Snow, slush and gusting arctic wind did not deter hordes of Irish-loving Montrealers, who braved the cold on Sunday to join the annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Ste-Catherine Street.
About 250,000 people attended the parade, the oldest in North America and going strong in its 183rd edition. Not missing a chance to appear in front of a large captive audience, campaigning politicians paraded side by side with walking shamrocks in electric-green top hats.
Scoobie goes green for the parade.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
Liberal and PQ leaders Jean Charest and André Boisclair joined the festivities, as did federal Public Works Minister Michael Fortier and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe.
Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte and Monsignor Francis John Coyle celebrated mass Sunday morning at St. Patrick's Basilica in downtown Montreal.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Montreal occurred in 1824, when it was first held as a military parade. About 40 per cent of Quebecers are believed to have Irish ancestry.
Parade watchers in Montreal.
(Andre Forget/Canadian Press)
City of Montreal workers laboured through the weekend to clear the downtown core of snow after a storm dropped 25 centimetres on the city Friday.
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