A week in, the Montreal municipal strike by the city’s professional employees is still reshaping evening and weekend services, especially at libraries and maisons de la culture. Here’s what’s affected as of Oct. 26, plus the other Montreal and Quebec stories worth knowing to start the week.
Montreal municipal strike: the hours that matter
According to the City of Montréal, the Syndicat des professionnelles et professionnels municipaux de Montréal (SPPMM) launched a legal strike on Oct. 19, and it remains in effect. The city says it could change some city and borough services over the next few weeks.
The strike runs on a predictable schedule:
- Monday to Thursday: from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next morning
- Weekends: from 5 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Monday
- Essential services tied to public health and safety are maintained, the city says
In practice, that means daytime visits are mostly business as usual, while evenings and weekends are where you’ll notice gaps.
What boroughs are reporting
Borough-by-borough notices on montreal.ca give a sense of the impact:
- Ville-Marie: Centre Sanaaq is on reduced hours (for example, noon to 5 p.m. on weekends), and help and reference services at the Père-Ambroise and Frontenac libraries may be reduced after 5 p.m. Some activities and shows are cancelled.
- Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie: the borough’s three libraries close at 5 p.m. on weekdays, weekend hours are shortened, and the Bibliothèque éphémère de l’Est de Rosemont is closed on weekends, per the borough notice.
- Le Sud-Ouest: libraries keep regular hours Monday to Saturday, but some close on Sundays. On Oct. 25, Saint-Henri and Saint-Charles were closed, and a flamenco show at the Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay was cancelled and will be rescheduled.
- Saint-Laurent: the Bibliothèque du Boisé is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Registered participants in cancelled activities are being contacted by phone or email. Before you head out, check your library’s page on montreal.ca or call 311.
A few more details from the borough notices: in Ville-Marie, Centre Sanaaq stays open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and no service impact was expected for now at the Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto, according to the borough’s strike notice. In Le Sud-Ouest, an indoor mushroom-growing activity planned for Oct. 25 at the Réjean-Ducharme library was moved to Saturday, Nov. 14, and the borough says it will update its notice weekly while the strike continues.
City websites briefly taken offline
Separately, on Oct. 21 the city said it had shut down several of its websites as a precaution after a worldwide security breach. IT teams were assessing each site so they could be brought back online safely and gradually. If a city page you rely on isn’t loading, that may be why.
Planning your week around the strike
Weekday daytime visits are your safest bet. Keep Halloween weekend in mind, too: any library or maison de la culture event on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 31, falls within strike hours. If a city event falls through, our This Week in Montreal guide and our list of 15 Halloween things to do have plenty of alternatives.
Other stories to know this week
Slower streets in Ahuntsic-Cartierville
The borough announced on Oct. 26 that speed limits dropped on several streets on Oct. 20. Boulevard Saint-Laurent is now 40 km/h along its full length in the borough, and parts of boulevard de Salaberry and rue Sauvé Est are now 30 km/h. Next up, avenue Papineau between Sauvé and Charland drops from 50 to 40 km/h on Dec. 3.
$28 million for winter warming spaces
In one of his first major announcements, Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon pledged $28 million to open 1,000 new spaces for unhoused people this winter, Global News reported on Oct. 23. The premier acknowledged the measure is a temporary fix for a complex, long-running problem.
Montreal’s insults bylaw in court
On Oct. 22, Quebec Superior Court Justice Eleni Yiannakis heard a request to suspend Montreal’s recently adopted bylaw banning insults, threats and intimidation directed at city employees, including police, The Canadian Press reported. Lawyers for a progressive jurists’ association and the St-Michel legal clinic argued it is too broad and threatens freedom of expression. The judge stressed she would rule only on the injunction request, not the bylaw’s constitutionality.
According to the Canadian Press report, lawyer Sibel Ataogul argued the bylaw encroaches on fundamental freedoms, while lawyer Dardia Garcelle Joseph said it will mainly apply to interactions with police and could seriously harm people who are already marginalized. The report didn’t say when a decision is expected.
A third week of vacation?
The new Parti Québécois government wants to raise the minimum paid vacation for workers to three weeks a year, CTV News reported on Oct. 24. Small business advocates warn the change could add to employers’ costs, so expect that debate to heat up.
Premier skips First Nations meeting
The Canadian Press reported on Oct. 24 that St-Pierre Plamondon will not attend the First Nations-First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa, set for Monday, Oct. 26.
Coming up
Clocks fall back this Sunday, Nov. 1. Our time-change explainer has the details. For more on the new government’s first moves, see our PQ cabinet guide, and follow all of our Montreal news coverage. On se voit là.
More on MTL365
- This Week in Montreal (Oct. 26–Nov. 1): Rocky Horror, Nosferatu With Live Organ, Les Grands Ballets and the Last Nights of Gardens of Light
- Weekend Recap: Habs Win the Heritage Classic, Als Finish 14-4, and a Tough Week for CF Montréal
- The Best Poutine in Montreal: 8 Spots Worth the Gravy Stains
- More Montreal news on MTL365
Photo: Pierre5018 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Sources: Ville de Montréal: Municipal professionals on strike, Ville de Montréal: Ville-Marie, Ville de Montréal: Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Ville de Montréal: Le Sud-Ouest, Ville de Montréal: Saint-Laurent, Ville de Montréal: websites, Ville de Montréal: Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Global News, Global News / The Canadian Press, CTV News, CTV News / The Canadian Press
