St. Laurent Boulevard venue, Blue Dog was recently handed a noise complaint fine. The infraction was given during a soundcheck that was happening at 7:30pm.
In a social media post, booker for the venue and owner of Turbo Haüs, Sergio Da Silva writes, "this isn’t new—we’ve all seen it happening over and over. And every time, it’s the same response from the city, the same response from the police, and absolutely no leadership from the province. Nothing changes."
In an accompanying video Da Silva adds, 'if you don't want people doing these shows, or doing anything, just f***ing say so!"
He goes on to call out the city, the province and police for claiming to foster culture yet making it difficult for venue owners to operate a business.
Noise complaints have been an ongoing threat to Montreal's nightlife actors over the years.
In 2017, neighbouring Divan Orange chose to shut down rather than keep fighting a neighbour who kept making noise complaints.
In September 2024, longstanding Papineau Av. theatre, La Tulipe cancelled all shows following a battle with a neighbouring landlord who was mistakenly given a wrong zoning permit from the City of Montreal. The theatre has yet to resume operations.
And in December 2024, St. Laurent dive bar and LGBTQ2S+ haunt, Champs Sports Bar had to stop dance and karaoke events following a complaint from a landlord. In March, the venue was forced to close temporarily over noise complaints.
Montreal musician Vincent Stephen-Ong puts the blame on politicians.
In an Instagram response to the Blue Dog noise complaint, he says, "if you have been a politician in Montreal or, in fact, anywhere in Quebec, for, anytime in at least the last 30 years [...], you're part of the reason why Montreal sucks. You're part of the reason why nightlife's dying."
He points out that Quebec Civil Code is largely responsible for noise issues, citing a lack of clarity around some of the wording used.
He also adds that Montreal police can act according to judgment rather than a decibel reading when it comes to handing out noise fines. This means any noise emanating from a venue can be considered unacceptable.