Price war between the SAQ and the LCBO
PHOTO MUHAMMAD HAMED, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Distributors of popular spirits have been singled out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), which suspects them of offering their products at a better price to the Société des alcools du Québec.
What do Absolut vodka, Jack Daniel’s, Grand Marnier or even Don Julio tequila have in common? The distributors of these popular spirits have been singled out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), which suspects them of offering their products at a better price to the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), thus creating a price war between the two state monopolies of Ontario and Quebec, explains columnist Marie-Eve Fournier. The largest buyer of alcohol in the country, the LCBO discovered that the SAQ had more advantageous agreements than its own. She has since demanded that her suppliers sell her products at the best possible price, even opening the door to their products being withdrawn from the SAQ shelves.
Read Marie-Eve Fournier’s column
Say it with… artificial flowers!
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The front of the Maison Margan store, in Old Montreal, decorated with artificial flowers
Proliferating in recent years in major European cities, artificial flowers are reaching Old Montreal. This trend propelled by social networks arouses enthusiasm and concern, in particular because of its environmental impact, noted journalist Valérie Simard in our Wednesday issue. “When you cover a building entirely with plastic foliage, it becomes problematic,” Dinu Bumbaru, policy director at Héritage Montréal, told him. “We don’t want a disguised Old Montreal, we want an authentic Old Montreal. » In Paris, elected officials are even considering banning this practice.
Read the article “An Old Montreal in…artificial flowers”
The writer Caroline Dawson is no more
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The writer Caroline Dawson, in 2023
After a long and difficult battle with bone cancer, the luminous writer Caroline Dawson died on Sunday, at the age of 44. Few authors will have had such a profound impact on Quebec literature in such a short time, writes Dominic Tardif. In 2021, she shook up Quebec readers with Where I hide, which recounts her journey as a refugee from Chile who arrived in Quebec at the age of 7. “Everyone always wanted to be around Caro, she was really anchored in who she was, but so curious at the same time,” said her friend, journalist Émilie Perreault. “Last night, I lost my greatest accomplice, my confidante, my best friend, my big sister who taught me everything […] ,” his brother, author Nicholas Dawson, wrote in a Facebook post. The testimonies of those close to her leave no doubt: Caroline Dawson will have left an impression with her frankness and generosity.
Read “On the side of life, until the end”
Read ““Like a magnet that everyone wanted to rally around””
Deadly spring
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
SPVM car on Rachel street, in Plateau-Mont-Royal, Wednesday
A fight cost the lives of a teenager and two young men in Plateau-Mont-Royal on Wednesday, which caused the number of murders to have taken place in the metropolis to jump to seven in ten days. The tragedy is “in no way linked to organized crime”, according to the police. “If there is a problem, instead of taking out a knife or a gun, try to talk among yourselves, try to find a positive solution,” said Jean-Marie Célestin, the father of one of the victims, before ‘burst into tears. Columnist Patrick Lagacé’s eyes widened when he read the news. What is happening in Montreal? Between 2014 and 2023, the number of assaults reported to the SPVM doubled. “These crimes, these statistics confirm something nagging that has been lingering in the background for several years: the world is not doing well,” he concludes.
Read “An argument between young people escalates into a triple murder”
Read Patrick Lagacé’s column
French in decline in Montreal and Gatineau
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Downtown Montreal
Every five years, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) takes stock of the state of French. In its most recent portrait, the organization notes that the proportion of the population who is able to carry on a conversation in French has decreased in the Montreal and Gatineau regions, more than elsewhere in Quebec, writes Hugo Pilon- The Rose. The OQLF also observes that a “substantial” share of young people say they are in favor of using English at work, in businesses and in the digital world. Finally, if 94% of the entire Quebec population could conduct a conversation in French in 2021, this proportion was only 76% among immigrants and 68% among non-permanent residents. Furthermore, international migration explains the record population growth in Montreal over the past year, reports Louise Leduc.
Read the article by Hugo Pilon-Larose
Read Louise Leduc’s article