The public consultation office has launched its hearings on systemic racism, requested by a popular petition last year.
Updates from May, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
Alex Norris is to be interim Plateau mayor until a byelection in October.
Ian
Let’s hope there’s no roadwork, bagels, or softball for him to get abusive about in public forcing Plante to backpedal on his behalf. In that regard he and Ferrandez are very much cut from the same cloth.
Joey
Norris’s contempt for the softball field goes back a long time. GIven our community’s lawsuit plus the ongoing consultation for a plan directeur for Jeanne-Mance Park (yes, now that they have destroyed a ball field and rebuilt both the tennis courts and the playground, the City is developing a plan), I doubt there’s much he will be able to do to achieve his vision while he’s *interim* mayor.
Jack
Ian and Joey its deeply personal for both of you. Were things better with Vision Montreal, Equipe Denis Coderre…..did I miss something.
Joey
I voted for Luc (twice!) and donated to PM during the last campaign. Ferrandez, as plateau mayor during Coderre’s administration, promised to restore the softball field following the renovation of the adjacent tennis courts. There’s video of him throwing out the first pitch at an awareness-raising event we held. Coderre made the same promise, by the way. Once Plante was elected and Ferrandez assumed the role of head of parks, he promised again to restore the field. He then reneged on that promise without adequate reason or room for discussion. He dispatched Norris to deal with the community, and Norris spread lies and half-truths designed to misinform the public about the decision he and Ferrandez were “forced” to take (a decision he has been advocating for since long before our current situation), and refused to meaningfully engage with the overwhelming grassroots community effort to reconsider his decision. So, no, things weren’t necessarily better under previous administrations – but when a politician is willing to lie and deceive to get his way, it’s only “better” for you until your preferences stop aligning with his.
Ian
Didn’t Ferrandez and Norris circle the wagons to kick out Piper Huggins for being to radical and not playing ball? That aside, both Norris and Ferrandez have actually insulted me directly, but that’s not the point. I would vote for PM if they put a pig in a hat on the ticket because they are the only party not obviously on the take. That said, I don’t like the daddy knows best attitude and frankly I think their self righteousness is undeserved as the real cause of climate collapse is way beyond their vision. As far as actually working toward progressive change, being a confrontational asshole doesn’t win hearts and minds. I trust Plante to make the right decisions for the city, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everyone in her party. Richard Ryan would have been a much better choice to replace Ferrandez, for one.
qatzelok
I think a lot of car addicts can only see the traffic-calming in Luc’s eyes. And this makes them see red.
Ian
What a nuanced response, qatzi. Thank you for joining the conversation with such a relevant observation.
Jack
Joey I get it, the softball decision was stupid. Ian I think if we dont elect confrontational assholes we are doomed. Thanks for your responses.
-
Kate
Human chains were formed at three EMSB schools Wednesday to protest the education ministry plan to remove them from the English system.
SteveQ
Imagine if a human chain was formed at french schools to protest the education ministry plan to give it to english system. Just imagine the outcry in the english medias….. ALL OVER Canada !
dhomas
You don’t read the news from the rest of Canada, do you SteveQ? There were protests in Ontario just last November where Franco-Ontarians were upset with Doug Ford’s cuts to French language university. Did you hear any outcry about the protests?
Ian
It’s pretty surprising he didn’t hear about it, it was covered very extensively in the French-language media, too…
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1159460/politique-manifeste-francophone-criee-queens-park
(for example)
-
Kate
Public health’s report is in, and they estimate that 66 people died on the island of Montreal directly because of the heat in last summer’s heat wave. Most were poor, old or schizophrenic.
Blork
That’s more than double the murder rate.
Ian
Listening to CBC the other night they said a quarter of those deaths were schizophrenics with inadequate medical and community support. Food for thought in these climate collapse discussions, the first to go will be the most vulnerable, and if we ignore that we are just playing games with our social consciousness posturing.
-
Kate
The last pillar of the old Turcot interchange was torn down Tuesday. The whole thing is nearly gone.
-
Kate
We’re getting a patchwork of pot consumption rules, with the CAQ backing off on their initial plan to make all public consumption illegal – it’s now going to be OK in parks, if you’re 21 or older – but then boroughs are varying on their positions as well.
JP
I just hate the smell so much. Not looking forward to it.
qatzelok
I don’t like the smell of cars, so maybe cars could be eliminated to balance things out smell-wise.
Tim S.
Yeah, but the whole point of a park is that you can get away from cars……
Tim S.
so it would be nice if there was a similar space where you could also get away from pot.
TC
What is the policy on cigarettes? Many cities have banned them from public spaces.
denpanosekai
I’m with you guys — I hate all smoke smell. Smoking *anything* in public is such a hypocrite thing to do.
Ian
Wow, it sure is hard dealing with living in a densely populated environment where other people use the space differently! Why, I hear some of them even have bagel ovens! They must hate the environment and children.
Chris
TC: smoking is not permitted in most (all?) parks. Look for the sign near park entrances.
Ian, why the snark? It really is legit hard “dealing with living in a densely populated environment where other people use the space differently.”
Between car smells, smoking, wood-based cooking, BBQs, etc. it is indeed hard to find a place to sit outside where you can enjoy fresh air. Last time I went to sit and read in Laurier park I changed benches probably 5 times trying to find fresh air. Solutions are not obvious/trivial. Yet another reason to move to the burbs I’m afraid.
Mark Côté
There will still be some restrictions. As per the Gazette article, “Municipalities will have to post signs indicating where smoking is permitted. They will also have to forbid smoking in parks during cultural festivals or large sporting events.”
So far I have not seen an explosion in public pot consumption, although admittedly spring is only just getting underway.
k
Chris – Well, if you choose to live in a densely populated city, you are choosing to live with people. If you don’t want to live around people and the many different ways they live, then yes, it’s time to go to the suburbs.
I lived right off Price Arthur for six years. Every year, it got increasingly noisy with drunk students every night. The cops were outside of our house more often then not. We had to spend summers sleeping with our windows closed.
Two years ago, we moved away to a quieter area of the island. What we didn’t do was ask to ban students or drinking.EmilyG
I’d rather have people smoke pot or cigarettes outside than nearby inside my own apartment building.
Chris
k, “choosing to live with people” doesn’t mean anyone gets to do anything. When one’s actions affect others, there’s a balance to be had. Your right to swing your arms ends at my face, as they say. There is a balance between your “right” to pollute the air and my right be breathe clean fresh air.
Ian
Hence laws. People can smoke dope. Get over it.
Chris
Yes, hence laws, and the changing thereof. Almost like that’s the topic of the articles Kate linked to, and that we are discussing.
-
Kate
City council has rejected Marvin Rotrand’s motion to allow religious symbols among the police force, apparently only a symbolic gesture so far, although journalists have, in the past, interviewed at least one woman who hoped to be able to join the force and keep her hijab.
In tangentially related news, a woman in niqab was attacked near Charlevoix metro. The man was not apprehended.
-
Kate
The STM is promising to create a vigilance committee to oversee the work of its inspectors, whom we all know can get carried away with the vast authority of their work, especially as they’re meant to become special constables at some point. But this item is more about Lionel Perez, who gets a lot of time from the Gazette as always.
-
Kate
Yanai Elbaz, convicted for taking a $10M bribe in the MUHC corruption case, will soon be out on parole after serving only seven months of a 38-month sentence. As I’ve said before, if you do crimes, make ’em white collar.
-
Kate
Quebec has passed a motion recognizing the historic status of the Gay Village, proposed by Manon Massé.
-
Kate
Despite recent news of higher costs, Quebec plans to go ahead with the blue line extension – but it wants Ottawa to kick in as well.
-
Kate
Radio-Canada has eight high points from Luc Ferrandez’ political career, while TVA has six. QMI, which has never made any secret of their anti-Ferrandez views, resurrects the incident in which the man got a ticket for riding a bike the wrong way down St-Laurent, surely the smallest political scandal in this city’s long history.
dwgs
Nick Auf der Maur getting busted for peeing in an alley comes second.
Blork
…and in that case they later named the alley after him. I wonder if they will ever rename St‑Laurent to “Ferrandez Boulevard.”
Reply