STM is tweeting that three quarters of the buses grounded late last week are back in service but there still may be some slowdowns Monday morning. La Presse has some details.
Updates from March, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Taxi drivers held a meeting Sunday in advance of a general strike Monday. They’re pushing for the withdrawal of Bill 17 meant to create a legal framework to allow Uber and other ride-sharing systems to offer services lawfully in Quebec – a change they say will end their industry and destroy their livelihoods.
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Kate
A demonstration against racism and against CAQ government policies on immigration and secularism was held Sunday afternoon downtown, with hundreds marching peacefully through the streets.
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Kate
Residents in eastern Montreal are not happy with the poor air quality from industrial activity in the area.
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Kate
Anjou councillor Lynne Shand is making a name for herself this weekend with a Facebook rant against an emergency doctor who looked after her in hijab. Toula Drimonis has more of her online ranting.
Update: Valérie Plante has schooled Shand on Twitter; Shand maintains she is “realistic” – totally ignoring the distinction between individual choice and institutional endorsement of religious symbols. As they say in French “elle persiste et signe.” Bye-bye, Ms. Shand.
Faiz Imam
@steverukavina: “Anjou borough mayor Luis Miranda tells CBC he finds Shand’s comments “unfortunate”, but that for now he’ll keep her as part of his team and let voters decide”
That’s not good enough. I hope outrage here builds steam because her comments are completely unacceptable.
We need to take a stronger stance and we need to do it fast.
Because if you really believe in the great replacement conspiracy, the only logical end result Is violence, and we have already been too close to that to let it happen again.
Kate
Faiz Imam, from something I read or heard today I don’t think there’s a mechanism in municipal law for dumping a duly elected councillor. But the next municipal election is still pretty far off, so I don’t think Miranda should get to wash his hands so fast. He could at least chuck her out of the Anjou party and make her sit as an independent.
Update: Luis Miranda says it isn’t in his power to fire anyone from Équipe Anjou. That seems odd. A party leader should be able to chuck any member out who openly expresses views incompatible with the party’s principles.
SMD
An online petition calling for her to resign already has over 2,000 signatures: http://www.change.org/p/luis-miranda-démission-de-la-conseillère-lynne-shand-pour-propos-racistes-et-islamophobes.
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Kate
The statue of Queen Victoria outside McGill’s Pollack Hall was covered in green paint, but nobody has yet claimed the act or delivered a manifesto.
Would’ve gone better with last weekend’s parade.
Faiz Imam
We are seeing an increased consciousness of Imperialism and Canada’s role in empire, I expect all signs of it that are actively venerated in the public sphere (distinct from being taught as part of history) will be both critiqued and vandalized till they are removed.
Kate
I think there’s a distinction between a queen and a politician like Macdonald, though. She was born into her situation and while she became a figurehead during a colonial time – and probably held some of the prejudices common in that time – she was not a politician or otherwise ambitious. She didn’t have to be.
In addition, I don’t know of any quotes or cites from Victoria expressing xenophobia. Not saying she was a saint, just that having the statue there is a reminder to us of a historical time when our feelings were different and kings and queens were to be honoured. There’s also the Square Victoria statue and the one that’s somewhere in the MUHC hospital (used to be at the Vic), as well as Edward VII in Phillips Square. Should they all come down?
(As a woman, I have always had a slight soft spot for seeing Victoria up there looking regal, regardless of any other factors. How many statues of real women do we have?)
Macdonald, on the other hand, didn’t become prime minister by random chance, and once in power, he was in a position to act on attitudes we now find unconscionable toward Canada’s aboriginal people – including the Métis – and immigrants from China and elsewhere. He was our first prime minister, but he established this country on a basis of intransigence and mercilessness toward difference, so I think that statue does need to come down.
Kevin
I received a 600-word document from people claiming credit for this act of vandalism.
It seems their main objection is that people weren’t very nice in the past, and they blame figureheads for the actions of every single individual.
Chris
Kevin, lol, nice summary! Did they explain why the colour green? Does it symbolize something, or was it just on sale?
Are there any statues of Mahatma Gandhi in Montreal? I’m temped (not really) to cover it in paint as an experiment, to see if the media and twitterati would cover it differently. The University of Ghana managed to get rid of their status of that racist, so could we I guess.
JaneyB
I still say better to add statues nearby to tell the story of those who were colonized instead of removing the offenders. The new configuration can then provide an opportunity to think about the bad deeds and increase awareness.
Ian
That would be a great idea. I’d love to see more statues in the city, too, especially representing marginalized histories.
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Kate
Nova Bus is promising quick delivery of new parts for the city’s hybrid buses garaged last week after a recall over a steering system glitch. There have been no reports so far of any incident caused by the problem; other towns have been inconvenienced but the problem has affected the STM most.
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Kate
Daily Hive claims to have a rundown of how much money you need to live alone in 2019 in this city.
Speaking of which, there’s a petition to the National Assembly to review the rental board’s aims and improve its accessibility. It may be futile in this CAQ era, but you never know.
Blork
Articles like this are pretty silly and don’t really mean much. Fortunately the tone is also silly, so it’s at least consistent.
Spoiler: the amount they arrive at is $2,218.58 per month/ $26,622.96 annually (after income tax). But that amount assumes:
• Downtown appartment.
• At least one dinner out, a brunch or two, and a couple of movie nights per month.
• 2-3 drinks at a bar once per week.
• Gym membership.
• About 10 lattés per month.None of that is excessive, but you could easily lower that amount by not living right downtown, not going to movies, not buying expensive lattés, etc. So the idea that you NEED $2218 a month is a bit spurious. It’s also weird that the article seems to think this is expensive.
On the other hand, the article isn’t about what one actually needs to survive. It’s more about what a millennial from Ontario would need to have a reasonably fun life as a downtown Montrealer.
mare
The minimum you need for other Canadian cities according to the same website (with a lot of the same stock photos):
Toronto: $3,582.24 per month/ $42,986.88 annually.
Vancouver: $3,355.80 per month/ $40,269.60 annually
The Calgary story is apparently not finished yet.So Montreal is super cheap with its “MINIMUM* of $2,218.58 per month/ $26,622.96 annually.
(I live much cheaper, I’m just doing my taxes. But I’m not a 30-something and I don’t drink coffee and don’t party.)
Blork
I hate to get all “back in my day…” (that’s a lie; I actually love doing that!) but my first few years in Montreal involved:
• Very shitty apartments, not downtown (OK, the first was in the McGill Ghetto, but that was less than a year).
• Maximum 1 dinner out a month, and Arahova on St-Viateur was as fancy as it got.
• Zero brunches ever.
• Zero gym memberships.
• Zero lattés.
• Drinks maybe once a month max, beer only, and only a few.For two years my monthly budget for entertainment/drinks/non-grocery store food was less than $20. A month. This was late 80s/early 90s, not the 1940s. I do not recommend living like this. The only upside was it made me more sympathetic towards panhandlers and petty thieves.
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