Denise Bombardier on Montreal
Denise Bombardier hates Valérie Plante. There’s no other conclusion possible after reading this brief piece Le massacre de Montréal in which she accuses the mayor of destroying the city by chasing its residents, en particulier francophones, to the suburbs.
To balance this out, an Urbania writer pens a love letter to the city.
Kevin 09:17 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
This sentence struck me: “Jean Drapeau, qui a dirigé Montréal de 1954 à 1957 et de 1960 à 1986, a transformé une ville provinciale en une métropole de renommée mondiale”
How ethnocentric must one be to think the largest city in the country was a provincial town? Anyone thinking that really is looking through blue-tinted lenses (to coin a phrase).
Kate 09:28 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
Montreal was the leading city in Canada till the mid-20th century. It was Toronto that was the hick town till then.
Meezly 10:01 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
I think you’re right, Kate. Bompardier’s article seems to be based on her emotional hate-on for Plante. For her to gloss over serious mistakes of past male mayors and to pile on Plante without any evidence to back up her argument makes me think she is also sexist.
Didn’t Drapeau raze whole swaths of working-class neighbourhoods in the name of progress, ie. cars? But it was ok, because Drapeau thought big and he was pro-car. But if a 21st century mayor thinks big by prioritizing bikes, it’s considered a massacre? And why bring up that flirtatious interaction with Drapeau if not for ego-stroking and to remind readers how old she is now but back in the day, she was a dish?
With Coderre, she describes him as proactive, his only major flaws being too showy and arrogant in his ambition. Huh?? Hello Bombarier, did you forget something glaring? Was rewarding over-priced construction contracts to companies who did a shitty job with the city infrastructure not a little bit destructive? So in Bombardier’s eyes, Plante’s de-valuing the car is destroying Montreal more than the rampant corruption back in Coderre’s glory days. But that’s ok because Coderre probably flirted with her too.
Plante is the first mayor to truly acknowledge climate change and though she’s far from perfect, she has been trying to make Montreal a greener city. Some implementations have not worked, but others have been forward-thinking. Also, many car-loving francophones have been fleeing the city for the suburbs and countryside this past summer because Covid was also a major motivating factor, which Bombardier has conveniently ignored.
What a spiteful article.
Su 10:59 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
Bombardier exemplifies the ageing baby boomer mentality . Subtle degeneration of brain neurons and hence reduced cognitive flexibilty leads to a rigid and stubborn resistance to social transformation and pilot projects geared toward addressing concerns and threats to future generations. A tendency toward paranoia anger,fear and accusation as she feels threatened by necessary change. The ageing brain.
Em 11:54 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
I find it interesting that Bombardier says Francophones in particular are moving to the suburbs due to anti-car policies. Do we have any data on French-speakers being more pro-car? I know the French-speaking suburbs are expanding fast but not sure of the correlation there.
I DO think she has a point that trying to make it more difficult to drive will ultimately push some people to suburbs, thus making urban sprawl worse and basically ruling out any chance of future transit improvement (because suburbs just aren’t built for that).
Why we blame individual drivers instead of developing proper REGIONAL urban planning and transit incentives/improvements frustrates me to no end. I know why we do it, but that doesn’t make it less short-sighted and dumb.
Kevin 13:27 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
@Em
There’s a lot of data about francophone families moving to the suburbs, year after year. It’s a regular pearl-clutching event in local media.
First you get the loss of families from Montreal. https://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/statistiques/population-demographie/migration/index.html
Then you get the decline of francophones in Montreal (always presented as decline of the French language).
It’s a shift in demographics due to Quebec’s decline in fertility rate. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2018001/article/54976-eng.htm
Jack 15:32 on 2020-09-22 Permalink
This is why Jean always gets a pass with Conservative nationalists.
https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/565934/au-temps-ou-jean-drapeau-croyait-que-l-immigration-defigurait-montreal
Ian 08:15 on 2020-09-23 Permalink
@Kevin thanks for the explanation. Like Em I had wondered about that, too. Makes sense.
JaneyB 09:11 on 2020-09-23 Permalink
Francos move to the suburbs for the simple reason that they can get a modest house and yard there for the price of a condo on the island. Also, their parents/babysitters live nearby and don’t want to drive far. This is the same for the Anglos and Allos but their numbers as a whole are far smaller.
dwgs 10:13 on 2020-09-23 Permalink
…and I’d be willing to bet that this phenomenon happens in most major cities, it ain’t just us.