Quebec

SAINT-BENOÎT-DU-LAC, Quebec - Many villages in Quebec are lorded over by a church of impressive size, but in the Eastern Townships, the region east of Montreal, the Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac goes beyond impressive to stunning. The Benedictine monastery graces the west shore of Lac Memphrémagog. Its steeple, towers, and roof echo the mountainous backdrop, creating an especially inspiring sight when it is reflected in the lake’s waters. The monastery dates from 1912, when Benedictine monks, exiled in Belgium after fleeing French anticlerical laws, anticipated moving here.

Student groups in Quebec have filed a legal motion against a provincial law aimed at ending more than three months of protests over proposed tuition hikes. Lawyers for the students and other groups filed the motion Friday in a Montreal courtroom Friday. More than 150,000 students in universities across Quebec have been on strike since February to protest the proposed tuition raise. Street protests have ended in clashes with police and more than 2,500 students have been arrested.

Boston area skiers and snowboarders will be able to fly directly to Quebec's Mont Tremblant starting Dec. 18 with biweekly flights from Bedford Airport. Scheduled for Thursdays and Sundays, the 80-minute flights aboard the Voyageur executive aircrafts will land at the Mont Tremblant International Airport in La Macaza, about a half-hour from the resort (866-836-3030; www.tremblant.com). Rates vary from $300 to $460 depending on season while three-day packages including air, hotel, and skiing start at $609.

Quebec's student protest movement gained some high-profile supporters in the fight against tuition fee increases over the weekend as anger mounted and demonstrations continued against a new law aimed at curbing the three months of demonstrations. Montreal police arrested more than 180 people on Sunday night. Quebec's provincial government passed an emergency law Friday restricting protests, including a requirement that police be informed eight hours before and told the route of any demonstration that includes 50 or more people.

How to get there The Eastern Townships of Quebec are about 250 miles and a 4 1/2-hour drive from Boston. Take Interstate 93 north to Interstate 89 north in Concord, N.H., and pick up Interstate 91 in White River Junction, Vt. Follow Interstate 91 to Route 100 south, and follow Route 100 briefly to Route 105 west. In Richford, pick up route 139 north to Sutton. What to do Tour des Arts 800-565-8455 www.tourdesarts.com Regional information Tourism Eastern Townships 20, rue Don-Bosco Sud Sherbrooke, Quebec 800-355-5755 ...

Alcoa Inc. said Monday that it approved the next phase of a five-year, $2.1 billion investment plan for its trio of smelters in Quebec. The aluminum company said the plan will reduce the costs associated with the smelters and the overall company. It will also increase production capacity by 120,000 metric tons per year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Alcoa said. The plan includes 25-year power contracts for all three smelters and will allow one of the smelters to begin the last engineering phase of its modernization project.

Top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA Bell Challenge tournament on Thursday with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 win over Hungary's Melinda Czink. Hantuchova will play Marina Erakovic in the next round after the New Zealander advanced with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 win over seventh-seeded American Irina Falconi. No. 6 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic beat Croatia's Mirjana Lucic 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, but it was a bad day for second-seeded Lucie Safarova, who was upset by fellow Czech player Andrea Hlavackova 7-6 (1)

MONTREAL - In the province of Quebec, it was known as the "Quiet Revolution": In the early 1960s, a liberal political regime broke with the Catholic Church, releasing a torrent of fresh ideas. The wave of creative energy crested in Montreal, Quebec's most cosmopolitan city, where a progressive mayor revitalized the arts. By the time Montreal hosted the 1967 World's Fair, the revolution had literally reshaped the city. And it has never looked back. Architectural landmarks from Expo 67, as it was commonly known, still stand, as does the avant-garde stadium from the 1976 Summer Olympics, all put to new uses.

The Radisson Hotel is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on Nov. 30. The iconic castle-like hotel off Route 3 has about 300 rooms. Crescent Hotels & Resorts LLC, a hospitality management company, has been overseeing operations of the hotel since mortgage holder Cadim Note Inc. of Quebec filed suit saying it hadn't seen a mortgage payment from owner Southern New Hampshire Hospitality Management since December 2009. - Tom Long

SUTTON, Quebec - The road runs parallel to the Vermont border, dipping and rising along the forested hills. At a scenic elevation, a cluster of haphazardly parked cars frames a pair of iron gates. Beyond is an unlikely sight: a cobblestone path leading to a medieval chapel, the sort you might find in Tuscany or Provence. New France's earliest explorers might have built 17th-century structures, but a 13th-century chapel? A guided tour supplies the answers. The stone-walled building is the creation of a Czech-born antiques dealer, Henrietta Antony.

MONTREAL - Facing the most sustained student protest in Canadian history, Quebec's provincial government weighed emergency legislation Thursday aimed at ending rallies and demonstrations against rising tuition costs. Authorities said 122 were arrested late Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators spilled into the streets of Montreal, some smashing bank windows and hurling objects at police. Protests have been ongoing for three months. Quebec's premier, Jean Charest, said the proposed legislation would not roll back the tuition hikes.

Quebec's provincial government passed an emergency law Friday restricting demonstrations and shutting some universities as the government seeks to end three months of protests against tuition hikes. Outraged students reacted by calling it an act of war. Among the controversial provisions of the law, which passed 68-48, is a requirement that police be informed eight hours before a protest and told the route of any demonstration that includes 50...

Quebec's provincial government was expected to vote Friday night on emergency legislation that would shut some universities and impose harsh fines on protesters blocking students from attending classes as the government looks to end weeks of demonstrations against university tuition hikes. Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Montreal on Thursday night as the government introduced the bill to quell the most sustained student protests in Canadian history. But there was none of the violence that erupted Wednesday when windows were smashed, more...

Editor's note: This article first appeared in The Boston Globe (then called the Daily Boston Globe) on Jan. 20, 1958. Willie O'Ree, who became the first Negro player in the history of the National Hockey League as a member of the Bruins lineup in the weekend games against Montreal, had just about the same reaction as any other rookie. "I'm just happy to get a chance up here, that's about all I can say," was Willie's reaction to writers and other well-wishers in the Boston room.

Paul Stastny scored two goals, Semyon Varlamov stopped 32 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat Los Angeles 4-1 on Wednesday night for their first season sweep of the Kings in nearly two decades. Mark Olver and Jay McClement also added goals for the Avalanche, who have won three straight at home and moved to within two points of Los Angeles for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Colorado went 4-0 against Los Angeles this season, the first time the team has swept the series since 1992-93, when the franchise was in Quebec.

Defending U.S. snowboardcross champion Jonathan Cheever joked that he was retiring after this race — from his moonlighting job as a plumber. Instead, after failing Friday to qualify for the finals of the U.S. Grand Prix, Cheever likely will have to keep looking for those side jobs around Park City. "It's tough to be surprised because I know I wasn't riding well," Cheever said afterward. "To be a top athlete and not perform is disappointing, especially at your home mountain.

MONTREAL - Last summer, we rented an apartment in Montreal and quickly learned to shop at the Jean-Talon open-air market, where most of the city's restaurateurs and chefs go for fresh fish, meat, and produce. Located at the edge of Little Italy, with its own stop on the M etro's orange and blue lines, Marche Jean-Talon is a foodie's dream in the summer, when the harvests pour into the city from across Quebec. Quebec bounty isn't only a warm-season phenomenon, however. The province's fabulous cheeses begin to reach the peak of ripeness in winter, and the breweries and cider makers are relatively...

DERBY LINE, Vt. - Northern New England's border with Quebec is a somewhat tangled affair, with a few communities cleaved in two, and families split on either side. Also exhibiting a split personality is the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, built smack-dab between Derby Line and Stanstead, Quebec. "It's the only US library without books - the stacks are in Canada - and the only US theater with no stage - it's in Canada," quips librarian Mary Roy. A gift to the communities from Martha Stewart Haskell, construction on the granite-and-yellow-brick,...

BROSSARD, Quebec — Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier is promising there will be a French-speaking coach behind Montreal's bench next season. Perhaps looking to head off planned protests by some Quebec nationalist groups and an ongoing controversy in the media, Gauthier apologized on Monday for replacing the fired Jacques Martin with Randy Cunneyworth, the club's first coach who doesn't speak French in 40 years. ‘‘We're disappointed and we're sorry if we offended anybody by hiring someone who is not bilingual right now, but when you're in the middle...