Trudeau airport has been crowded despite warnings of all kinds, including reminders every ten minutes to keep two meters apart.
Updates from December, 2020 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Four high-profile groups have cosigned a letter pleading with Quebec to keep the old Royal Vic site and buildings in public hands to be used for the public good, as originally intended by the builders.
David86
Those are four of the most stone cold conservative and anti-growth groups you’ll find in all of Quebec. Sometimes they’re onto something, usually, it’s just that they oppose change.
Spi
As I expected les amis de la montagne top of the lift. Honestly if they could they’d turn the whole of Mont-Royal; million-dollar residences, university campuses, cemeteries and all into one giant fenced-off nature reserve accessible by no one.
dhomas
To be fair, they’re not really asking for the site to be returned to nature or anything. They’re ok with McGill using the site. They just want to make sure McGill doesn’t turn around and sell it in a few years’ time. Hence the request for an emphyteutic lease. Seems reasonable to me.
su
Devimco ,Broccolini and associates will be outraged by this request. They are still fuming over Projet Montreal’s 20 20 20 bylaw which comes into effect in 2021.
Kate
Spi, that’s excessive, as dhomas says. It’s not a question of returning the site to nature. The buildings are there, and they are meant to be put to use for the public good, not sold off piecemeal as condos. Having McGill use them for educational purposes – or even for residences – would fall under that heading.
Uatu
I really hope they can keep the place for the public. I’d hate to see it turned into condos that would be bought by overseas billionaires to sit empty or worse turned into time share/Airbnbs for douchebags
Spi
My comment wasn’t only about their position in regards to the royal-victoria site, les amis has been steadfast against any opening or simply making any parts of the mountain more accessible to Montrealers. That includes the mountain bikers, the off-trail runner’s anything that would bring more people to enjoy the park they are opposed to.
Kate
Spi, the policy against mountain bikers and off-trail runners is because those activities cause so much erosion. You may say that erosion is natural, and it is, but this is a park we’re talking about, not wilderness. We have to forbid activities by a few people that damage it for the many.
dhomas
Also, they can be wrong about some things and right about others.
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Kate
Ensemble’s Lionel Perez thinks the STM should reduce services, ignoring the fact that if service gets worse, nobody will be able to rely on it, and ridership will shrink (as happened under Coderre).
JP
Yeah, I think they should leave as is…there are still people using it. The few people I know who still use it work at hospitals, one of them is a nurse.
At this point, reducing services, is just punishing people we need to get us through this.
Also, I think maintaining a certain level of service means buses and metros don’t get crowded as much.
qatzelok
Driver of car doesn’t understant the importance of transit. Denies climate change. Thinks that “the Chinese or Russians” are making it up.Wants to make Cote St-Luc great again.
EmilyG
Don’t reduce the STM’s services. How will people who don’t drive get around? And many bus routes still haven’t recovered from having had their hours reduced some years ago.
DeWolf
Infuriating. “Est-ce qu’on a besoin d’avoir un bus à toutes les cinq ou sept minutes sur toutes les lignes?” asks Lionel Perez, who clearly never takes the bus or metro. Thanks to his party’s cuts to STM service, very few bus lines run anywhere close to that often, even the busiest ones.
David86
A guy this plugged-in knows just how bad this would be for the STM.
Daniel D
Well, that was a disheartening read. Since the Pink Line obviously isn’t happening, those parts of the city underserved by rapid transit need better and more frequent bus services, not less of them. Hopefully this is just more hot air from an opposition who only know how to be contrary.
Kate
It’s very short-sighted. If and when we get a handle on Covid, a lot of people are going to need to go back to workplaces. If you want the city’s economy to do well, working people need to get around.
CE
I can only imagine how outraged Perez would have been had Plante proposed reducing bus service before he had made this proposal.
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Kate
Projet Montréal is one seat away from losing its majority on city council.
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Kate
More cars than ever are registered in the Montreal agglomeration, and the number of SUVs and trucks is rising faster than regular cars. We’ll soon have 2 million motor vehicles here.
When did we decide it was a great idea to issue an unlimited number of vehicle permits? 1930? Or was it even a conscious choice?
Uatu
Well you need more cars to get around since Perez wants to cut transit service, right? And the hospital heroes politicians love have irregular schedules….
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Kate
A woman was found murdered in a car on Nuns’ Island in September. Now there’s been an arrest, but details are scanty.
dwgs
Walked by it yesterday, didn’t look too closely but I’m pretty sure it’s plywood painted silver 🙂
dwgs
sorry Kate, please delete. Shouldn’t post before coffee.
Raymond Lutz
Kate is seeping her coffee, dwgs. 😎
Kate
Raymond Lutz, my coffee remains exactly where it should be.
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Kate
Someone has installed a steel monolith on Sherbrooke Street in NDG in emulation of the ones that have shown up elsewhere.
Update: TVA says it has already been removed. Probably isn’t legal to attach things in the middle of a sidewalk.
dwgs
Walked by it yesterday, didn’t look too closely but I’m pretty sure it’s plywood painted silver
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Kate
Ubisoft in the Peck Building was hit by a second bomb scare Friday.
Bill Binns 17:23 on 2020-12-19 Permalink
I flew out last Saturday and the airport was packed with kids. Spent three hours in Phoenix this morning and it was standing room only. Same thing. Whole families in adorable Santa hats off to visit (and possibly kill) grandma. It’s been like this the whole time. So called “social distancing” does not exist. Not anywhere.
Jebediah Pallendrome 17:35 on 2020-12-19 Permalink
More evidence of the complete and total failure of the political class.
They say don’t travel, but they won’t shut down the airports nor even deploy people to the airports to ensure physical distance is maintained.
People allowed to travel from one of the worst hit jurisdictions in North America during a global pandemic.
We deserve what happens to us.
Ephraim 21:59 on 2020-12-19 Permalink
I wonder how many people flying over the border know that they aren’t covered for medical related to COVID as pandemics are an exclusion on most insurance policies.
GC 22:50 on 2020-12-19 Permalink
I’m pretty sure you can buy COVID travel insurance now.
dhomas 05:49 on 2020-12-20 Permalink
Air Canada gives COVID insurance for free to encourage travel:
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2020/covid-19-insurance.html
Seems irresponsible to me, but who am I to get in the way of profits.
su 11:52 on 2020-12-20 Permalink
Last night on Global, a hospital MD was being interviewed about the current situation. I was struck by his comment that it is now known that medical staff 3 layer masks allow virus through, which is why hospital staff now wear N95 masks AND a medical grade visor.
JaneyB 14:34 on 2020-12-20 Permalink
Had to fly out yesterday (Sat) afternoon (domestic) from YUL and it was very, very empty. So much was blocked, roped off and unstaffed that it was tricky to figure out where to go. I actually had to ask. It felt like a mall after hours. Rarely was there a person within 100 ft of me.
Connecting at Pearson revealed more people but everyone was masked, distancing, and disinfected. The atmosphere there was fairly normal but there were far fewer people than normal non-xmas (let alone xmas time). In the distance, the commercial areas seemed open but few people were in them though there was more traffic (so I left). There, the unmasked diners in some eateries looked relaxed. In contrast, in Trudeau, most stores were shut, few people were eating, and they seemed wary.
Obviously, this is not the wisest time to fly. I cannot imagine why people are doing this recreationally. Yes, when I return, I will be self-isolating again (as I am right now, on this leg). Livin’ the dream, we are, lol!
dhomas 15:42 on 2020-12-20 Permalink
@JaneyB the domestic and international terminals are completely separate from each other and could vary wildly in how busy they are. Generally, people fly South at this time of year, so you might not have seen the busier side of the airport.
JP 02:28 on 2020-12-21 Permalink
Yeah, but at YUL, whether you’re flying domestic or international, the initial security checkpoint is the same…in fact, they’ve only (as of about a year ago), added a second checkpoint where you have to show your boarding pass to get to go to the international section.
I used to fly a lot and would walk around…I’d walk from the international side on one end…all the way to the domestic side. Tried to buy something at duty free once, but they wouldn’t let me buy it because my boarding pass indicated a domestic flight.
On the other hand, at YUL, flights to the US are in a completely different section of the airport with its own security.
JP 02:30 on 2020-12-21 Permalink
Though I should add that Pearson’s domestic, international, and U.S., flights are completely separated
David667 15:24 on 2020-12-22 Permalink
I’ve been in Arizona for work and am now down in New Orleans to decompress after a very unpleasant year, and my experience has been that YUL was near empty when I left back in early December, Phoenix’s airport was just like any other day, and New Orleans’ airport basically looked like holiday travel as if there wasn’t any sort of pandemic on. I’ve already had covid-19 so, despite what anti-vaxxers say, I’m not going to get it again and I’m not particularly worried. But holy smoke does what some people are doing seem pretty reckless.