Latest news with #UniversitéduQuébecàMontréal
Montreal Gazette
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Montreal police will be required to tell people they're free to go during street checks
By Montreal police officers conducting street checks will be required to tell people why they're being stopped and that they're free to leave, but an author of a police-commissioned report into the practice said he still believes it should be subject to a moratorium. Police Chief Fady Dagher said the policy is intended to reassure citizens that police are acting fairly and following the rules. The policy comes after a series of consultations, Dagher said, which took place after an independent report commissioned by the police service found that members of Indigenous, Black and Arab communities were disproportionately stopped by police and recommended a moratorium on the practice. Dagher, who has ruled out a moratorium, told reporters Monday that he believes most Montrealers don't want police to stand by if they see someone doing something suspicious, but don't have sufficient grounds to detain them. 'The vast majority of Montreal's community isn't against the police and they're not against police checks, very few are calling for a moratorium, they want the police to do their jobs,' he said. 'On the other hand, and this is very important, they want the police to do their work well, for the police to fallow the law and for the police to respect the rights of citizens.' Also known as 'police checks,' or 'street stops,' they occur when an officer wants to ask someone questions, including to identify themselves, but doesn't have reasonable grounds to detain the individual or demand they identify themselves. The stops are different from a traffic stop, where drivers are legally required to identify themselves to police. Victor Armony, a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal and one of the co-authors of the 2023 report, said that while the new policy is an improvement, he doesn't believe it will reduce racial profiling and still supports the report's recommendation that police stop the practice. 'The police will tell you we need street stops because they help us fight crime, but actually there's no real proof that collecting information this way allows police to fight crime or reduce criminality,' he said in an interview.
CBC
07-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Environmentalists warn against Quebec pipeline revival as politicians push for west-east link
With the threat of U.S. tariffs still looming, the Quebec government has opened the door to reconsidering a controversial pipeline project transporting natural gas from Western Canada to the province, where it would be liquefied and shipped overseas. The LNG-Québec project, planned for the Saguenay area, north of Quebec City, was scrapped in 2021 due to the pipeline's environmental risks — and strong public opposition. Quebec Environment Minister Benoit Charette said this week the government would consider looking at the project again. "We're not opposed to energy projects that respect the environmental criteria," he said. It marked a major shift for the Coalition Avenir Québec government, but one that shouldn't come as a surprise, given the changed political context, said Mark Purdon, a business school professor and holder of the decarbonization chair at the Université du Québec à Montréal. "I really think it's politics. I don't think what is driving the renewal of GNL-Québec is the economic opportunity," Purdon told CBC News. The fundamentals of the project haven't changed, and neither have the environmental concerns, he said. The proposed project included a 780-kilometre natural gas pipeline from northern Ontario to Saguenay and a terminal to liquefy the gas in Saguenay and load it onto tankers. It faced stiff opposition due to its environmental impacts, including threats to beluga whales and broader concerns over increased greenhouse gas emissions. Proponents of natural gas contend it is cleaner and lower in emissions than oil and coal, though its production and transportation can release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. One recent peer-reviewed study found that due to methane leakage, the greenhouse gas footprint from exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) could equal or even exceed that of coal. 'Not the solutions we are looking for' Charles-Édouard Têtu, climate policy analyst at the environmental group Équiterre, said in an interview the province should prioritize clean energy projects rather than fossil fuels. "These are not the solutions we are looking for and they would not answer the needs of Canadians and Quebecers at the moment," he said. He questioned, as well, whether the demand would be there when such a project is finally completed, given the shifting situation in Europe. WATCH | Stalled pipeline project through Quebec reconsidered: Previously shelved pipeline projects that pass through Quebec are getting a second look 7 hours ago Duration 2:15 The threat of U.S. tariffs have prompted the Quebec government to reconsider the LNG-Québec project, which was scrapped in 2021, while there's renewed discussion federally about an oil pipeline project from Alberta to New Brunswick. A pipeline that runs from Ontario through Quebec to Saguenay would also require approval from First Nations. Lucien Wabanonick, chief of the Anishinaabe council of Lac Simon, said First Nations would be open to listening to proposals — but would need to be consulted. "You need to have that discussion," he said. The federal government, meanwhile, has also suggested that provinces should consider more co-operation given the changes south of the border. Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal Natural Resources Minister, said Thursday that Trump's threatened tariffs exposed a "vulnerability" in energy infrastructure. Wilkinson said some parts of Canada, namely Ontario and Quebec, are dependent on oil pipelines that move through the U.S. to meet their needs — and there has to be some hard conversations about whether that's sustainable given what may transpire during a possible Trump trade war and beyond. Earlier this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly suggested LNG-Québec could play a role in getting Canada's oil and gas to new markets overseas. "We currently have a vulnerability with respect to the United States for our oil and our gas," she said.
