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valerie plante

Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean Wants To Run For Mayor Of Montreal & Eliminate All Orange Cones

AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys paid a visit to Montreal this week and even he's had it with the orange cones. With the construction epidemic remaining rampant across Montreal, we don't blame McLean for wanting to eliminate orange construction cones for good and it appears he's already got a plan on exactly how he'll do it.

On Thursday, September 28, McLean was spotted filming on the construction-ridden streets of Downtown Montreal surrounded by orange cones, scaffolding and even a couple of construction workers.

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Montreal's REM Is Officially Rolling — Here's What It's Like To Ride

The world often seems slow to embrace change, but some moments arrive with a surge of speed. That's how it felt at the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) inaugural ceremony on July 28 when a Montreal REM train slid into view at Brossard station, forming the backdrop for federal and provincial leaders to herald the city's new era in public transportation.

The magnitude of the moment wasn't lost on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who declared, "This is the largest public transit project in Quebec in the last 50 years." Taking the stage, he underlined the importance of collective transport in reducing density and improving low-cost housing options.

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A Brief History Of The Montreal Metro's Fantastical, Shape-Shifting, Still Nonexistent Pink Line

A new "pink" Montreal metro line was supposed to one day provide new rapid transit between Montréal-Nord, downtown and Lachine. More than six years after Mayor Valérie Plante and her party, Projet Montréal, began campaigning on the proposal to radically expand the metro network, Plante says the project is beginning to take shape — though it hardly resembles the original plan.

Here's the recent history of the proposal, how it has changed and where it could go from here.

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Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante Shared Her Sud-Ouest Date Night Itinerary

Mayor Valérie Plante often uses social media to showcase the Montreal businesses and institutions she visits, both as part of her duties as the city's chief executive and, occasionally, in her personal life, as just another Montrealer seeking a good time in the buzzing metropolis.

On May 21, she took to the city's Sud-Ouest borough for an apparent date night, "playing tourist," in her words, as she zipped between some of the area's trendiest drinkeries — with some time for architecture gazing along the way.

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Montreal Is Dropping Plans To Charge For Early Morning & Late Evening Downtown Parking

Montreal is no longer moving forward on a controversial plan to extend downtown parking meter payment times, following a chorus of criticism over the proposed policy.

Set to come into effect on April 1, the change would have meant new parking fees from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

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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.

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The Mass Hydro-Québec Outages Can Be Treacherous AF — Here's How To Stay Safe

Despite fallen trees, slippery streets and a mass loss of electricity, Quebec has so far made it through the freezing rain storm without any "major emergency," according to Public Security Minister François Bonnardel. Officials are nevertheless urging caution — and common sense.

Online, Hydro-Québec has a list of safety advice for customers to follow both during and after a power outage. Meanwhile, in Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante is calling on residents to limit travel outside the home and to keep emergency phone lines open for, well, emergencies.

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Justin Trudeau Ate At One Of His Favourite Montreal Restaurants During A Trip To The City

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Montreal on Sunday to visit his Papineau constituency and once again attend Montreal Greek Independence Day festivities. He also stopped by what he called one of his favourite spots in the city: Greek greasy spoon Marven's.

Trudeau took his Papineau office employees out to lunch at the Parc-Extension eatery.

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Airbnb Will Purge All Illegal Listings In Quebec & Thousands Could Disappear

Airbnb has committed to removing all listings from its site that don't comply with Quebec law. The announcement comes after a deadly fire in an Old Montreal building that officials suspect had illegal Airbnb units. That news led to widespread outcry and calls from officials at the municipal and provincial levels for a crackdown on the short-term rental platform.

In a letter sent to Quebec Minister of Tourism Caroline Proulx and shared with Narity Québec, Airbnb Regional Lead for Canada Nathan Rotman said the company would remove listings that don't include a permit number from the Corporation de l'industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ). It will also require a permit number in all new listings.

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4 Ways Quebec's New Budget Could Give You More Money

Quebec's CAQ government has released its 2023-2024 budget. It includes headline-grabbing proposals to reduce taxes, increase benefits, and lower service costs.

But critics charge that these and other proposed measures in the budget don't do enough to address systemic problems in housing and the environment. They also say that the new financial aid proposals will actually disadvantage the people who need them most.

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16 Signs That You've Lived In Montreal For Way Too Long

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

Living in Montreal is an experience of extremes: extreme cold and extreme heat, high levels of festival excitement and high levels of annoying stairs. Each Montreal resident will come to a point, though, when the pressures of city life begin to crush your spirit, and you wonder whether it's time to move on — or just take a break.

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After A Fatal Fire In Old Montreal, Mayor Plante Is Calling For A Crackdown On Illegal Airbnbs

"It's important to determine the causes of this tragedy," Mayor Valérie Plante said of the Old Montreal fire that claimed at least one life and left six people missing late last week. The building was multipurpose, Plante said, including homes, an architectural firm and, most likely, one or more illegal Airbnbs.

"They've been a blight on cities for a long time," Plante wrote of illegal Airbnbs in a Facebook post on Monday, March 20.

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