Montreal Won't Give Out Parking Tickets To Rule-Breakers Today (Within Reason)

As city workers clear the streets of debris and Hydro-Québec crews replace fallen wires, Mayor Valérie Plante is asking residents to be ready to move their vehicles to make way. To give drivers more flexibility, she announced the city would suspend ticketing for many non-dangerous parking rule violations.

The measure is expected to last one day, Friday, April 7. Normal parking rules, the mayor said, would resume on Saturday, April 8.

It's not a free-for-all, however. There are still limitations. "Parking in front of fire hydrants or in unsafe locations remains prohibited," Plante specified.

The mayor announced a similar measure on Thursday, April 6. Contacted by MTL Blog, a city spokesperson said at the time that Montreal still "urges the public to be cautious and to do their best to obey the signage in effect, as long as it is safe to do so."

Of the 1.1 million Hydro-Québec customers that lost power following the April 5 freezing rain storm, the company had reconnected over 540,000 by mid-day Friday. It said it expected to restore power to roughly another third of the initial total by the end of the day. Some customers, it warned, wouldn't see electricity until the weekend.

On Thursday evening, the city of Montreal opened six emergency warming shelters where residents could spend the night and access hot water. They are still open Friday. They are located in

• the Centre Lasallien in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension,
• the Centre communautaire Marcel-Giroulx in Verdun,
• the Centre sportif Côte-des-Neiges and
• Centre sportif Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce,
• and the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.