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Updates from October, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Projet Montréal has ejected another caucus member, this time in Lachine. Once again it’s a woman, once again she couldn’t get along with other people on the borough council.
dwgs
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
Tim S.
A theory: left-wing/progressive parties put a great emphasis on finding diverse candidates, and are so excited to find a non-white male willing to run that they don’t vet carefully or consider if the person really is an ideological fit. We see this with Project, we also saw with the federal Liberals (who are into diversity even though I don’t consider them particularly left) and Jody Wilson Raybould and Jane Philpot.
Just to be clear, I’m not trying to say that these women are unqualified – I much prefer independent thinkers to a bunch of trained seals. But from the point of view of a political organization that has a long-established process designed to recruit trained seals, and you throw a few wild cards into the mix, this is what happens.
Anyways, I don’t know all the details in some of these cases, so it’s just a theory.J
Same thing happened to Piper Huggins, female PM member from years ago who got ejected due to disagreements on how to handle the Notman Forest. This and the Sue Montgomery things continue that trend. Has this happened to any male members of the caucus?
Ian
Also Giuliana Fumagalli of Villeray- Parc Ex – S Michel.
This is in fact the 4th time an elected official has been unceremoniously removed from Projet Montreal and yes, it’s always women, who are deemed “uncooperative”.
DeWolf
What’s most concerning in all of these cases is that the details of why these women were ejected from the party are very opaque. The most clear-cut case is Giuliana Fumagalli, who issued a mea culpa soon after the accusations of harassment surfaced, and even then it’s not clear exactly what happened.
Chris
Is the suggestion those 4 were booted *because* they were women? What’s the evidence?
For Provost, the article says she’s the *only* party member to *publicly* oppose the marina project. Is that fact in dispute? When you publicly oppose your party… well, sometimes you get booted for that. Seems a much more straightforward reason than a sexist conspiracy.
dwgs
Not necessarily because they were women but how many people have been booted from party? Is it 4? What percentage of elected members of PM are women? It could well be coincidence but the numbers are starting to look a little troublesome. And I thought that PM were supposed to be a break from ‘politics as usual’ and progressive and such. One would think that a little dissent might be tolerated.
Kate
Chris, I never said that they were booted because they’re women. I simply stated what seemed an obvious common factor. Maybe it’s a red herring, but it’s certainly a trend within Projet.
Chris
Kate, I never said you said they were booted because they’re women. My reply was 1) a question 2) not even to you specifically. Many other responses hinted this is because she’s a woman, but it’s always hard to fully understand someone’s exact meaning from a few written sentences, and I always try to give most charitable interpretation, so if anyone does think that’s the reason, I was hoping to understand why.
>One would think that a little dissent might be tolerated
dwgs, I have no inside knowledge of how PM operates, but maybe dissent is perfectly fine *internally*, but once they debate amongst themselves, vote, and state a position *publicly*, then they may expect members to stick with the team decision. Provost didn’t.
jeather
So Projet Montreal has removed 4 members since the last election, all women. They have 35 city and 17 borough councillors, according to Wikipedia, and it looks like 28 are women, which — if my math is right — says it’s about 7.5% chance that if you picked 4 people at random out of 52, all four would be women given there are 28 . So it’s not an inconceivably low number, but it is very suggestive of women and men being treated differently, and I think the onus should be on PM to look at this and consider if in fact women are being held to a higher standard.
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Kate
La Presse has some figures showing how downtown is in bad shape as workers and students who can stay home are staying away.
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Kate
Le Chateau, a clothing chain that’s been around for decades, is liquidating its business and closing its doors.
Update: and yet Uniqlo is finally opening its first Quebec branch on Ste‑Catherine.
Another update: the opening attracted a considerable crowd.
MarcG
Prediction that fucknomtl has a something funny to say about this
Ian
It used to be awesome in the 80s but since the 90s there was a big shift toward knockoff styles, and since the turn of the century it’s been a 3rd rate Reitmans, basically where to buy discount versions of last year’s fast-fashion secretary clothes.
Uatu
I’m going to shop at Uniqlo. Unlike le Chateau their sizes are meant for short Asians like me…
Ephraim
Le Chateau hasn’t been in style for years. They needed new blood for a long time. Uniqlo is fast fashion… more stuff from the heaps, rather than anything on quality that will last.
JaneyB
Oh, that’s too bad. It was one of the few stores with sizes that skewed slim. Good news about Uniqlo though.
JP
Yeah, I’ve thought for years that le Chateau needed some sort of re-branding.
The timing for Uniqlo’s opening isn’t great and it’s downtown, but I suspect it’ll do well.
DeWolf
It’s a little embarrassing to admit but basically everything I wear is from Uniqlo. So obviously I’m happy they’re opening here.
Meezly
I wish a MUJI would open up here.
Blork
I love Muji! One of my favorite shirts ever came from there, which is hard to believe given that so much of their men’s clothes seems to be geared towards 5’5″ 103-pound people. For example, I was in the Muji store in Santa Monica a few years ago and I saw some socks I liked. I asked if they had them in size 11 and the guy looked at me as if I had asked if they sold nuclear missiles. Then he said “we don’t sell socks larger than size 9.” Ok then.
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Kate
Here are some notes on where not to drive on the weekend.
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Kate
The local Catholic diocese has definitively stripped Brian Boucher of his priesthood and he has not appealed the decision. It’s not mentioned here, but unless I’m mistaken, Boucher is currently doing time.
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Kate
The free parking being offered all over town (not just downtown, as I posted Thursday) for the last six weeks of the year is still big news on Friday. Seems if you own a couple tons of 20th‑century smog‑belching technology, you’re always keen to leave it in a public place for free. Who knew?
Update: Further clarifications say this free parking will be evenings and weekends.
Ephraim
Oh, so only ICE cars can park for free? Quebec is the largest region with the highest percentage of electric and/or PHEV vehicles in Canada. You know… all those green licence plates that you see… I think it’s more about free parking. The problem with this plan is that they aren’t time limiting the spaces… I would think that would mean that some of them would be occupied all day long, which doesn’t help the merchants at all. But then, how would they enforce it, they don’t really have a system in place for that.
Faiz imam
Not sure what the end result of this will be. As Ephraim said, Free parking means someone can hog a spot for the entire day. But was supply limited these days anyways?
Also, during the weekends I’m really not sure what anyone could “Hog” a spot downtown for. There is not much to do except shop at goods retailers. And these days its not very fun. I don’t see anyone spending 5 hours at Eaton Center on purpose.
Ian
FWIW even my Babykilling Smokemachine™ only has to pay the same for sticker parking under the new fee rates as an electric vehicle because it’s only got 1.6 litres engine capacity. It crossed my mind that if they offer free parking in my neighbourhood I would just park my car there all the time so I don’t have to move it for street cleaning.
Tim S,
Faiz: who could hog a downtown spot? Employees. When I had a retail job in an area with limited but free parking, it was the workers who always arrived first – obviously – and snapped up the best spots. I mentioned to my boss one day that maybe we could leave those for customers and got a rant about how much he already does for the ingrate clients.
Joey
@Ephraim huh? Can’t all cars park for free? Or is the issue that you can’t park “for free” in a charging station because you still have to pay for the electricity to charge your car (even if you don’t have to pay the meter for the spot)?
steph
Can’t the current system of parking meters allow for timed free parking. just change the rate per hour to 0$. Hogging a spot for entire days would still require the hogger to renew the ticket every few hours (since there’s a limit to how many hours you can reserve per ticket)
Phil M
There are many areas that impose parking time limits, even on free parking spaces. So just because it’s free, doesn’t mean you can’t get a ticket.
Also, can we stop attacking car owners, please?
Ephraim
@Joey – It’s referring to Kate’s comment… not all cars are ICE cars.
@Faiz – Well, workers need to be there all day long and can use a spot, for example. And not just retail businesses, there are offices that function all the time, support calls, for example.Joey
@Ephraim fair enough
Kate
Phil M: don’t be touchy. It’s just sometimes, looking out my front door, I feel the sheer weight of all the vehicles parked – usually solidly – up both sides of the street, almost all the time, and how much public space is given over to these things, by common consent, and how if I go for a walk I have to think at every corner, cars, cars, cars. Get out of the way of the cars.
Ian
You got me, Kate! I park on the street just to spite you. We all do! Well, that and to take up space that should rightly belong to bicycles.
😉
MarcG
I hear you, Kate. It’s a pretty stupid bed we’ve made for ourselves.
qatzelok
I’m with Kate. Cars are poison.
Ian
What. only 3 of you? Where’s the excited “cars are evil” dogpile we’ve all come to know and expect in the comments here? What’s the point of even driving an anachronistic Deathwagon™ if only 3 people feel the need to constantly insult everyone who parks one?
Kate
Ian, we can recognize that cars are essential for some purposes without welcoming their ubiquity in our lives.
walkerp
It always cracks me up when the dominant side goes with the victimization. Oh the poor car owners. You sound like the all-white panels whining that you can’t use the n-word anymore. Maybe just suck it up and realize that whatever your justifications are, your owning a car is not good for the world.
The problem is systemic, so it’s not on you to change the world. But if you are also not willing to make the changes to your life to buck up against this destructive system, then just own it.
Ian
No no, cars are evil, and car owners are as bad as people that use the N-word. Let’s not sugarcoat it! This is the internet, there is no room for nuance or context! I’m surprised nobody has brought up the fact that parking spots are worth 100k/year apiece (or would be if we built office towers on parking lanes, but I digress). Plante is clearly kowtowing to dominant CAR ELITES that are KILLING OUR PLANET. I know this for a fact, I’ve read as much on this very blog!
Dhomas
Sounds like you’re trying to bait people into an argument with sarcastic, inflammatory rhetoric you expect “the other side” to use, even though none of “them” have used it.
I own a car. It is necessary given my current situation and I expect it is for others as well. That said, I try to avoid using it when I can and I look forward to a day when we, as a society, can reduce our reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles.
Ian
Ah but they have and do, I could go dig up exact quotes if you like, I am not straw manning at all – I’ve been holding back, to tell the truth. It’s a bit rich to be told that it’s being “touchy” when the greener-than-thou folks get away with saying the most incendiary, absurd things every time the topic of cars comes up and never get called out on it. I am definitely being sarcastic, because frankly I’ve had enough. Besides didn’t you hear? It’s not enough to switch to a car that doesn’t run on gas, it’s offensive to simply park it within public view.
But yeah, whatever, you’re right. Holding up a mirror isn’t going to win hearts and minds, especially if those minds are already made up.
Ant6n
In this particular discussion, you’re yelling at people pre-emptively.
nau
Man, I hope circumstances never oblige me to buy a car if this is what owning one does to one’s state of mind.
MarcG
The verbal equivalent of honking?
dwgs
Ian is definitely stirring the pot but he’s not wrong. Just wait until Chris weighs in. *ducks and runs*
Chris
Wow. Spicy thread! 🙂
Is global warming a real thing? Does the manufacture and use of cars and car fuel contribute very substantially to global warming? Maybe in decades past you could say those were opinions, but by now they are fact.
It causes strong cognitive dissonance for many people. The vast vast majority of car owners are of course perfectly good people, so it’s hard to internalize that their behaviour is so detrimental to others. 1.35 million die every year just from car crashes (covid at 1.1 million now). Air pollution (not just from cars) kills around 6 million a year. Wars are fought over oil to power our cars. Countless others are injured or sickened.
Given all that, we are collectively insane to subsidize car use. Free roads, free parking, subsidies to fossil fuel companies, car company bailouts, etc., etc. At the very least car users/owners should pay for all the externalities by way of a mix of road tolls, congestion charges, paid parking, carbon taxes, etc.
This pandemic is a once in a generation opportunity that’s mostly being squandered. With so many parking lanes being empty, it’s a chance to convert them to transit lanes, bike lanes, green spaces, sidewalks, etc. Simultaneously, we should be ready with a 10x increase to public/active transport for when society reopens so that people will have better options instead of cars.
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