Tent dwellers are preparing for winter because they don’t want to go into shelters during a pandemic – and who could blame them? What happened to the hotel plans that were mentioned only a week ago?
Updates from October, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Richard Martineau says Le Devoir is no longer Le Devoir since its editor refuses to regard Quebec’s francophone culture as the only one of value.
He must be joking: Le Devoir has just taken J‑F Lisée on as a regular columnist, and is still running pieces like Michel David’s Montreal sans accent complaining about city hall’s tacit acceptance that not everyone living here is a francophone.
How much Quebec nationalism is enough?
No, this blog is not about being an angryphone. My beef with strident Quebec nationalism is the damage it does to Montreal – the real Montreal that people live in, not the perfect francophone metropolis of nationalist imaginings.
CharlesQ
I stopped reading after “Richard Martineau says…”. He has nothing of value to say. Just read the decisions against him on the Conseil de presse du Québec (I probably mentionned it before, see https://conseildepresse.qc.ca/decisions/?date=&media=richard+martineau&categorie=), he makes up quotes, his “reasoning” is often flawed and he’s shameless. It would fit right in on Fox News.
DeWolf
24 Heures recently had an article about a new group called Montréal Accent that is run by three young women whose main point of contention seems to be that anglophones exist. Period. One of the founders, who is 18 years old, told 24 Heures how much she hates hearing people speak English when she walks down the street. It makes her feel like a “stranger in her own country.”
That’s just bigotry, pure and simple. It has less to do with protecting and promoting the French language than it does with fighting against the natural diversity that comes with being a big city. It’s parochial and small-minded and I’m honestly surprised to hear it coming from people who are so young.
Kate
I would gently suggest those young women go live in the regions where their ears won’t often be sullied by hearing languages other than French.
Michael Black
But maybe they have lived there all their lives, which then explains why they are so shocked by a “foreign” language.
Kate
It’s possible. But even if they weren’t hearing English in Montreal, they’d hear Arabic, Chinese, Yiddish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Italian – depending where they went and where they shopped or ate. (At least in normal times.) It’s a globalized city and English is one of the big global languages, along with a handful of others – Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, Hindi. Yes, colonialism, but there’s nothing to be done about this now.
Blork
Unlike DeWolf, I’m not surprised that the three women behind Montréal Accent are young. After all, the kind of blinkered thinking that fuels that kind of sideways view of the world is generally more pronounced in young people who don’t have much experience in the world. In particular, young people who spent their earlier years not thinking at all (and not exposed to much) and then suddenly run amok with a single drumbeat pounding in their hearts when something offends them — or someone recruits them as cannon fodder.
Ant6n
The ageism is strong in this thread.
Blork
Not ageism, just an acknowledgement that people start out ignorant and hopefully learn as they grow. The vast majority of the hot-headed revolutionaries of the past 100 years were in their 20s at best. (I’m not saying all revolutionaries, I mean the hot-headed ones whose big ideas come largely from inexperience and ignorance.)
Uatu
They probably secretly like English and foreigners and hate themselves for it.
Blork
Oh, that’s Freudian!
Hervé
Entièrement d’accord avec vous Kate. Une des choses qui m’a toujours le plus fait aimer Montréal c’est d’entendre 10 langues en 10 minutes dans un autobus bondé, ou d’écouter des ados qui passent de l’anglais au français 5 fois dans une conversation. C’est une richesse unique. C’est le genre de chose qui fascine les visiteurs étrangers, qui sont ensuite bien déçus d’apprendre que la majorité francophone est en guerre contre le multilinguisme.
Daniel
Completely agree, Hervé. Well said. (And that was a particularly beautiful comment to read in French.)
Kevin
@DeWolf
I read the article this morning. At the end is an ad for a school that teaches English.
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Kate
Quebec’s got 1,279 new cases of Covid over the last 24 hours, a new record.
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Kate
The Chrono app should now be able to tell you whether any STM bus is crowded and help you decide what to do.
dhomas
The Transit App has had this for a while, too: https://transitapp.com/
Also, why do news outlets write articles for things like this, then provide no link to them? It’s nonsensical.
Kate
That’s one of the reasons I started the blog, I found that media attitude of floating above and separately from the web – when they’re ON the web – was annoying. There would be so many stories about websites with no link to that website.
But in the case of apps, people need to find them on the app store for their device, so I didn’t feel it necessary to make a link this time.
jeather
Links to the app’s website is nice, because if we’re browsing on the phone, we can go there and then find the right app store link. This is the link to Chrono.
Kate
Thank you, jeather.
JaneyB
The Transit App on iphone is so incredible good. Sometimes tech is fabulous. Thanks for the tip on Chrono.
CE
Does anyone know if there’s much of a difference between Transit and Chrono? I’ve only ever used Transit and it’s one of the reasons I haven’t switched back to a flip phone.
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Kate
High school students are going to class on alternate days. Someone should’ve foreseen that once you divide a group into two “teams” you’ll generate competition – in this case, an escalating series of dares ending in one Laval student setting fire to his school.
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Kate
A man drove his car into a building in Montreal North overnight and was arrested for driving under the influence.
j2
It’s always interesting when the driver is responsible vs the car “passively” floating into people or things…
(Also I’m sure the driver (and car) were safely social distancing when they were out drinking. (/s))
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Kate
The second wave of Covid closures is proving to be hard on restaurants.
Friends of mine spent years building up a clientele for their Petite-Patrie restaurant, but they’ve had to put the key under the door, as the saying goes. The kind of place that offers exquisite tasting menus and paired wines can’t readily translate that experience to delivery.
(Got to go out soon and curate myself some groceries…)
Tim S.
I wish there was some sort of hibernation plan for restaurants. They just won’t be viable for the next few months, but eventually they’ll be able to reopen, and there will be huge pent-up demand. Put the employees on CERB (or whatever the replacement is), or get them jobs as delivery drivers, legislate some kind of rent relief (with interest rates being what they are, it shouldn’t necessarily be up to the taxpayers to protect the incomes of the Cromwells and Schillers), and look forward to better times.
In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about trying the takeout from local restaurants, but just can’t bring myself to spend 20$ on a burger and fries, times 4.Kate
Even with CERB, the folks I know saw an uncertain future. They’re a trio, and at least two of them are now teaching, although teaching cookery online is like doing a cooking show for a small audience.
I’ve ordered out a few times since the lockdown, on days when I simply could not face my own cuisine one more time, but – as you say – it gets expensive. I’d love to be able to do more to support my local restos but there’s a limit to what I can do.
dwgs
You know what would be a great way to get takeout and keep the restaurateurs’ expenses reasonable? Food trucks, that’s what. Not the stupid over regulated version that our overlords messed up but good old fashioned stand alone food trucks. Park it in a different neighbourhood every few days and sell cheap decent takeout to the locals.
Kate
I agree. A general deregulation – food trucks, booze delivery and so on – should have been done, and still could be done. So long as food goes on being safe to eat, nothing else should matter.
Joey
Tom, the recent federal supports basically do this (extension of the wage subsidy to cover employee salaries, rent subsidies that do not require active engagement from the landlord, no-interest/partially non-repayable loan program extension), all accessible to businesses that are in bad shape but not necessarily facing a catastrophe. Plus the province is kicking up support too. Sadly it took six months to get these programs right; the earlier versions weren’t generous or broad enough to save many businesses.
JaneyB
@dwgs – You’re absolutely right about the food trucks. That should have been up and running months ago. Just get it out there. Also patrons should be ordering directly by phone, not via Uber Eats etc with their 30% markup. Sure, pick-up and delivery would make it more neighbourhood-centric but…also good.
Kate
JaneyB, the main reason I’ve used Skip The Dishes instead of calling individual restos is my credit card’s already registered, I don’t have to fumble with cash at the door, it’s all contactless. I don’t think most individual outfits have anything like that set up.
Michael Black
Aux Vivres has some sort of delivery system, I think just set up for this now. I think it’s their own vehicles. But it’s not their restaurant menu, just the items you couid buy at stores. And they’ve teamed with a bakery. Unfortunately, their tempeh had a problem in August, and there’s been a shortage.
If you want the restaurant items, then it’s third party delivery.
There was that story months ago about a new delivery service that seemed to be restaurant-based, but I’ve not seen mention of it since.
JoeNotCharles
Kate, I’ve been ordering from a wide variety of restaurants, and none of them demand cash. The ones that do their own delivery generally let you give your credit card over the phone when ordering.
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Kate
A big real estate development is planned for Pointe Claire around a REM station next to Fairview.
Faiz Imam
Yesss.
I recall I shared a Pointe Claire master plan 2-3 years ago here that showed how this whole development was thought up and planned out. I was very excited by it and I’m really happy to see it coming to fruition.
While some of it is undeveloped land, most of this is grey field redevelopment of big box stores and parking lots. Exactly what we need more of to densify our cities and grow without building father out.
Fairview pointe Claire is going to become a new multifunctional downtown, fully reachable without a car. That’s really good for everyone.
Kate
Unless you operate a business in downtown Montreal, Faiz Imam.
Kevin
I’m kind of surprised that the people I’ve seen most opposed to this are the same people who extol the virtues of a 15 minute village-city.
su
Hopefully there will be community gardens included in this project.
Kate
Kevin, but will it be? Or will it really be more of a drive-to-the-mall thing as ever? Will anyone truly live and work within that new development only, as people used to live and work in a neighbourhood?
Basically, we’re trying to build new neighbourhoods all at once from scratch, whereas the lively neighbourhoods we know tended to grow up organically over a period of years, based on various desires and plans, not the centralized will of a profit-driven developer. There’s no room for unprofitable things like schools, libraries or clinics when every square foot has to be assessed on how much profit it makes for the investors.
su
Faiz.
2 million square feet of the 5 million square foot project is “undeveloped” agricultural quality ( black earth perhaps) land.
https://renx.ca/cadillac-fairview-5m-sq-ft-downtown-montreal-west-island/DeWolf
Vancouver has been doing this for decades and it has been very successful at transforming big box stores and suburban parking lots into dense, walkable neighbourhoods. Take a look at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and High Street in Coquitlam, BC on Google Street View. It’s a brand new neighbourhood that has been developed next to a big shopping mall that is now served by two SkyTrain stations. I was there in January and was impressed by the foot traffic as well as the diversity of businesses – and yes, there are civic facilities nearby, including a library and a cultural centre. There are similar examples around many other suburban SkyTrain stations.
As for the impact on downtown, well, I don’t see how it can hurt. There will now be a direct, high-frequency 30-minute link between downtown and Fairview, which almost guarantees there will be more people travelling between the two. West Islanders who currently avoid going downtown because of traffic and parking might be more inclined to make the journey when it involves a quick trip from the mall they’re already in the habit of visiting.
GC
I’m also a bit skeptical about this becoming a neighbourhood where everyone works, lives, and plays. Will the average worker from Fairview, probably getting minimum wage, be able to afford to live there? I think a lot of people who work there will be driving from wherever they live and a lot of people who live there will be driving from there to wherever they work.
If people aren’t working from home more, that is… I wonder if they’ve rethought the office towers in 2020.
Also, I’ve only been to DIX 30 a couple of times but don’t a lot of people tend to drive between the stores there and not do the walking that one would hope they would?
I’m glad you mentioned an example where this is kind of working out, DeWolf, because I’m not sure I’ve seen one around here.
DeWolf
I don’t think there are any examples of this kind of transit-oriented development in Montreal. There aren’t even many in Toronto because, although there is a lot of dense, high-rise development in suburbs like Mississauga, it is missing any sort of focus around transit.
That said, there is one TOD that is currently under development across Highway 10 from Dix-30. It’s called Quartier Solar and it is oriented around the entrance to the Du Quartier REM station. Once that branch of the REM opens at the end of next year, it should give us a chance to see how this kind of development behaves in Montreal.
Kevin
The only description I’ve seen of the location would enclose this development entirely within the existing footprint of the mall’s parking lots.
I know many seniors are moving to buildings just across the highway from the mall. I think they would jump at the chance to move onto the mall’s property itself—although I would want to know a lot more about condo fees, assisted living, and more.
It may not be organically grown—but our country is just too big to have villages any other way
Uatu
I think the closest thing we have that works is st. Lambert which has a town square and also a train station. The area around Longueuil metro kinda sorta works, if you like soulless highrises surrounded by parking lots. Dix30 is a mess. The roads are confusing to navigate and pedestrian access is garbage especially in the winter where it feels like you’re walking in the Yukon. That new Solar development might work, but the people who can afford to live there will most likely drive around to pickup groceries etc. It’s up to the residents to choose not to drive but convenience and entitlement are the main villains here
GC
I was thinking that about Marche Central. Even if you’d prefer to walk around in it, it’s so pedestrian-unfriendly. However, I realize it is not the same thing because it is not on a transit hub and I don’t believe it is the same kind of mixed-use with residential and office space. It is just the closest thing to a Big Box shopping area that I’ve generally experienced since moving to Montreal.
I suppose the area around Longueuil metro does tick a lot of the same boxes, but “soulless” sounds generous… And I don’t see that much foot traffic when I’m there to jump between a metro and someone’s car.
I had not heard about TOD, DeWolf. Interesting.
dhomas
@GC Re: Marché Central and transit, it does have direct access to the Chabanel train station. Though I doubt many people go there by train, it is an option. (I’ve done it a couple of times when I used to live in Ahuntsic).
Michael Black
I’ve walked to Marche Central, it is a very pedestrian unfriendly location. But I’ve never fully explored it. Only to MEC, which meant I went to Krispy Kreme when they were open there, and the Best Buy, but only because I was there for MEC.
And now that MEC has been sold, without consulting or informing members beforehand (how can you sell a Coop?), I can’t see myself bothering to go up there.
Kate
Michael Black, I feel much the same about Marché Central and MEC. I can walk to the Marché fairly easily from where I live, although it’s not a great walking route along Crémazie. But the Marché simply was never conceived to be welcoming to people on foot.
Like you, I have no idea how you can sell off a co-op, but B.C. let them do it. They should have been obliged to consult the membership or the whole idea is meaningless.
GC
Yeah, I’ve also walked there from Crémazie. From what I recall, there is a bus but it’s infrequent enough that if you just missed it–and you’re able-bodied–it’s just as fast to walk. Not a pleasant walk, though.
Dhomas
There are a couple of buses that service Marché Central : the 19 is the one that is made specifically to shuttle people from Crémazie metro to the Marché (or to the Chabanel train station), but it is quite infrequent at every 20 minutes or so. The 54 comes more often, also from Crémazie metro. If you’re on the blue line, the 179 comes from l’Acadie metro. But again, it’s more than just pedestrian unfriendly; I would go so far as to call Marché Central pedestrian hostile.
Ian
Even people that live right in Pointe Claire have cars. West of Dorval you need one, because transit is so patchy. Much like the big Broccolini housing development by the Ste Anne REM station north of the 40, this RE station development is just developers looking to line their pockets & local politicians eager to boost their tax base.
Even if this does turn into the most perfect TOD that exists all those people will have to work somewhere, and as others have pointed out, for most people working at a mall for minimum wage doesn’t make you enough money to be able to afford to live in most of Pointe Claire … there’s a reason most mall workers are in their teens or early 20s, and why the REM is still considered a commuter train.
su
This project is a mall renovation on the current mall footprint, and a realestate development ( 2 million sq. ft.) on adjacent land. The real estate development is an Ivanhoe Cambridge Caisse de Depot project. It is unclear how many cars and parking will be introduced by the realestate development. I guess the promoter from Ivanhoe will be clarifying via press statement soon.
EmilyG
I’m in a Facebook group for the West Island and many people in the group are very unhappy about this news.
Ephraim 11:25 on 2020-10-18 Permalink
The city is working with the hotels. But it takes time. They likely have to agree on the funds for refurbishment.
Personally, I want to know that they have installed HEPA filters on the air systems, if they are centralized.