Ensemble has presented its candidate for the borough mayoralty of Plateau borough in the October 6 byelection. La Presse says Pierre Szaraz started his speech with “Avez-vous eu de la misère à vous stationner ?” with more to say on cars. We can see where this is going.
Inevitably, this byelection will be seen as a midterm assessment of Projet vs. the more populist aspirations of Ensemble.
Monday, TVA had a story about Ensemble demanding a pre-electoral financial report from the city. This is in view of the next municipal election, which is in 2021. Today, there’s another story about this report, involving having the city’s auditor-general produce the report.
Nobody but QMI has this story and I’m not getting why there’s a hurry on this matter two years before the election has to take place.
This is politics so it’s probably a cynical fishing expedition by Ensemble but at least, if they win, they will not be able to blurt out the oft used excuse of “Oh, we had no idea how bad the city’s finances were when we made all those campaign promises”.
Montreal cyclists are ticketed a lot more than Toronto’s – 42 times as often, if the Toronto Sun is to be believed. TVA mentions in passing that our pedestrians are also ticketed twice as often as Toronto’s.
Update: Vélo-Québec is not very happy.
Wow, it must be a free-for-all in Toronto. Or something is wrong with these statistics. I hardly ever see ANYONE ticketed, other than green onions running around.
I see a lot of bikes being ticketed regularly. The cops set up on the bike paths.
12800 tickets, for 5-6 months of biking, equals not even a hundred tickets per day. It’s more alarming for Toronto than Montreal, I say.
I wonder how many of those police commanders and their officers use their bikes when they are coming in for the shifts from Mirabel, Terrebonne, Mascouche, and Blainville. They claim they are doing it for our own good and safety but these numbers border on harassment. Maybe they just do not like the lifestyle promoted.
@ Ephraim your right it is free for all in Toronto, last year 41 pedestrians ( citizens) were killed by cars and trucks in TO, they were not killed by bicycles.
It really is a free-for-all in Toronto. It has some of the worst driving behaviour I’ve seen anywhere. Montreal drivers are saints by comparison.
I walk a minimum of 40 miles a week in this city and have seen a grand total of one bicyclist get a ticket, ever. I actually don’t know if he got a ticket but I saw him get pulled over. I walk down Sherbrooke between Amherst and whatever that street is at the eastern edge of LaFontaine park 4 times a day and there is never a day that I do not encounter people illegally riding bikes on the sidewalks. Ontario St is almost as bad. It is damn near impossible to find an outdoor space in this city where you can be free from the need to watch for bicycles.
Either cyclists in other Canadian cities are more responsible or those cities have even more chaotic streets and unsafe pedestrian spaces than we do but the cops clearly are not doing enough enforcement here regardless of the numbers.
Has Velo Quebec EVER been happy? Seriously?
Sordid tale from Montreal North: the security chief of a Montreal North high school is on trial for pimping.
François Legault is keen on the idea of spending millions on a roof for the Jarry Park stadium for an event that lasts one week in the year.
I went to a match last week. Having never been inside the stadium before I didn’t know what to expect but it was a nice, relaxing experience. Even though the match was delayed a bit because of some showers, I feel like a roof would have made it less of a summer experience. You get quite the view from there and I can’t imagine the stadium having the same ambiance if the matches were played under a roof.
But what I really don’t understand is why the government should have to help with this. The reason given for wanting a roof is that it will increase revenue from television. So shouldn’t the roof be able to pay for itself from this revenue? Is Soccer Canada going to pay the government back or share this increased revenue?
No, 70 Million dollars for swells to enjoy tennis for 5 days a year. I dont see a lot of kids swinging rackets in Park Ex or Villeray.
Since we started signing our kid up for the Tennis Montreal lessons I’ve actually been surprised by the efforts they make to make tennis accessible. I think we paid something like 60$ for 8 weeks of lessons, 3 lessons a week, and as far as I can tell the families seem to be from a variety of social groups. Of course, it helps that I’m home in summer to take her, and part of the funding probably comes from donations that might have been better directed elsewhere, but still, pop into the indoor courts at the stade on a Saturday morning and you might be surprised. I was.
This doesn’t mean I think taxpayers should pay for the roof, mind.
@CE – I agree with you. The open stadium is an old-fashioned summer experience eg: the sights, the sounds, the temperature and yes, sometimes the rain. Also, why should the public purse subsidize a private company? Sometimes I think companies just float that ridiculous idea to see if it will work. Unfortunately, sometimes it does.
If he’s looking for a legacy, he need look no further than the Ville Marie downtown, which he should cap.
Last week, Rosemont-PP borough announced it wasn’t going to install fake turf any more because it increases the heat island effect. This week, a Rosemont soccer group is going to hold a demonstration demanding fake turf, because it can be played on more often.
A judge has authorized a class action suit against the SPVM for alleged racial profiling, but the definitions and cutoff dates are pretty narrow.
The arrival of the Lime scooters has been delayed by rain, meaning lines showing where they can go can’t be painted yet.
I do hope the city has not been inveigled into paying to have these markings done.
Grasping at straws, Ensemble Montréal is demanding a complete financial report from city hall, supposedly to enable candidates to prepare for 2021. I figure Lionel Perez has to know that the city bean-counters are on the job, so this is yet another way to loudly imply Projet doesn’t know what it’s doing. Not impressed.
La Presse looked at the reasons for a slight decline in fortunes at the Jean-Talon market, and their conclusions are a little more subtle than simple parking issues. Another reason is that some of the farmers were getting old and nobody was interested in taking up their business as they retired, leaving empty stalls in the market, which – like empty storefronts on a street – is not good for the overall vibe.
I wonder if the big grocery store chains don’t play a role, in the way many of them have been re-designing themselves to feel more upscale and “market-like” over the past decade. (Provigo, Metro, and IGA have all been doing this, particularly at their larger suburban stores.) Those presentations provide the illusion of the kind of freshness you get at the market.
I reckon people go to the JTM for some combination of these four things: (1) freshness, (2) price, (3) social (i.e., it’s a thing to do, and there are lots of people around), (4) proximity of high quality other stores like Joe La Croute (bakery), some butchers, poissonerie, fromagerie, etc.
Now let’s deconstruct:
(1) Freshness. Hard to beat, but when things are in season (tomatoes, apples, corn) the big grocery stores have gotten pretty good at getting stuff directly from farmer to consumer.
(2) Price. Prices of seasonal produce at the big grocery stores are typically lower than at the JTM. Also, the price is marked at the grocery stores, so you don’t have to go through the trouble of asking, then asking the next one, then asking the next one (etc) to get the best price. Last week I went to a kiosk at an actual farm to get corn, and the corn was literally still warm from the field, but it was late in the day and everything was picked over and only the runts remained. Price not marked. 20 minutes later I was at Provigo where I could buy plump, local, freshly picked corn at four for a dollar. (I rarely go with that option; I’m just pointing it out.)
(3) Social. Not much to say about this other than that it’s mostly a weekend phenomenon, and all it really brings to the market is crowds; not so much open wallets. The “social” people will go there, get a coffee, maybe an ice cream or a sandwich, and walk out with a bag of carrots and two tomatoes.
(4) Proximity of other stores. This is what keeps the JTM viable all year. But every neighbourhood has its bespoke stores these days. A couple of decades ago there were shitty stores all over and then clusters of good stores in a handful of neighbourhoods. But now you don’t have to go to the JTM to get good bread, good meat, or (FFS) little precious jars of overpriced tasty things. And once again, the big grocery chains all have their bespoke little nooks in them, selling fancy this or that. I was in an IGA the other day that had a permanent kiosk housing a tea boutique (separate staff, payment, etc.) and next to that were two other boutiques. This is INSIDE the IGA store!
Not sure what my point is; just making observations.
I love the markets, but hate their prices or their way of not telling you the real prices. Selling something in nonstandard containers or selling you a volume instead of giving you a price per kg. At least with a supermarket, I can see that grapes are $6.58 per kilo… at the market, they put it into a container with no weight… guess at the real price…c’mon!
My goodness I was just there on Saturday and the place was jammed with happy buying customers. The idea that market is going downhill comes from that initial letter by a guy who complained primarily about car access. This is a trope used by people who cant get used to the fact that their unlimited access is now being challenged… everywhere. I talked to an employee at Birri’s who told me that they would probably leave next year….I said bye.
I agree that all of this is bullshit. I went to the market Saturday and Sunday this weekend and it seemed busier than I have ever seen it.
If there were any empty spaces, they were filled with people eating and enjoying themselves.
Admittedly I haven’t been to Jean Talon for a few years, but when I worked there crowds never correlated with actual receipts at the cash. The market makes a lot of its money from people who buy really bulk amounts, and like the guy said in the article, vegetables are heavy. So yeah, I get why people would want to make it more pleasant by pedestrianising it, but the market is really huge, and probably can’t survive at its current size with only pedestrian/public transit customers. Maybe that’s for the best, but like I said in a previous post, be careful what you wish for.
Also, those customers were elderly years ago, and like some of the stall holders, must be dying off. I don’t know if their kids are as into canning as they were.
That said, I think Blork and Ephraim are also onto something. I was at Atwater this week, and apart from a couple of items that are hard to find in grocery stores, most things were more expensive than in a grocery store, and the way they displayed some of the items almost felt like a scam.
Tim S., I think you’re onto something. A friend’s mother, from Sicily, used to put up a lot of homemade tomato sauce every year. Bushels of Roma tomatoes all simmering away in her kitchen. But she’s gone now and her kids don’t follow suit. And she was typical of a whole generation who, if still even alive, are past the heroic kitchen exploit of canning three dozen jars of tomato sauce in a weekend.
I thought canning was having a resurgence thanks to the millenial ‘maker crowd’. I doubt it has reached the scale of the Old World grandmas canning bees though.
Atwater Market’s produce prices are not cheap and mostly not organic enough to justify those prices. Good flowers and fancy meats though and of course jars of every kind of specialty condiment.
St Anne’s has a market on Saturday mornings through much of the year, ndoors n the winter. I’ve been a few times, because I was out that way.
There is produce, but most of the booths are selling products. So someone sells burritos they put together on site, someone sells indian food (she offers it frozen), Quinn Farms has pies at least, someone is selling honey or maple syrup, that sort of thing.
It’s not a big spread, but it serves that social aspect and gives the sellers easier access to customers. I suspect it might bring peoole to the town, though maybe as an added target rather than to bring people just for the market.
It seemed busy enough the times I’ve been, but I can’t tell if they are browsers or buyers.
We see this sort of thing in more central Montreal, a newer wave of markets that are less permanent than traditional markets.
Michael
I like the market but I agree with JaneyB, a lot of the produce is very overpriced and, especially with the bigger booths, seem to be the same as the produce you find in any grocery store. Many of the vendors don’t even say where their produce come from and often say “grown without pesticides” but without organic certification, that could mean just about anything.
Montreal Pride says its community has seen a surge in anti-gay hate on social media over the past year. The rise of the far right has made hate fashionable.
Quebec’s businesses need more immigrants and restaurants in particular are suffering from lack of help but the CAQ government isn’t keen to let more people in. I wonder how François Legault will persuade retired white francophones to return to work as dishwashers and line cooks.
I wonder how he is going to keep alive the towns in the regions (that vote for him) that are dying because the businesses can’t get new employees.
Tuesday morning, Simon J-B is saying they have to slow immigration while they figure out how to make people turn into white francophone catholics faster than they do now.
I am laughing. Half of my ancestors came here in 1847 from Ireland. I’m still speaking English. Good luck.
Rafael Nadal won his 5th Rogers Cup Sunday afternoon – his second in Montreal – and the event saw record attendance.
An injury meant French tennis player Gaël Monfils forfeited at the Rogers Cup semifinal Saturday evening, disappointing fans and depriving the tournament of half a million in revenue. The final is Sunday at 4 p.m. between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev.
(It’s news, but it’s also to note to anyone in the neighbourhood: if you’re going anywhere today, beware of the crowds on buses and the metro.)
They’ll get that half million back, since they took out forfeit insurance.
As I blogged recently, the youth wing of the Quebec Liberals is said to be moving away from multiculturalism, much to the delight of Mathieu Bock-Côté, who continues to believe in a legendary golden age when everyone in Montreal spoke only French and shared a single culture. I read somewhere (will find link) that multiculturalism was never the Quebec Liberals’ official line anyway: it was more that they assented without discussion to the federal line on the matter.
It’s not only the youth wing: Gaétan Barrette is quoted as being on side with the more nationalist side of the party now.
Le Devoir’s definition of the term interculturalism is interesting: “l’interculturalisme […] reconnaît la « présence, au Québec, d’un groupe majoritaire francophone » et l’existence d’une « culture commune [qui] doit servir de socle pour l’intégration des immigrants », la culture québécoise étant « source de cohésion sociale ». In other words, we’re all equal, but some are more equal than others.
The Wikipedia entry on interculturalism defines it thus: “Interculturalism involves moving beyond mere passive acceptance of a multicultural fact of multiple cultures effectively existing in a society and instead promotes dialogue and interaction between cultures.” It goes on to say that multiculturalism was criticized because it “failed to create inclusion of different cultures within society, but instead divided society by legitimizing segregated separate communities that have isolated themselves and accentuated their specificity.”
So far so good. But nothing in the standard definitions goes so far as to say that interculturalism means everyone agrees there’s a single dominant culture, precious and most important, and that everyone needs to agree on preserving it, even the sacrifice of their own. It’s more that there’s a negotiation among equals to arrive at a new collective culture. But does that ever work out in practicality?
Update: Le Devoir says the Liberals’ nationalist swerve is only moderate. Also this weekend, an amusing story about sloppy French coming from none other than Simon Jolin-Barrette’s ministry.
Multiculturalism simply means no state culture takes precedence over any another. Interculturalism posits there is only one culture of assimilation. So it’s just a UQAM made up word to enforce the majorities domination in the public sphere. With of course the always included “historic English Speaking community” what ever that means.
To see how successful each integration strategy has been, the easiest way is to look at the two highest elected bodies in Canada and Quebec. Take a look at who sits in the House of Commons, then take a look who sits in the National Assembly.
In the House of Commons 57 of 338 seats are held by visible minorities, 10 First Nations MPs , 10 Muslim MP’s etc. So in essence the strategy of multiculturalism as contributed to some measure of the House of Commons looking like Canada, so the strategy has been successful.
Take a look at the National Assembly . Of 125 MNA’s 7 are visible minorities and 114 are “veille souche”,so I would argue Quebec’s strategy has also been an overwhelming success. With 78% of Quebec’s population the over representation of the majority community in the public sphere is quite incredible.
CharlesQ 09:23 on 2019-08-13 Permalink
Depressing…. He said stores are closing because of high taxes, nothing about abusive commercial rent increases. I’m sure taxes are part of the problem, but it’s far from the only one. If you can’t understand the problem, you can’t find a proper solution.
Mr.Chinaski 09:46 on 2019-08-13 Permalink
…and this is why Valérie is back for a second term : There is no real political opposition.
Jack 10:27 on 2019-08-13 Permalink
Cars vs People, we might be at a point of rupture.
The personification of the automobile might be ending.
“Avez-vous eu de la misère a vous stationer” as your political introduction to your community. This might be the bridge too far.