Updates from July, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 21:02 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

    The Gazette is trying to create enthusiasm for a flag for the anglo community, but, I’m sorry, the examples shown are so amateur that it’s cringe.

     
    • Roman 21:55 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

      What’s even the point?

      I feel like it’s just adding to them vs us mentality.

      No flags!

    • Michael Black 22:23 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

      A couple of years ago UBC-Okanagan installed another flag pole, and then they fly the Okanagan Nation Alliance flag.

      There are a lot of existing flags that could find flag pole space before some made up flag. I’d love to see the Metis flag fly, though we’ve missed some obvious dates like Louis’ birthday and Manitoba coming into confederation. There’s always Aug 24, 150 years after the Wolseley expedition got to Red River.

      This story seems like a small group who decided a flag was needed. But I.don’t see a reason for a flag, other than because other groups have them.

    • Kate 09:53 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

      I’m quite satisfied with having 3/5 of the symbols on the city flag belonging more or less on the anglo side.

    • david232 12:04 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

      I don’t care about flags, but it’s true that anglo-Quebeckers don’t really have a flag in the way that others do. I was very staunchly anti-separatist for most of my life, now I’m agnostic – on identarian grounds I’d be tempted to vote yes, but on economic grounds absolutely no chance. But there’s no question that this lingering “historic anglo” (thank you for that, Gazette) anomie that prompts that feeling of detachment from the nationalistic trappings of both Quebec and Canada would have been settled one way or the other with a yes vote back in 1995.

    • Kate 13:58 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

      Another thought on this: there is no anglo community. There’s very little to tie us together. Unlike, say, Italian or Chinese Montrealers, we don’t have a cuisine that brings us together at the grocery store or restaurant. Unlike Montrealers from the Maghreb, we don’t meet at the mosque, and unlike Jewish Montrealers, we don’t meet at the synagogue. Nobody’s going to give me a job or help bail me out of trouble merely because I’m a fellow anglo. There’s no need for a flag for this sort of apathetic negative identity.

    • Ephraim 15:45 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

      What, you don’t like a flying pelvis with a vagina?

    • Dhomas 06:15 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      We do have “Montreal English” that ties us all together:
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_English
      😉

      Also, @Ephraim: I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw the flying vagina in that flag. Actually, I’m not sure how anyone can see anything else in it. What were they thinking?

    • EmilyG 11:07 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      I admit that I voted for the vagina flag because I found it amusing….

    • Uatu 11:13 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      I’m Anglo but also a visible minority. Am I included included as a member of the Anglos or my ethnic group or both? It’s time Quebec moves on. It’s the 21st century. The province is more than the binary of English speaking white people vs French speaking white people.

      Also I’d hate to be part of the group represented by the image of the vagina in that design.

    • GC 11:46 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      I can see the vagina, but does anyone know what it’s actually meant to be? A bird? A flower? As a Quebec anglo, I feel like it should speak to me and I should know right away how it connects to me.

      I can’t speak for all the anglos but, personally, I didn’t feel the need for a flag. The representation of England/Scotland/Ireland on the Montreal flag is enough for me.

    • dwgs 12:15 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      It’s not just a vagina, it’s a vagina borne aloft by moose antlers.

    • MarcG 12:21 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      I was going to get in on making fun of the designs as well but they were made by young people so I’m holding back. The adults behind this project, however, must be bored AF to have thought of it.

    • EmilyG 17:26 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      On the voting site, it said that the last flag was “inspired” by Indigenous people, but didn’t go into details (maybe there weren’t many?) and just mentioned some vague things like nature and mountains. It doesn’t say there was any input from any Indigenous people, or which ones.

    • EmilyG 17:31 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

      (It’s the second flag in the Gazette article. The, uh, flying something or other.)

      It says on the survey site about this flag:
      This flag design takes its inspiration from the Indigenous communities in Québec. The stylized clouds honour the seasons and the vastness, and the mountains reference the province’s ancient mountain range and extensive natural environment of Québec. At the centre of the flag is the crest of antlers, which also represent the vast natural beauty of Québec. The antlers are filled by several different colours that represent the flags of the diverse countries of origin of the English-speaking communities. This element is inspired by the flag of La Francophonie internationale.

    • Kate 11:17 on 2020-07-27 Permalink

      I’m still reacting, I think, to an earlier Gazette design “project” in which they went on and on about how much better it would be to get the Greater Montreal logo designed by high school students. Never mind that a significant logo is developed carefully by experienced artists after a lot of study and verbal description – no no, let’s have some hideous naive scribbly thing produced by kids.

      This may be one reason I’m not holding back. By taking lines like this, the Gazette undermines the whole process of graphic design and the development of graphics that need to be professional, inclusive and enduring. I’m not saying the too-many-cooks aspect of logo development can’t have its downside – in fact, the Greater Montreal logo that was produced, shown above, was a dud, and I don’t believe has ever been used – but naïveté is not one of the prized qualities of a logo.

      See, this is the logo they use for the CMM:

      It’s simple and clever. The island is central, the northern and southern shores are included, and the whole thing wraps up into a circle. I wouldn’t letterspace the text nearly so much, but that’s easily fixed.

      Anyway, what’s with the giant fleur-de-lys in this suggestion? No idea. None.

  • Kate 20:50 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

    A woman motorist being harassed in traffic by an STM bus driver caught some of his gestures on video. The STM treats this as an internal disciplinary matter so we probably won’t hear of any consequences.

     
    • Kate 20:45 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

      The bar block of Crescent Street will be car-free till the end of September to allow terrasses to spread into the street.

       
      • david232 12:05 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

        Awesome! Hopefully this lasts after everything is back to normal.

      • Kate 14:06 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

        Even if there is a “back to normal” you will notice that the car-free situation described here is only till the end of September.

        For every temporary change city hall makes to try to give this city a bit of summer glow, there’s a lot of blow-back, and the media are very diligent about reporting on every negative response to the temporary changes. CBC is on Facebook today fishing for negative comments on making one single block of Crescent Street car-free, and respondents are reliably catastrophizing. The temporary bike lane along Terrebonne is the end of the world, to read some comments.

      • Kevin 11:00 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        The temp bike lane on Terrebonne is annoying because residents weren’t notified, the signs were changed without the standard “we’ve changed the rules” sign being posted on the street, and now that the parked cars are gone drivers have been given the psychological cues to do 70 in a residential zone.

      • EmilyG 11:11 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        In a West Island Facebook group, a lot of members were getting angry over the pedestrianization of Crescent Street. Oh no, they can’t park there!
        Crescent Street isn’t even in the West Island.

      • Tim S. 12:00 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        Yeah, I’m optimistic about the Terrebonne bike path in the long run but last week I watched them literally paint the lines around parked cars that hadn’t gotten the notice in time to move. Also, the plan for the schools seems to be to just have no bike path on those blocks, so rush hour cyclists will all of a sudden find the path disappears and is replaced by dozens of parents in various vehicles dropping their kids off. Keep in mind that the schools are explicitly asking parents to drive their kids to school in the fall to create more space on the buses. I expect to witness a few angry confrontations come September.

      • Ian 15:47 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        F.A.C.E. school stopped having buses a few years back in a round of Ministry cutbacks and I assure you that stretch of University has been utter chaos every school morning since. Now multiply that across every school in the city. Should be fun. I’m glad we left F.A.C.E. and opted for walking distance schools but not everyone is in the same boat as me and I don’t envy them … strangely I haven’t seen a big influx of new members in the homeschooling groups I’m in but we’ll see how people feel by September.

        @EmilyG I hear you but let’s be honest, Crescent Street is probably catering to West Islanders more than you think especially now that there have been COVID cases at Annie’s and McKibbin’s… but the irony of bar patrons complaining about parking isn’t lost on me… just one more reason some decent public transit to the West Island is sorely needed.

      • EmilyG 18:20 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        @Ian Yes, I remember I used to live in the West Island. And when I lived there, I was, uh, quite fond of visiting Crescent Street… usually by public transit, sometimes on foot from McGill.

      • Ian 21:27 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        The bar traffic from universities are quite another matter… I am sure the bars will be feeling the pinch come September for sure.

    • Kate 20:40 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

      A male strip club in the village is suspending its activities after several cases of Covid among its staff.

      Lachine is closing some pools after lifeguards tested positive.

      Here’s an interesting tweet from a user called NonMasqué, calling people to Place Émilie‑Gamelin Saturday at noon to protest masks. “Le peuple québécois est invité à s’unir pour défendre ses droits et libertés…” yadda yadda.

      Why is Le Devoir giving time to a grotesque anti-mask op-ed at this point? Note that it’s written by a philosophy PhD candidate, not a medical professional.

      Quoting Les Perreaux on Twitter: Bars are voluntarily closing because they’re afraid and the covid homeless shelter is reopening for a second wave but also let’s have public gatherings of 250 people while scolding people over house parties. I’m confused.

       
      • Francesco 22:11 on 2020-07-26 Permalink

        The Lachine lifeguards all had a party a couple of weekends ago, then one tested positive. They are all isolating, and as a result the pools are closed.

    • Kate 20:19 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

      Four SPVM cops face criminal charges, as mentioned in an SQ press release Friday, but details are not forthcoming.

       
      • Ephraim 15:46 on 2020-07-25 Permalink

        More vacation time instead of actual punishment.

    • Kate 20:17 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

      The old church that used to house the Negro Community Centre (NCC) on Coursol Street was condemned and finally demolished in 2014, and some community members would like to see a new centre rise on the empty lot. But a developer owns the land now, and he has other plans.

       
      • Kate 13:29 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

        A strike is looming at the Port of Montreal.

         
        • Kate 13:25 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

          The Canadian Grand Prix is definitively cancelled for this year. Organizers had hoped to reschedule it for Thanksgiving weekend, but it isn’t going to happen.

           
        • Kate 10:01 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

          It’s now mandatory to wear a mask on public transit, but there’s no way the STM can police every passenger. No less than François Legault has ordained that bus drivers need to enforce the rule, but their union says they can’t get involved in that, which isn’t unreasonable, since drivers risk harassment from angry passengers.

           
          • DeWolf 11:54 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            I’ve noticed universal compliance among customers in businesses, but when buses pass by on the street I always see one or two people inside who aren’t wearing masks. I imagine that with the lack of realistic consequences there will always be a handful of people who try to get away with flouting the rules. The heavy fines for shopowners, by contrast, seem to have scared them into being very vigilant.

          • Jack 12:43 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            I’ve tried on the 55, non aggressively, in both languages.” Hey you are supposed to be wearing a mask”… middle aged woman looked at me and put on her headphones.

          • JaneyB 14:03 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            @Jack – good for you. I guess this is the obvious solution. Several other passengers will need to approach the offender and insist. If necessary, the bus could stop and the group could remove the person. Won’t work for everyone but groups are powerful when they speak. One person is good but several are better. Note to self: Vocalize support with other reproachers to create group pressure.

          • CE 15:20 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            One solution could be for the driver to park the bus until the person not wearing a mask gets off. If they don’t get off on their own accord, the other passengers will make it happen.

          • Kate 15:53 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            I can see that, CE, but doesn’t practical vigilante action pose risks?

        • Kate 09:33 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

          Smokers stubbing out their cigarettes in flowerpots have caused 126 fires so far this year for over a million dollars in damage.

           
          • walkerp 11:35 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            Can smoking get any more stupid?

          • Meezly 13:31 on 2020-07-24 Permalink

            Or lazy and self-entitled?

        • Kate 09:30 on 2020-07-24 Permalink | Reply  

          The mother of the six-year-old girl stabbed to death this week has been arrested and will appear in court Friday.

          This is the second apparent case of a mother stabbing a young daughter to death in 2020, and this in a city with only 11 homicides to date all year.

           
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