I must admit it’s become pretty academic around here whether it’s a long weekend or not, but here’s an open-and-closed for Labour Day.
Updates from September, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Montreal passed the mark of 30,000 diagnosed COVID-19 cases Saturday. That would include a lot of folks who’ve presumably recovered, although I’m sure we’ve all seen news stories about some patients experiencing symptoms that linger for weeks or months.
Deaths from Covid in Montreal are hanging at 3,474.
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Kate
Club 281 has closed, which was announced earlier so is not a surprise, and the club has been shut for months anyway.
Jebediah Pallindrome
I love how there’s a whole paragraph that explains what a strip club for women is.
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Kate
A CROP poll shows that some people are longing for a return to the golden age of Denis Coderre.
DeWolf
When big daddy comes back maybe we can finally get that baseball stadium!!
Jack
Anyone know whats up with La Presse, they have been at this for months.
Mario Girard has taken it upon himself to be the official opposition in almost every column. Then this piece today.https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2020-09-05/attention-ideologues-au-travail.php
Can anyone tell me what this writer’s thesis is …help me.JoeNotCharles
28% is not an overwhelming majority. Please don’t perpetuate skewed headlines like this.
Kate
Adjusted, JoeNotCharles.
walkerp
I heard the post being read in an ironic tone of voice, with possibly even rolling eyes.
GC
No thank you!
david27
23% support is certainly better than I’ll ever command on a survey for mayor of Montreal, but not great for a well-known incumbent mayor.
She’ll still win, unless maybe Coderre jumps back into it or some other star does, but control of the council could be lost, leading to trouble in governing.
Joey
Plante has a huge hill to climb – only 41% of those who voted for her last time would do so again. This isn’t a huge surprise – Projet won in part as a protest vote against Coderre and the old style of politics He represented, and the problems facing Montreal will take decades to sort out, certainly not one mayoral term. At what point does Projet decide their last best shot to make lasting change (eg once the REV is built it will be here to stay) will be to aggressively govern for another year, rather than ease off the gas and try to squeak out another victory?
Given these polls and the general attitude about the city these days, it would surprise me if Coderre were the only well-known personality to run against Plante.
Cloulesse
That baseball stadium and its giant parking lot are looking pretty enticing right about now.
What a great way to watch other people get in shape!
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Kate
A journalist went incognito to the refuge being offered to residents of the Hochelaga tent city, and describes a night spent there. (He notes that it was not close to full up or he would’ve left his space to someone who needed it.) His description of the impersonal, spartan space, no curtain for privacy, lights out at 9:30 p.m., makes it unsurprising when he concludes that he understands why people would prefer the tents.
Similar feelings were expressed by people interviewed by La Presse.
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Kate
The Journal retells the storied history of the Montreal melon, its once fabulous size and price, and ponders whether it has actually ever been revived. Like any lost flavour of the past, it’s impossible to know how the revival compares to the original – if you can even acquire one, since they aren’t for sale on every corner. In any case, it seems the original melon always was a difficult and demanding crop to cultivate, only worth the intensive fuss because of the high price it commanded in fancy places.
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Kate
Projet’s plan to turn the Lachine marina into a riverside park is supported by a lot of people, it turns out. Whether their voices will have more weight than those of boat owners remains to be seen.
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Kate
Café Cherrier on St-Denis is reopening after months of closure but Entrecôte Saint-Jean on Peel is packing it in and closing this week.
A chef at Montreal Plaza on St-Hubert created a stir this week with a video mocking the notions of cultural and culinary appropriation, then deleted it after a lot of folks got mad. This item has a link where someone reposted the video.
A restaurant called Pho King Bon has opened in Rosemère and created a different kind of stir among language purists. Surely they remember Fukyu Sushi on Côte‑des‑Neiges, or the short‑lived Pho Sho in NDG? In any case, it’s well established that “fuck” is not a swear word in Quebec.
PatrickC
I certainly don’t think you’d see outside Quebec a whole series of books for tween girls titled “Ouate de phoque” (available on Kindle too)!
The cultural relativity of swear words is a fascinating topic. The other day I was watching an episode of the historical drama “Les Pays d’en haut” on TV5 here in the US. It comes with subtitles in “French” French, which means that “câlisse!” becomes “putain!”Meezly
I’m in an QC Asian anti-racism FB group and this has been the top most commented on post. People are divided over Pho King Bon. Some find it offensive while others don’t see what the big deal is.
Mark Côté
This came up in my Twitter feed just now: https://twitter.com/miinhderien/status/1301933614540750848
david27
Entrecôte Saint-Jean closing conjures forth this (so far) suppressed feeling of something like rage envers this whole moment and experience.
At least you know where to find me the rest of this week.
Kate
Were you a devotee of Entrecôte Saint-Jean, david∞? I never ate there, but I liked the idea of a restaurant that offers one thing with the premise it does it perfectly.
At a glance, the original resto – on the street of the same name in Quebec City – hasn’t said it’s closing, so there’s that.
Meezly, Mark Côté, the Pho King Bon story brings together several threads. The owner does seem to be making a mockery of Vietnamese cuisine, but is he also making a mockery of French language laws?
jeather
I rather liked the quote that said that if this restaurant name is legal it’s time to change the laws. Wordplay in French! The language of Molière!
Meezly
To be clear, he is not just making a mockery of Vietnamese cuisine with these jokes, but of the Vietnamese language and history. There may be several threads, but this particular one is the most glaring and should not be discounted.
A couple of examples: using sexist wordplay on dish names (ie. tight knot) is not only gross but demeaning, and naming a cocktail ‘Viet Kong’. I mean, would a German-themed restaurant dare to name a cocktail like, I dunno, “The Waffen SS”?
The owner also seems to be doubling down on his supposedly fun and harmless wordplay, despite many complaints and attempts at having a conversation from the Vietnamese community. Typical gaslighting tactics on minorities by saying they have no sense of humour.
Kate
Meezly, jesus, I didn’t realize he’d gone so low as to have a drink called “Viet Kong”.
With any luck, his poor taste in general means he’ll have equally lousy food, and shortly be out of business.
Uatu
The Viet Kong is whiskey in Vietnamese coffee? I don’t get it? This is the Charlie Chan type bullshit racism where you’d expect the staff to put on make up with slanty eyes and buck teeth like Mickey Rooney did playing Mr. yunioshi in breakfast at Tiffany’s
david13
Entrecôte Saint-Jean is/was a longtime favorite, simple, classic, affordable, great service and ambiance. I’ve been there for so many meals marking various occasions and things that I’ve lost count. Will be sorely missed.
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Kate
The pandemic seems to have accelerated the tendency for people to flee the city for the suburbs if the rate of house sales is anything to go by. Real estate prices are also surging.
CharlesQ
One thing that makes me want to flee the city is the recent La Presse poll that gives an advantage to Coderre even though he’s not running. I take it with a grain of salt though since La Presse has always been all in for Coderre even if he wasted tens of millions of dollars and named Rozon as the “commissaire aux célébrations du 375e” (and Rozon was also a fundraiser for Coderre, not that I think Coderre is guilty by association by it was not secret Rozon was a serial abuser)…
Kate
I’ve just made a link to the poll. Eurgh.
walkerp
So if people are fleeing to the country, wouldn`t that then create a drop in housing prices on the island of Montreal? Is it just that demand is so high still it can absorb more houses on the market? Or are the people leaving wealthy enough to keep their city place and buy a country place?
What if office buildings downtown were turned into weird future residence blocks, since all office jobs will be done from home in the future?
DeWolf
People may be leaving for the countryside it seems there are plenty of others that are eager to take their place in the city. Back in July the Gazette reported that analysts were predicting a decline in home prices due to the pandemic, but instead they have gone up by 3.5 percent since April and 7.7 percent since last year. They are still predicting a “slight softening of demand” by 2021 – but we’re living in an upside down world so who knows.
Kevin
walkerp
Moshe Lander is predicting just that IF cities rezone buildings.I think this year we have seen two things: the first is the pent-up demand from people who had preapproved mortgages during a time when nothing was on sale; The second is a rush for larger homes because people expect that working from home will be a constant.
Oh, and some wags say that we’ve seen the last ever snow day
walkerp
Thanks for those answers. Helpful!
Distressing because it seems like underlying these phenomena are the increasing disparities of income. Those who can afford, get more real estate, squeezing out those who can’t.Michael Black
The neighbor has bought another house on the street, about six houses up on the other side of the street.
He only moved in about 7 years ago, after a long renovation. But working at home, with kids who had previously lived elsewhere, a house that had been fine is now cramped. He likes the neighborhood, and the new house is bigger. Presumably the current house will be sold.
But no move till next spring apparently. One can hope just in time for a vaccine.
I’m imaging them walking the contents up the street, rather than a moving van.
david27
We know that interest rates, lockdown-created pent up demand, the drop in the USD and overvalued equities markets (stoking demand for a safe harbor), nutso money printing combined with massive savings reserves globally, open immigration for anyone with a college degree in STEM and the ability to speak an official language, temporary covid-induced preferences and/or speculation on said, tax incentives, and – especially – the Canadians’ own sense that real estate is an eternal safe harbor asset class when the world is chaotic . . . all of these are working at the same time, to varying degrees in buyers, depending on their positions.
And, of course, the artificially imposed supply constraints on housing (zoning) and the exogenous shock to what little supply was coming online (work stoppages) have limited supply all over.
Overall, there’s this narrative that everyone is moving to the suburbs and leaving the city, but the prices don’t reflect that at all. Real estate is up across the board, it’s just up a bit more in the suburbs and exurbs and provinces.
Kate
I think it’s also that people may be rethinking their living spaces in view of possibly working at home indefinitely. If a couple are both working from home, and there’s kids, you might well feel like you need a little more room, especially if one or both of you does a lot of Zoom meetings.
For myself, I’m glad I had the foresight to rent a place with a little yard. It’s really been a sanity-saver this summer.
david27
This is definitely happening, and I’d consider it just one of the temporary covid-induced preferences and/or speculation on said. You have the sense of being crowded, more noise from unemployed neighbors, desire for a desire for a yard and/or other space for kids, a garage/car port for a car, all sorts — and the added annoyance level that everyone is running just amplifies the dissatisfaction. But remember that real estate is going up everywhere – on the Plateau, in Maisonneuve, in Ahuntsic, west island, off island, in the Mauricie, everywhere. Condo sales are booming.
In addition to all the various factors financial, cultural, experiential and other pressures (immigration, the housing supply shortage, etc) that are contributing to this boom, a key covid one is that people are sick of the spaces they call home. Even if they’re moving to another apartment of the same size, they want that change. They want something that reflects their preferences more, they want something different.
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