Montreal's city council got on with the job of running the city Monday evening, with a council meeting that was remarkable only for how ordinary it seemed.

There was little indication other than Mayor Michael Applebaum's absence to suggest that the city is once again at the centre of a scandal drawing worldwide attention.

Not even the public seemed to care. An hour-and-a-half long public quesion period yielded lots of talk about bikes, parks, budgets and Bixis, but no one asked about the mayor of his problems.

Councillors agreed that the city had to show that it can take care of its own problems, and wanted to avoid the possibility of being placed under provincial trusteeship, as happened in Laval two weeks ago.

"The city needs confidence," said independent councillor Alan DeSousa. "We need to have the confidence of the provincial government, we need to have the confidence of the ...

Three Montreal police officers have been suspended amid an RCMP investigation into misbehaviour on the force.

A spokesman for the city force says the suspensions are an internal disciplinary matter for the moment, but they stem from a Mountie investigation that is ongoing.

It's another bit of grim news for the city on a day when 14 criminal charges were laid against Montreal's interim mayor Michael Applebaum, who replaced a predecessor felled by scandal.

Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere isn't naming the suspended officers because he says no charges have been laid in the ongoing case.

He says the RCMP originally began investigating for ``interfering with the justice system,'' without offering other details.

He is not denying a report that the investigation had to do with a contract to a private security firm.

Quebec and Vermont have partnered to help owners of electric vehicles recharge their rides.

Premier Pauline Marois and Gov. Peter Shumlin announced the plan to set up charging terminals along a stretch between Montreal and Burlington.

Marois said the corridor is the first segment of a network Quebec wants to set up in collaboration with neighbouring provinces and states in the coming years.

Shumlin welcomed the initiative and the expected economic benefits.

Starting in the fall, 31 public charging stations will be set up along a 160-kilometre route.

The terminals will be integrated into Hydro-Quebec and Vermont Electric networks.

Premier Pauline Marois weighed in on the firestorm surrounding the fraud-related arrest of Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum today, saying he has no choice but to step down.

But she is ruling out putting the city under trusteeship, insisting that the rest of council was democratically elected, and should not be tarred with the same brush.

"They are responsible, there is an opposition...I think they are capable of leading Montreal," Marois says.

Marois says the arrests and charges are sad news, but adds with the Charbonneau Commission and other measures, Quebec is acting on corruption allegations.

There are hints that Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum may comment on his legal troubles sometime on Tuesday.

It's been a long Monday for Applebaum. He was awakened at 6 this morning at his home by officers from the UPAC anti-corruption squad, who moved in to arrest him.

He was then taken to SQ headquarters on Parthenais St., where he faced questioning for most of the day.

He faces a total of 14 charges, including fraud, breach of trust, and municipal corruption.

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Video: Cynthia de Petrillo

Once again, events in Montreal are making headlines around the world, for all the wrong reasons.

The arrest of mayor Michael Applebaum on fraud and corruption-related charges has become a media sensation across Canada, and the suggestion from commentators and commenters on various websites is that, in the wake of the Rob Ford crack cocaine scandal in Toronto and various other scandals, is that somehow, there's something wrong with politics in this country on the municipal level.

South of the border, major media outlets like the New York Times and CNN have picked up the story. Commenters on the CNN have been saying things like, "at least they arrest their corrupt politicians."

Another commenter says, "I think for Canadians doing drugs is not as bad as selling them or taking bribes" — a reference to the Ford scandal.

Another one, who apparently is from Quebec, named Ben the Bedaine, says ...

All is quiet on Quebec's construction sites today, including the two big superhospital sites, as the province's 175,000 construction workers are on a general, unlimited strike.

The strike has completely shut down building and roadwork sites across the province.

Quebec labor minister Agnès Maltais says back-to-work legislation is not forthcoming, and is inviting the two sides to keep talking.

"We've solved these kinds of problems through negotiation for 20 years, and it's by negotiation we'll solve this," she said.

The main stumbling block in the dispute is salaries. The workers want a pay hike of 3 per cent in the first year. The Quebec Construction Association is offering a 1 per cent increase.

Photos: La Presse

Melanie Joly picked today, of all days, to announce that she'll be a candidate for mayor of Montreal in this November's election.

The 34-year-old lawyer and public relations professional has been musing openly about running for weeks; today, she made it official, while the rest of the city continued to buzz about the arrest of the man she's hoping to replace, Michael Applebaum.

"I do not accept to see the city that I love dragged into contempt, stagnation and corruption. I think Montrealers no longer recognize their city and its administration. I think Montrealers are stronger than partisan politics," Joly says.

She adds she will soon reveal the names of those who are joining forces with her.

Photo: via Twitter

It seems everyone had something to say about Michael Applebaum's arrest in NDG/Cote-des-Neiges where he had been borough mayor for a decade.

Residents CJAD spoke to expressed shock and disbelief.

Meanwhile, others say considering the current climate at city hall, and the work of the Charbonneau Commission, we cannot be completely surpirsed by this latest news.

Still, some say it is disappointing because they believed things were moving in a better direction at city hall under Applebaum's leadership.

Calls for mayor Michael Applebaum to resign are widespread, in the wake of his shocking arrest by anti-corruption officers this morning, and the news that he faces 14 charges relating to a pair of land deals that supposedly took place between 2006 and 2011, when Applebaum was borough mayor of Cote-des-Neiges-NDG.

Jean-François Lisée, the Quebec minister responsible for Montreal, says Applebaum should do the right thing and step down, though he does reject the idea of placing the city under trusteeship, saying the situation in Montreal is different from that of its corruption-plagued neighbor, Laval.

That sentiment was echoed by Louise Harel, the leader of Vision Montreal and a former PQ municipal affairs minister. She says the city's executive committee can take care of business until a new mayor is elected in November.

"It's really better that we find a Montreal solution, and we can do that," Harel says.

St. ...