Quebec’s first pandemic curfew lasted for a few months in early 2021, the second one will last just over two weeks. It started on New Year’s Eve and ends Monday (January 17th).

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement at a mid-afternoon press conference joined by Health Minister Christian Dubé, interim National Director of Public Health Luc Boileau and Education Minister Jean-François Roberge. The latter was there because the premier also announced that elementary and secondary schools will re-open for in-person learning on Monday with students wearing masks indoors.

Legault also said that he hopes to re-open restaurant dining areas and performance venues in the coming weeks. That is, of course, for those who can prove they are “adequately vaccinated” against COVID.

The vaccine passport, meanwhile, will be required to enter big box stores (with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies) as of January 21st.

The premier said that experts are telling him that the Omicron variant case numbers have peaked and that hospitalizations soon will as well. He cited the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) predictions that came out today to justify loosening of some measures.

Jason C. McLean and Special Guests Dawn McSweeney and Jerry Gabriel start with Quebec’s second curfew which begins on New Year’s Eve and then talk about some of the top news stories of 2021.

Follow Dawn McSweeney on Twitter and Instagram @mcmoxy

Follow Jerry Gabriel on Twitter (@depressingbear) and Instagram (@jerrygabrielrocks)

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As of tomorrow night, December 31st, aka New Year’s Eve, Quebec will be under a 10pm to 5am curfew. Restaurant dining areas will also close and home gatherings will be banned, except when it comes to caregivers and people who live alone.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement at an early evening press conference joined by National Director of Public Health Dr. Horacio Arruda and Christian Dubé, the Minister of Health and Social Services.

The premier added that places of worship must close, with the exception of funerals which will be limited to 25 people. Stores, including grocery stores, must close for the next three Sundays except for pharmacies, gas stations and dépanneurs.

Legault admitted that the hospitalization rate for the Omicron COVID-19 variant weren’t as high as other variants such as Delta but said that the record-breaking spread means caution necessitates measures like this. He added that the curfew is necessary because “a minority of people” won’t respect the rules and a curfew just for the unvaccinated would be too hard to enforce.

Jason C. McLean and Special Guest Samantha Gold discuss some of the top news stories of the day (local, national and international):

Quebec’s curfew lifting, Marjorie Taylor Greene stalking AOC, hidden systemic racism in the Federal Government, the Montreal Municipal Election & this summer’s hybrid festivals.

Follow Samantha Gold Artist on Facebook @samiamart and Instagram @samiamartistmtl

Follow Jason C. McLean on Twitter @jasoncmclean

People in Montreal and Laval will have to wait a bit longer to dine indoors in a restaurant. While most of Quebec will be Orange Zones as of May 31st, Montreal and Laval, as well as a few small pockets of other regions, will remain Red Zones for an extra week until June 7th.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement in a late afternoon press conference joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. Arruda added that the government had planned on moving the whole province to Orange at the same time, but after speaking with local public health officials, decided to be a bit more cautious and wait the extra week.

Meanwhile, the curfew will still be lifted for everyone across Quebec this Friday and dining on restaurant terrasses will be permitted. Quebec’s overall re-opening plan announced last week is heading forward, only slightly altered.

In addition to indoor dining, people in Orange Zones can go to the gym and elementary and high school students return to in-person classes.

Meanwhile Dubé added that the province is hoping to make people’s second COVID-19 vaccine appointments earlier than scheduled. An announcement on this is expected next week.

Quebec’s curfew will be lifted in all regions next Friday, May 28th. Restaurant terrasses will also be allowed to re-open, home backyard visits of up to eight people will be permitted along with travel between regions and stadiums can receive up to 2500 people, all as of that date.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement in a late afternoon press conference joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. He said that this was the first in four major steps of deconfinement affecting the province as a whole, regardless of region.

The second step will be allowing bar terrasses to re-open on June 11. The third will be on June 25th when people who have received both of their vaccine doses will be permitted to visit other people’s homes indoors without masks or social distancing and festivals can occur, regardless of if they have assigned seating or not. The fourth step will be the end of August when most indoor mask mandates will be lifted.

Region-Specific Deconfinement

The premier also announced a series of expected regional coding switches:

  • Most regions will remain or become Orange Zones on May 31st. This means restaurants can re-open for indoor dining.
  • Most regions will remain or become Yellow Zones by June 14th the latest. This means bars can re-open and people can visit other people’s homes.
  • Most regions will become Green Zones by June 28th. This means up to ten people coming from three residences can gather in homes.

Legault also said that Elementary and High Schools in most regions will re-open (or stay open) for in-person classes this coming Monday, May 24th. CEGEPs and universities are expected to re-open for in-person classes as part of the late August deconfinement.

Deconfinement Follows Vaccinations

These measures are closely tied to Quebec’s vaccination rollout, which Legault says is going better than expected. The government had originally predicted that 75% of the population will have received their first vaccine shot by June 24th, now Legault expects to hit that milestone by June 15th.

75% of the population are expected to have received both vaccine doses by the end of August, which is when most confinement measures are scheduled to be lifted.

Quebec’s curfew will once again run from 9:30pm to 5am as of next Monday, May 3rd in Montreal and Laval. The government had pushed it back to 8pm on April 8th out of fear that COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations would spike here as they did in other regions. The infection rate instead went down.

The Outaouais region will remain on the strictest set of restrictions for another week. In the Quebec City region, a recently hard-hit area that is doing better, will see primary schools re-open, but other restrictions, including the 8pm curfew, stay in place. The rest of the province will remain where they are, restriction-wise.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement in an early afternoon press conference joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. Arruda also noted that a Quebecer who received the AstraZeneca vaccine has died of thrombosis, making her the first Canadian to die as a result of complications from the vaccine.

Legault and Arruda emphasized, though, that cases like this are extremely rare and overall the vaccination rollout is going very well. Legault said that we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but don’t want to be hit by the train on our way out, which he equated to the third wave.

Could it really be that simple? Is Quebec Premier François Legault just out of touch?

For months, it’s seemed like Legault was just prioritizing the interests of his political base when deciding on what and who to restrict to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if it isn’t just a craven political calculation? What if the Premier really just doesn’t understand what many in Quebec are going through?

While Legault sees closing schools as an absolute last resort, something to do only if the COVID numbers get so bad, he has no such reservations about imposing a curfew or deciding to start it earlier. That is just something that can be done as a precautionary measure, as an experiment.

Putting ethical rights issues and the actual efficacity of a curfew in fighting COVID (Spoiler Alert: It Doesn’t) aside for a moment, it kinda makes sense that Legault doesn’t see a curfew as such a big deal. It’s not like he’s trapped indoors after 8pm.

Legault recently listed his house in Outremont for $5 million. Not sure where he’s living now, but it’s a solid guess that the place is akin to a mansion with a more than ample backyard.

When Legault tries to empathize with Quebec youth who have been shut in for months, does he think that they all have access to a backyard, too? Does he think they all have balconies, at least?

Does Legault understand that many youth (and quite a few post-youth) live in crammed apartments with two or three other people? That “Why don’t they just go to the backyard?” is the 2021 Quebec version of “Let them eat cake”?

We already know that he doesn’t understand the reality of the homeless. Fortunately the courts fixed that particular oversight.

Now, we have to ask if Legault is truly aware of what the rest of us are going through. What Montreal is going through.

The answer, sadly, is no. We’re all in the same storm, but not in the same boat. Legault is in a yacht, many of us are in powerboats or rowboats and far too many are drowning.

We all need to make sacrifices to fight COVID, but Legault thinks that some need to sacrifice more than others. Simply because he doesn’t fully understand what sacrifice means for people he doesn’t truly understand.

Sadly, François Legault is out of touch.

Two nights, two very different protests. Since Quebec Premier François Legault’s 8pm curfew took effect in Montreal (also in Laval) on Sunday, our city has seen two nights of protest with only two things in common: opposition to the Provincial Government’s “preventative measure” of moving the curfew start time from 9:30pm back to 8pm and fireworks.

I wasn’t at either protest, so I’ve cobbled together what happened from various social media posts, livestreams and mainstream media accounts.

Let’s recap:

The Sunday Night Old Montreal Shitshow

Sunday night’s protest started off on a promising note, with hundreds of people, roughly around 1000 in total, arriving at the Old Port just as the curfew began, itself an act of defiance. For over 30 minutes, the atmosphere was largely celebratory though defiant., people danced, some set off fireworks and the Montreal Police (SPVM) stayed a few blocks away.

Then, some people lit a bench in Place Jacques Cartier and some trash cans on fire. The SPVM moved in, fired teargas (good thing people have masks at the ready, or are already wearing them, these days) and most of the crowd dispersed.

Of course, not everyone did and that’s the part of the story that many are now familiar with. Things turned into a riot as some smashed the windows of local businesses who were already reeling from the loss of the tourism industry and probably weren’t fans of the curfew either.

There were right-wing agitators in the crowd, specifically Ezra Levant, Keean Bexte and their Rebel Media crew. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re pro-pipeline to the point of trying to ambush interview Greta Thunberg and while this was an anti-curfew protest, these guys are against any type of COVID health measures, even masks.

Now whether, as the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff thinks, it was these guys who caused all the rioting, or if it was agent provocateurs, or if it was just Montreal once again being Montreal at its most unattractive (or a combination of the three), things really went off message fast Sunday night.

Monday Night’s Downtown Cat and Mouse

Monday night was a completely different story. There were no smashed windows, no fires. And, of course, this was the protest the SPVM moved to shut down almost immediately.

Originally also planned for the Old Port, the protest quickly diverted to Downtown Montreal. As they made their way up from Place du Canada, the police ordered them to disperse, and disperse they did.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse with the cops up and down city streets. Some even set off small fireworks.

This group, by all accounts, was comprised largely of teenagers and young adults. They wore masks. Simply being out after 8pm was their protest.

Messaging Moving Forward

If there’s one thing I think these protests need moving forward, and by all accounts, they will be moving forward, like every night is what I heard, is solid messaging. And that messaging needs to be specific.

This is against the curfew. It’s against the very idea that a curfew can actually protect against the spread of COVID.

More specifically, it’s against the seemingly arbitrary manner in which the Legault Government chose to move the curfew back to 8 pm in Montreal and Laval while admitting that it wasn’t necessary. Restricting people’s ability to leave their homes should always be a last resort and only done when absolutely necessary, not an afterthought or something implemented as a precaution.

If protesting a 90 minute shift in a curfew seems a little too specific for protest, remember that the 2012 Student Strike was sparked by a marginal tuition increase and it brought down a government. If you focus on the details, the underlying message comes to the surface. In 2012, it was the heartless arrogance of the state, in 2021, it can be the same thing.

Protests always see different groups trying to attach themselves to something that has coverage. Sometimes that works, this time it won’t.

Yes, Climate Change is real, but that’s not the point here and neither is saving the whales. If you keep things focused and specific, you can also keep out all the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and assorted anti-science types who would only co-opt and damage such an important message, just as those breaking the store windows did on Sunday.

“Liberté” is a solid and downright sexy thing to chant, but please remember that COVID-19 is still a very real threat. Freedom from arbitrary and ineffective government restrictions is one thing, but Karen still needs to wear a mask at the grocery store.

It’s also important that while, from the looks of it, this is youth-led (or at least it was on Monday night), it doesn’t come across as just “the kids are fed up.” I’m 43 and I’m fed up, too, even if I’m not out there with you.

We’ve abided by these restrictions and adapted to them. But this last one is just government arrogance.

If we stay focused on that and the messaging solidifies, we may win this one.

As of Sunday (April 11), Montreal and Laval will join other Quebec Red Zones with a curfew once again running from 8pm to 5am. The government had moved the start time of the curfew to 9:30pm on March 17th.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement late this afternoon in a press conference joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services, and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. The Premier said that this is a preventative measure.

While transmission is still high in the Greater Montreal Region, cases haven’t spiked here to the extent that the government thought they would and to the extent that they have in other Red Zones such as Quebec City, Lévis and Gatineau, which are currently on lockdown. Unlike those parts of Quebec, schools in Montreal will remain open, although not on a full-time basis.

The government closed gyms in Montreal and Laval and announced it at this past Tuesday’s press conference.

Also announced on Tuesday: People taking part in outdoor group activities with people from different households such as walking or sports must do so masked. Of course, if you sit down outside, two meters apart, you can remove the masks.

Legault didn’t give a date for when these new restrictions would be eased.

While all of Quebec remains under curfew, as of tomorrow, it will run from 9:30pm until 5am across the province, even in Red Zones such as Montreal. For over two months, it started at 8pm but people living in Orange Zones got the 90 minute delay as of last Monday.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement late this afternoon in a press conference joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. The Premier said that while there was an increase in COVID-19 cases following March Break, it was “nothing dramatic” and therefore the change in curfew time was possible.

Legault also stressed that indoor gatherings are still forbidden. Theatres and show venues, though, can re-open as of March 26th.

The Premier also said that he expects everyone over 65 will be vaccinated against the virus by mid-April. He also believes everyone who wants a vaccine, regardless of age, will be able to get it by June 24th.

With variants on the virus still out there, Legault warned that “we have to stay very careful for a few more weeks.”

Quebecers outside of the Greater Montreal Region will see some COVID-19 restrictions loosen when they pass into an Orange Zone after March Break (so Monday, March 8th). Montrealers and people living in Laval, Montérégie, the Laurentians and the Lanaudière region still have to wait at least a month before they leave the Red Zone.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement about the new Orange Zones in a press conference late this afternoon joined by Christian Dubé, Minister of Health and Social Services and National Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda. He didn’t initially give a timeline for when Montreal would leave the Red Zone.

When asked by reporters, though, Legault said that while COVID numbers haven’t been increasing, new strains of the virus are now present in Montreal, which might make cases and hospitalizations rise again in the region. He feels that successfully vaccinating the most vulnerable, which is supposed to take a few weeks, will create a climate where restrictions can be loosened in the Greater Montreal Region as well.

In Orange Zones, gyms and show venues can re-open, restaurants can once again welcome dine-in customers and houses of worship can have a maximum of 25 people for services. Home visits, except for when someone lives alone, are still banned.

Legault says the government will be adding sports options in Red Zones and that he is looking into possibly re-opening show venues and increasing capacity at places of worship there as well.

The curfew will remain in effect across Quebec, but only begin at 9:30pm in Orange Zones while still running from 8pm to 5am in Red Zones.

Non-essential businesses with storefronts will be allowed to re-open across Quebec on February 8th. Meanwhile, the province-wide curfew will remain in effect until at least February 22nd.

Quebec Premier François Legault made the announcement in a press conference late this afternoon. He was joined by National Public Health Director Doctor Horacio Arruda and Health Minister Christian Dubé.

This re-opening includes places like hairdressers and museums (even those in shopping malls) everywhere, but gyms and restaurant dining rooms will only be able to re-open on the 8th in Orange Zones (Montreal, along with 90% Quebec is in a Red Zone).

Orange Zone movie theatres will re-open, with increased social distancing requirements at the end of the month. Bars remain closed province-wide.

Legault also announced that the curfew in Orange Zones will begin at 9:30pm as of the 8th. It will still run from 8pm to 5am in Red Zones.

Home gatherings remain banned across Quebec.

Homeless people are now exempt from Quebec’s 8pm to 5am curfew thanks to a ruling early this evening from the Quebec Superior Court. Judge Chantal Masse ruled that “the measure as worded would not apply to people experiencing homelessness” given that homeless people don’t have a home to go to at night.

Quebec Premier François Legault has repeatedly rejected calls from opposition leaders, the Mayor of Montreal, and others to give homeless people a curfew exemption. Now, with the ruling, his refusal is moot, at least until February 5th (the ruling exempts the homeless until then).

A group of legal-aid lawyers called the Clinique Juridique Itinérante brought the case on behalf of the homeless. Masse agreed with the plaintiffs, saying that “the measure infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the person protected by the Canadian and Quebec charters for people experiencing homelessness.”

There is no word on whether or not the Legault Government plans to appeal the decision.

Featured image of the Palais de Justice in Montreal by Jeangagnon via Wikimedia Commons