apartments, although there will be a few two-bedroom units. Rents will range from $1,100 to $3,000.

Mayor Bruno Marchand said the project fits with the city’s plan to boost the residential population of the Old City. “Our goal is to bring 500 more people back to the area,” he said.

“The revitalization program is an example of this. If we want to achieve our goal, it takes concrete action, and that is exactly what we are doing – and today, we have great proof that these efforts are paying off.”

The city’s financial support includes $545,000 under the sustainable housing projects program, and up to $3.5 million from a fund to support renovation of heritage buildings in the Old City.

Construction is expected to start in the fall with completion targeted for spring 2027.

Côté said, “Our work over the last few months has been to think about an architectural proposal that will allow the preservation of most of the existing building, facing Rue Saint-Paul, because we wanted to honour this piece of history that this century-old building represents.”

The developers do not yet know which businesses will be tenants on the street level, but Côté said they would be the type to integrate with the building and the neighbourhood.

Former hotel and homeless shelter to become apartment complex Read More »

Ukrainian Quebecers mark three years of war

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Ukrainian Quebecers mark three years of war

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter 

Cassandra@qctonline.com

As Quebecers continue with their lives, compete in friendly sporting events and celebrate the beauty of winter, war wages on in Ukraine. Russia dropped more bombs on the eve of the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

On Feb. 23, Ukrainian communities around the world, including across Canada and in Quebec City rallied to send a message of support to those still fighting for their lives, peace, justice and liberty in Ukraine. 

The Associations of Ukrainians of Lévis and Quebec City organized a peaceful gathering in front of the National Assembly where hundreds of people shared words of love, solidarity and hope for a better future. 

“The war in Ukraine has been going on for three long years … years of destruction, but also of incredible resilience and exemplary courage,” said Bohdana Porada, president of the Alliance des Ukrainiens de Québec. “We are here to remind people that the Russian aggression continues to breathe with full lungs.” She continued, “The people of Ukraine are showing the world the true meaning of dignity and liberty. Ordinary men and women have become heroes. We have to fight for a place where children won’t be obliged to fight.”

Porada, like her fellow Ukrainians now living in Canada, looks to the government for a solution to end this war. The Canadian government has already given over $19.5 billion in assistance to Ukraine, including $4.5 billion in military aid since February 2022, in addition to training more than 42,000 members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Canada will support Ukraine joining NATO, something that must be done urgently, even at the cost of President Volodymyr Zelensky stepping down. This comes after President Donald Trump called him “a dictator with elections” and claimed Ukraine was the instigator of this warfare. 

“We have to work hard for peace, justice and liberty. We are all revolted by what we have heard from President Donald Trump. We cannot let ourselves be intimidated,” said the Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos who was present at the assembly. “We will always be there to support Ukraine. We will always be there to defend peace, liberty and justice.” His words of support were echoed by MNAs Jean-François Simard and Étienne Grandmont. 

To raise more money for the reconstruction of his homeland, Ukrainian cyclist Dariy Khrystyuk bikes long distances in an initiative he named “Je roule pour l’Ukraine.” During the night of Feb. 22 to 23, he pedalled from Montreal to Quebec City through snow, low visibility and in total solitude, arriving just after 2:30 p.m. to a large welcoming committee. “I find inspiration from the Cossacks, symbolic warriors of Ukraine, to push through the challenging obstacles,” he said. 

This was Khrystyuk’s fourth long-distance fundraising challenge. In 2023, he biked 53,000 kilometres from Vancouver to Quebec City. “I wish to complete the Canadian trail to Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said. “After I finish my studies in 2027, I want to donate all the money after biking from Bordeaux to Kyiv (over 3,000 km).” Hopefully, he will pedal to a country still standing. 

Ukrainian Quebecers mark three years of war Read More »

Local leaders on board with high-speed rail plan

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Local leaders on board with high-speed rail plan 

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Reaction has been almost unanimously positive to the federal government’s decision to hire a consortium to build a high-speed rail service between Quebec City and Toronto.

The 1,000-kilometre line would have stops in the Quebec capital, Trois-Rivieres, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough and Toronto. The trains would be electric and travel at up to 300 km/h.

Frederik Boisvert, the president and CEO of the Chambre de Commerce et D’industrie de Québec, said in a statement to the QCT, “With this project, Canada is finally joining the ranks of major global economies that have recognized the importance of high-speed transportation for their prosperity and growth. 

“This initiative represents an exceptional opportunity for the Quebec region. We must ensure that our business ecosystem fully benefits from these infrastructure investments.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand was equally enthusiastic. Speaking at a city hall scrum in the wake of the Feb. 19 announcement, the mayor called the federal government’s earlier proposal for a high-frequency service “crap” where billions would be spent to cut 20 minutes off a trip. He said the new high-speed plan, however, is the way to go and the higher cost “is worth it.”

Marchand added, “It’s a big project. But the economic impact of this project is going to be major for our cities. It’s going to be major for Montreal. It’s going to be major for Trois-Rivières, for Quebec City. It’s going to be major for mobility, not just for people, but workers.”

In Trois-Rivières, which lost passenger rail service in 1990 with VIA Rail cuts, civic officials said they were pleased with being on the proposed high-speed line. Jean-Philippe Martin, president of the Trois-Rivières Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told Radio-Canada, “It would be fun if people could go see a show either in Trois-Rivières or in Montreal, and be able to come back by train at the end of the evening. There has to be a [good] frequency for people to be interested in taking it.”

As for the Quebec government, Infrastructure Minister and Minister for the Quebec City region Jonatan Julien, told the Journal de Quebec the Alto project is “a very good idea” that the government supports. “A TGV (train de grande vitesse) that leaves from Quebec City with a corridor is fantastic. We can move around more quickly. Also, these are major investments, so there are economic benefits. And there are mobility issues that are interesting.”

A notable sour note about the Alto project came from federal Conservative transport critic and Toronto-area MP Philip Lawrence. In a post on X, the MP said, “The prime minister will be gone in two weeks. The minister of transport will not be seeking re-election. Today’s announcement is a lame-duck statement from a lame-duck government. Today’s announcement is yet another promise with no details that will take years and $3.9 billion on planning and bureaucracy, without laying a single piece of track,” he said.

In January, when there were doubts about the future of a major rail project given the state of political uncertainty, Conservative Party Quebec lieutenant and Charlesbourg MP Pierre Paul-Hus said in a statement, “After nearly a decade of the Liberal government of [Justin] Trudeau, there is no high-speed rail project, strictly speaking, it does not exist.”

Local leaders on board with high-speed rail plan Read More »

Feds chose consortium to build Quebec City-Toronto high-speed rail

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Feds chose consortium to build Quebec City-Toronto high-speed rail 

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Sometime in the foreseeable future, Canadians may hop on an Alto train to get from Quebec City to Toronto, and several stops in between. They’ll be spending roughly half the time making the trips they do now, because the train will be travelling at up to 300 kilometres per hour.

At a Montreal news conference on Feb. 19, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with Transport Minister Anita Anand, and Alto president and CEO Martin Imbleau at his side, announced the selection of the consortium tasked with getting the 1,000-km-long, all-electric project rolling.

A dedicated passenger rail link in the Quebec-Toronto corridor has been studied for at least 30 years, in an effort to liberate VIA Rail from the poor service and reliability that comes with sharing tracks with rail cargo traffic.

Since 2016, the Trudeau government has been promoting a high-frequency service, but last year switched gears and opted for the high-speed train plan, on mostly existing tracks on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

The consortium, called Cadence, combines several well-known transportation and engineering outfits, including Air Canada and Kéolis, a French-owned passenger bus company. The other members are the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec infrastructure division; AtkinsRéalis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering firm; SNCF Voyageur, the French national company that operates high-speed rail in France; and SYSTRA Canada, a global engineering company specializing in transport projects.

Anand said Alto, a separate entity, would be signing the contract with Cadence “in the coming weeks” to start the detailed planning for the project over the next six years, with a $3.9 billion investment, on top of some $370 million already committed in the most recent federal budget. 

Trudeau, calling Alto “Canada’s largest ever infrastructure project,” said “high-speed rail will turbocharge the Canadian economy – boosting GDP by up to $35 billion annually, creating over 51,000 good-paying jobs during construction, and unlocking enhanced productivity for decades to come. By connecting economic hubs at rapid speed, businesses will have more markets to sell to and workers will have more job opportunities.”

Anand, who has said she does not plan to run in the next election, said, “Today’s announcement will put passengers first, with dedicated tracks between Toronto and Quebec City passing through Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, and Trois-Rivières. This will cut train travel times in half. It will promote growth in regional economies and reduce emissions at the same time. It’s a nation-building project we can all be proud of.”

Asked about the project’s fate in the event of a change in government, Trudeau said, “It was always going to be one that took long enough to build that it would cover multiple governments. It takes will and determination by a government to move forward and lock in this project. … Obviously, future governments will make their determinations about how to invest, but this investment … is going to be very difficult to turn back on.” 

Imbleau, the former head of the Port of Montreal and senior executive at Hydro-Québec and Énergir, took on the job of Alto boss in September 2023. He said at the news conference, “A high-speed rail service is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” given the pressures on other modes of transport. 

Imbleau said the design and planning team would ensure the right plan is in place before construction actually begins. “We will take our time in order to avoid problems later on. In four or five years we will know what, how and how much (it will cost) in detail.”

Cadence was one of three consortia bidding on the project in a process launched in October 2023. In a statement, CDPQ Infra president Jean-Marc Arbaud, said, “This landmark project is set to revolutionize mobility in Canada for future generations. The Cadence consortium’s unparalleled expertise, synergy, and successful track record offer Alto, the Crown corporation with which we will develop this project, a trusted partner to bring this visionary project to life at the best possible cost.”

According to some studies, the cost to build the Alto service could reach $120 billion. 

Feds chose consortium to build Quebec City-Toronto high-speed rail Read More »

City approves Ilôt Dorchester project with reduced height

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City approves Îlot Dorchester hotel with reduced height

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The city has approved the Îlot Dorchester project thanks to a “compromise” entailing trimming three storeys from the project’s centrepiece hotel.

Mayor Bruno Marchand announced, before the Feb. 27 city council meeting, he had given the green light to a revised plan with a 17-storey rather than 20-storey hotel anchoring the major development in what is now a huge parking lot in the heart of the Saint-Roch district.

He told reporters because of significant housing needs in Saint-Roch, “it would have been hard to say no. We need this project and we are going for it.”

Some residential groups had opposed the project on the grounds of housing density and the height of the hotel. The developer, Groupe Trudel, had submitted several versions of the project, each addressing local concerns including green space and social housing. 

The current development plan for the sector of Saint-Roch has a maximum of 10 storeys for buildings, although there are several structures higher in the immediate neighbourhood. Ilot Dorchester will require an amendment to the zoning plan.

Public consultations will be held “in the coming weeks,” Marchand said, and no referendum is required to approve the zoning change.

Groupe Trudel president William Trudel explained in a Radio-Canada interview the company was able to maintain the profitability of the tower structure by moving the hotel component to the larger lower part of the building.

“We reached an agreement in the last few days with the major (hotel) brand that accepted this compromise. It allows us to lower the building to 17 floors, which was not possible before,” Trudel said.

The debate over the project, valued at about $300 million, has caused a six-month delay in the planned start of construction, now slated for late spring. The complex, comprising 400 housing units in four separate buildings, a large surface grocery store, the hotel and various green spaces, is expected to be completed in 2028.

The property, bordered by Rue Saint-Vallier, Rue Dorchester, Rue Sainte-Helene and Rue Caron, was once a busy industrial block, with tanneries and factories related to shipbuilding. Groupe Trudel bought the site in 2022 after managing the parking lot for two years.

Îlot Dorchester is the fourth major combined commercial and residential project the company has in the works. The others are redevelopments of Place Fleur de Lys, Galeries Charlesbourg and Place des Quatres Bourgeois. 

City approves Ilôt Dorchester project with reduced height Read More »

Quebec Winter Carnival triumphs over the weather

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Quebec Winter Carnival triumphs over the weather

Cassandra Kerwin, LJI reporter

Quebec Winter Carnival triumphs over the weather  

Cassandra Kerwin

Cassandra@qctonline.com

Not even a blizzard or two could keep people from enjoying the 71st Winter Carnival. Organizers pulled out all the stops to create another memorable and successful edition. 

The 71st Winter Carnival closed on Feb. 16 with the traditional St-Hubert Snow Bath. Men and women wearing nothing but swimsuits, tuques and boots jumped into a pile of snow surrounded by a warmly dressed cheering crowd. “Every year, we come to Quebec City and the carnival as a family trip. This year, I had to call my husband’s bluff,” said Sarah O’Malley from Atlanta, Georgia. “He says he never gets cold. So I signed him up for the Snow Bath.” After watching the first of two waves of people, smiling from ear to ear, he dove right into the snow to make a snow angel.

Local artist and muralist Phelipe Soldevila supervised Graff the Ice Palace. “It is pretty crazy. It is actually something we had done unofficially [in 2018] when I and my artist friends were hired to create live art. It is great to see it officially part of the carnival,” he said. “Everyone is enjoying themselves, which is the main objective. It really shows you that art sometimes is not about the end result and more about the process.” 

Tagging and painting graffiti on the Ice Palace was a popular activity. Even the executive director of the carnival, Marie-Eve Jacob and program director Jérôme Déchêne added their creative touches. Throughout the carnival, they visited the sites and participated in numerous activities and events. 

“This year, we continued to root our vision, which is to offer extraordinary activities that cannot be done outside the carnival and that defy conventions,” said Jacob. “The sold-out rappelling on the Château Frontenac and the Popunderwear Carnival White Night at the Cercle de la Garnison are good examples of this. We aim to balance these extravagances with the traditions that have made the event’s reputation, but that we enhance by constantly evolving them, such as the Palais de Bonhomme and the night parades.”

“We make a conscious effort to reach a variety of clientele,” added Déchêne. “For example, we had activities for families during the day and young adults in the evening, in addition to offering programming that is popular and festive, sometimes contemplative. We tend towards a very interesting balance that allows us to affirm that there is something for everyone at the Quebec Winter Carnival.”

“Quebec City was the number one destination in Canada during the two carnival weekends with an occupancy rate of 85 per cent the first weekend and for now, we’re looking at 90 per cent for the last weekend,” said Déchêne. 

Organizers mentioned that musicians, entertainers and spectators loved the shows under the Dome for the second consecutive year. The night parades attracted large crowds from start to finish. Large crowds watched 54 teams participate in the ice canoe race across the St. Lawrence River for the 130th year and 70th carnival race. The official sites, Zone Loto-Québec, Zone Kraft Jukebox and Scotiabank Sculpture Garden always had a good flow of people. None of this would have been possible without the dedication and loyalty of the 450 volunteers. 

For those who want more, there’s the Télé-Québec (in French) six-episode documentary series La fièvre des festivals which invites you to take a behind-the-scenes look at the Quebec Winter Carnival, the Francos de Montréal, the Festif! de Baie-Saint-Paul and the St-Tite Western Festival.

The Quebec Winter Carnival will be back from Feb. 6 to 15, 2026.

Quebec Winter Carnival triumphs over the weather Read More »

CAQ to hold info sessions on ‘third link’ as details leak

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

CAQ to hold info sessions on ‘third link’ as details leak 

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peteblack@qctonline.com

Residents will have an opportunity to learn more about options for the “third link” at information sessions recently announced by Transport and Sustainable Mobility Minister Genevieve Guilbault, to be held on Feb. 26 in Quebec City and Feb. 27 in Lévis.

According to a press release, “Representatives from the ministry will be on site to provide information, gather participants’ impressions and answer questions concerning, in particular, the corridors under study as well as the current and future stages of the project.”

The session in Quebec City will be at the Travelodge Hotel on Blvd. Hochelaga, and the Lévis one at the Lévis Convention Centre, on Rue J-B Michaud. Both sessions run from 3 to 8 p.m.

The announcement of the sessions comes as information about the routes being studied leaks out. A Quebec Solidaire MNA said he has documents from a transport ministry whistleblower that the government favours a downtown-to-downtown tunnel. (See separate story below).

A Radio-Canada report, based on leaked documents, said bridges built to the east of the downtown areas of Quebec City and Lévis “would contravene almost all government guidelines on land use planning. Analyses by the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable (MTMD) reveal several points that are ‘incompatible’ if the option favoured by the Legault government comes to fruition.”

The study, which examined several possible “third link” scenarios, including two bridge routes to the east, the option initially favoured by Premier Francois Legault, indicated the project would involve “a significant encroachment on several forest areas, wetlands and more than 77 hectares of agricultural land on the South Shore, the equivalent of nearly 150 football fields.”

The report also revealed the two eastern bridge routes would “result in the demolition of several residences and apartment blocks along Sainte-Anne Boulevard and the demolition of around 10 residential properties on the South Shore.”

There is one positive element about a bridge to the east mentioned in the report obtained by Radio-Canada: It would “promote the attractiveness of the territories and the dynamism of the communities in addition to connecting industrial zones and existing employment centres. This is the only government orientation in regional planning compatible with both scenarios.”

In an interview with the Journal de Quebec, Guilbault said the leaks about bridge and tunnel studies are likely coming from people within the civil service  “who oppose the project, just like the three opposition parties.”

The opposition at city hall reacted to the latest CAQ controversy over its plans for a bridge or tunnel.

Official Opposition and Québec d’Abord Leader Claude Villeneuve told a city hall media scrum, “I look at the government’s conduct on the third link and I can’t help but draw a parallel with what Donald Trump is doing on tariffs … there’s a kind of chaos that’s created. It means that we only talk about that and we don’t talk about other subjects anymore.”

Limoilou Coun. and Transition Quebec Leader Jackie Smith said the recent revelations are “proof beyond any doubt that this project must be stopped. We must end the project and kill the third link.”

She said, “It is absurd that … Guilbault is so attached to a project that makes no sense. She is ready to force a third link down our throats in the east despite the expertise of her own department’s officials.” 

The minister, for her part, noted in the release announcing the information sessions, that “23 companies responded to the international call for interest launched on Oct. 11, 2024 … The number and reputation of the participating companies confirm that our project for a third link between Quebec City and Lévis is serious and credible.”

She added, “I invite all citizens of the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches regions who are interested to come and learn more about the steps we have taken and those that await us.”

Full details on the information sessions can be found on the website: Quebec.ca/troisiemelien. 

CAQ to hold info sessions on ‘third link’ as details leak Read More »

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste years away from becoming cultural centre

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste years away from becoming cultural centre

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste years away from becoming cultural centre 

Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The Ville de Québec has launched two calls for tenders for “architectural services” for urgent work on Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste, although the city councillor for the district has warned it could be years before the landmark church can fully reopen as a cultural centre. 

Built between 1881 and 1885, the church hosted mass for the last time in May 2015. Since then, it has sat empty, opening sporadically for funerals and for visits during the Journées de la Culture. The city acquired the church for $175,000 from the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parish council last year after an earlier deal to cede it to an Egyptian Coptic congregation fell through. 

A contractor is already working to decontaminate the church basement, rendered unusable by water infiltration. 

Cap-aux-Diamants Coun. Mélissa Coulombe-Leduc, also a member of the executive committee responsible for heritage preservation, said the city wants the church to be “temporarily occupied” as soon as possible. For that to happen, she said, completing the decontamination of the basement is “high on the list, but there’s also work to be done on the windows and the roof. … We have to finish the work the parish has [started], restore the doors and do some work on the masonry.” 

The combined cost of the basement decontamination and restoration of the windows alone is estimated at $8.5 million. Coulombe-Leduc said the city is hoping to secure additional funding from the provincial Conseil du patrimoine religieux (religious heritage council) and the federal government. 

Coulombe-Leduc did not provide a cost estimate or a timeline for all of the needed repairs, or a cost ceiling beyond which the city would no longer fund the restoration. 

“Considering the heritage value of the church, I have always thought the city should not be the only stakeholder,” she said. “We’ve asked the religious heritage council and the federal government, and we are going to look for money elsewhere. [The restoration] will cost a few million dollars, and it won’t all be short-term spending; spreading it out over a few years allows us to amortize the impact.” 

She said she hoped the cultural centre and exhibition space planned for the church would ultimately generate revenue for the city and help revitalize the neighbourhood. Before moving forward with the full cultural space project, known as Le Carrefour, the plan is to reopen the building “sooner rather than later” for community events such as Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood council meetings and neighbourhood flea markets. 

“Five years from now, we won’t be [finished with] the final project, but the church will be reopened for the people of the community,” she said.  

Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste years away from becoming cultural centre Read More »

Health officials advise caution amid flu surge

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Health officials advise caution amid flu surge

Ruby Pratka, LJI reporter

Health officials advise caution among flu surge

Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The province is experiencing its roughest flu season since before the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials confirmed last week. On Feb. 14, public health director Dr. Luc Boileau and Santé Québec deputy vice-president Robin Marie Coleman briefed reporters on the spread of respiratory viruses around the province.

“The good news is that COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus [test positivity rates] are continuing to drop. The bad news is that the influenza A curve is still rising,” Boileau said. “A few weeks ago, we said the peak would arrive around the first or second week of February. We are in the second week of February, so the data we have over the next week will allow us to determine whether it’s continuing to rise or if it’s stagnating or falling off.” 

Boileau said this flu season is one of the worst in the last decade. He said the Estrie and greater Montreal regions were the most affected, with positivity rates above 40 per cent, although there was no immediately obvious epidemiological reason why this was the case. 

Boileau said elderly people and young children face the highest risk of serious complications from the flu. He encouraged the general population, especially health-care workers, future parents and people with chronic illnesses, to take advantage of free flu vaccination, available at most local pharmacies via ClicSanté. “It’s not too late!” 

He noted that elderly and at-risk people can get a flu or COVID test at their local pharmacy and receive medication to stave off complications. People who are experiencing flu-like symptoms are encouraged to call Info-Santé 811 to speak to a nurse before going to the emergency room. “It’s better and healthier for people to stay at home if they have non-urgent care [situation] and wait in order to be redirected to a clinic directly with an appointment rather than expose themselves in an emergency room when it’s not an emergency situation,” Coleman said. 

Boileau advised people with the flu or flu-like symptoms to isolate at home unless absolutely necessary. “If you must leave home, to go to work or what have you, wear a mask while you have symptoms. You can be contagious seven or eight days after the beginning of symptoms. It’s not measles, but it’s still a very contagious virus. Be careful, wash your hands, cough in your elbow and take all of the other measures you’ve been hearing about.” He also suggested that people who are members of vulnerable groups wear masks in crowded environments, although the health ministry has no plans to impose additional mask requirements. 

Health officials advise caution amid flu surge Read More »

The 71st Winter Carnival is open

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Cassandra Kerwin

cassandra@qctonline.com

The 71st Quebec Winter Carnival is now open! From Feb. 7 to 16, people will celebrate winter in all its glory. They will skate with Bonhomme, visit his Ice Palace, dance in the Kraft Juke Box, tour the garden of ice sculptures, watch the night parades and enjoy the many partner activities. There is something to please everyone.

“I am very proud to see everyone here assembled to celebrate the opening of the 71st Winter Carnival, to celebrate winter and the cold,” said Bonhomme. “I hope to see you at the Carnival.”

As tradition demanded, May- or Bruno Marchand handed Bonhomme the key to the city at the opening ceremony on Feb. 7. “I want you to take good care of our city because it is the most beautiful winter city in the world, as stated by people from all over the world! You are the master of the city over the next ten days!” With those words, Marchand handed Bonhomme a giant brass key, officially opening the Winter Carnival.

Inspired by the falling snow, MNA for Montmorency Jean- François Simard quoted Gilles Vigneault, “‘Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver,’” he said. “Quebec City and Quebecers love winter. There is no winter in Quebec City without the Winter Carnival! There is no Winter Carnival without Bonhomme.” He continued, “Bonhomme, you have been bringing us joy and sun every winter for 71 years! Every year, we are happy to see you again! On behalf of the Quebec government, I wish you all a wonderful Carnival.”

After the ceremony, the stage was set for the opening show, featuring stand-up comic and singer Mariana Mazza and her guests. Wearing a red fake-fur hat, a Nordiques jacket and moon boots, Mazza had the crowd laughing to her quick wit and vulgar jokes and dancing and singing along with her Bon Jovi covers, “Living on a Prayer” and “It’s My Life.” She asked the crowd not to blow their horns, to which a spectator objected, adding an unexpected comical dialogue to the show. The rest of the show was a mixture of jokes, songs and dance moves performed by Véronique Claveau, Erika Suarez, Rafaëlle Roy, King Melrose and Émily Bégin. Until Feb. 16, anyone with a Carnival effigy can tour the Ice Palace at Zone Loto-Québec (Place de l’Assemblée-Nationale), the ice sculpture garden (Parc de la Francophonie) or the giant Philadelphia Ferris Wheel in the Kraft Jukebox (Place George-V). In Lower Town, visit Bonhomme’s Beach behind Espace 400. There are over 50 partner events and activities throughout the Quebec City region.

For more information, visit carnaval.qc.ca.

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