Montreal's got a nightlife policy, so why are venues still at risk?

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On July 19, the quintessential Plateau venue Blue Dog shut its doors after more than 30 years of operation.

Its shuttering followed a string of similar venue closures clustered around the Plateau borough, each of which almost always involved issues with a single residential neighbour. 

The fate of Blue Dog—and its unfortunate predecessors like La Tulipe, Diving Bell Social Club, Divan Orange, and others—is no accident. It’s the product of a regulatory deck that has long been stacked in favour of real estate developers and unreasonable residents, and against live music spaces just trying to survive.