Airport won’t be renamed for Lévesque
A petition was launched to rename Trudeau airport for René Lévesque, and it collected 20,000 signatures and some support by the Journal, but the federal transport minister says it isn’t going to happen.
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Kate
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qatzelok 12:29 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
Kondioronk International Airport or Jeanne Mance International Airport?
Kate 12:40 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
I think we were perfectly fine calling it Dorval Airport all that time, and now that we’re in an era of sudden reversals of opinion on public figures, it’s probably best not to apply people’s names to things.
I mean, what happens if we discover Jeanne Mance had a slave? I’m not saying she did, but people did, back then, it wasn’t unusual. And so on.
dmdiem 14:09 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
My vote is for Airporty McAirportface.
steph 17:25 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
@Kate, didn’t Mr. Dorval also possibly do horrible things too?
Kate 17:31 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
According to Wikipedia, “Dorval was originally named Gentilly. It was later renamed La Présentation-de-la-Vierge-Marie. In 1691, the domain of La Présentation, originally owned by Pierre Le Gardeur de Repentigny, was acquired by Jean-Baptiste Bouchard d’Orval.”
I think there’s a distinction between a place being named after an owner, vs being named to honour a person.
EmilyG 19:13 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
Seems to me that on the island of Montreal, most people just call it “the airport.”
CE 21:37 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
I didn’t live here before it was named for Trudeau, I might not have even been alive when the name was changed but I usually call it “Dorval.”
Francesco 22:02 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
Agree with @EmilyG. I work there, and while we are *supposed* to call it “Trudeau” on the VHF radio when talking to Apron or Ground Control while driving planes, few do. In normal conversation, it’s just “the Airport.”
Blork 22:15 on 2021-03-03 Permalink
Back when Mirabel was still flying passengers, “Dorval” and “Mirabel” were useful names because they were also geographic locations instead of abstractions. Now that Mirabel is just the ghost of a white elephant, I usually just call the Dorval one “the airport.” Sometimes I call it “pet,” typically followed by a fart sound.
Kate 12:06 on 2021-03-04 Permalink
I think you were alive, CE: Wikipedia says it changed names on January 1, 2004.
CE 18:44 on 2021-03-04 Permalink
That’s much more recent than I thought. I guess that’s why Dorval as a name is relevant to me, people would have still been calling it by it’s original name when I arrived in Montreal. Sometimes it takes a generation for an old name to die. I still call the Rogers Centre the Skydome and have no intention of ever calling Metropolis by its new name.