History pieces on the eve of snow

The Centre d’histoire piece this weekend shows the transformation of the Olympic Velodrome into the Biodome between 1989 and 1992 – a change that, as they note, was deeply unpopular with cycling groups at the time. It was a Pierre Bourque idea, when he was head of the botanical garden. Radio-Canada looks back 25 years to Bourque’s election as mayor in 1994 on his ideal of making the whole city into a garden. Text and archive video clips on the Bourque story.

The Journal – have they started rummaging through their photo archive like the Gazette? – also uses photos to illustrate the arrest of union leader Michel Chartrand 50 years ago for seditious speeches.

Radio-Canada tells how the Canadiens’ Jacques Plante introduced the goalie mask to the NHL 60 years ago after a string of injuries to his face.

The Gazette has a good photo of the construction of Place des Arts in 1961, but in the text the interesting fact is that two streets disappeared in the project – Plateau and Winning. Plateau had a school that moved north to its current location inside Lafontaine Park, and later gave its name to the entire district.