On Twitter, André Lavallée posts a La Presse story from 1984 in which the Shiller family is hiking rents on Masson Street and putting independent merchants out of business.
Updates from March, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
TVA says here that complaints have doubled over five years about not getting served in French in Montreal. Given that feelings about this are stoked regularly by TVA’s owners, we shouldn’t be surprised. There’ll be some columns about this over the weekend, too.
Blork
Yeah, more complaints doesn’t necessarily mean more of that colonial devil talk being used, it just means more people are feeling agitated and need something to complain about.
Ephraim
What is the OLF going to do when all the boomers are gone?
Kevin
I know we live in the whiniest age in human existence, but people need to find better hobbies.
Jack
This article is perfectly emblematic of how Quebecor creates discourse and ultimately public policy. Take a look at how this article is framed, who speaks, and who is given authority.
One of the first things about this article that requires a bit of clarity is the complaint process of the OQLF. You or I can sit down and fill out multiple complaints, so if they divided the complaints by authorship one would be stunned to see how many come from the same hand full of people, who are retired boomers with an ax to grind i.e. Gilles Proulx
The creation of the fear of the disappearing French language is a trope that has been repeated non stop for 60 years. My favorite was sitting in class at Universite de Montreal and watching the film “Disparaître” by Lise Payette. In the last scene, in what can only be described as a shockingly xenophobic film, Gilles Vigneault looks at the camera and says ” By the year 2000 it will be over, we will have become Louisiana.” Sad music maybe a tear, fade to black, that was in 1989.
The film was described and promoted this way ” D’ici à vingt-cinq ans ( 2014) tout au plus, prédisent certains démographes, la nation canadienne-française sera moribonde. PUIS, ELLE DISPARAÎTRA.”
This is getting old.Ephraim
Reminds me of a class that I took. One student got up and discussed how bad immigration was for Quebec. The professor looked at him and asked if he wanted to stop Quebec’s growth and do the jobs that new immigrants filled. And how would he fill this jobs, if we didn’t take in new immigrants? And that’s the point. It’s a game of chess, you need to think a few moves ahead. There are two types of government, those that deal with the immediate, and those that lay down long term plans based on the future…. those that build on fossil fuels and those thinking about how we reduce dependence, increase the middle class and set a larger tax base for the future. None of these is built on snitching on someone who wrote a word with an apostrophe s or worried about using chien chaud instead of hot dog. There are hundreds of languages out there, all managing to survive. There are still people speaking Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) in spite of the Spanish Inquisition.
Blork
And oh, the irony. That student probably thought of him or herself as very lefty and progressive, not realizing that their nostalgia for the purity of de souche Quebec is pure MAGA-think and conservative AF.
JaneyB
If people don’t want immigrants, fine, but at the very least they need to have more kids to fill the population gap. I don’t know how many Montrealers are ready to raise 3-4 kids in their 20s, like they did in 1965 but that’s the deal. People who are not doing that are part of the decline problem.
As Ephraim pointed out, immigrants right now do the bad jobs so the Anguished would need to work for much less and/or pay more for everything. Likewise, many immigrants are needed to fill jobs requiring a lot of advanced education which many average Quebecois do not want to do (Franco male high school drop-out rate of 50%). There need to be some real conversations about what Francos are contributing to the survival project if they are not having families in their 20s, going to grad school or working hard at basic wages. We have a fabulous daycare system so there is even a family-friendly infrastructure but it’s not really helping the population decline.
Language protection is important but the big problems are elsewhere, imo.
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Kate
People working for the railways want to make sure we understand how trains are dangerous. The young man walking his dog who got killed this week seems to have thought he could quickly get across after the barrier came down, and he was wrong.
The experts here emphasize that a train can’t stop like a regular motor vehicle. It takes time for a train’s brakes to work against its massive momentum.
Also touched on here is that people may think trains are slow, an idea probably based on seeing freight trains lumbering through town. The death this week was caused by a lighter, faster commuter train, but even a freight train can pick up speed on some stretches, and no train is to be taken lightly.
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Kate
We’re going to have a moderately chilly weekend followed by temperatures as high as 11° midweek next week.
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Kate
More on how the British variant of the coronavirus will soon be dominant here. So if you find yourself drinking tea and watching “The Crown”, you’d better go get tested.
We’ll be lucky if the Brazilian variant doesn’t get here, with their president all but cheering it on as that country faces a growing death toll. And you know what the side effects of that version are likely to be.
Nick
Which variant of the China virus is worse? Uk Brazil or South Africa variant? Is it any different naming the variants after their country of origin than the novel virus itself?
Kate
That’s a relevant question, but at this point it may help health authorities identify variants based on where a patient has been visiting. But I’m just guessing here. Maybe it’s easier to mention the place than an arbitrary block of letters and numbers.
GC
One big difference is I don’t think people are generally blaming the British for the variant (though someone somewhere might be…), whereas calling it “China virus” and believing the Chinese created it in a lab taps into a very real pool of racism.
But, yes, it might be good to find another shorthand for them. But what?
Chris
Bit off-topic maybe, but why is “China virus” politically incorrect and “British/Brazilian/South African variant” ok? Is it just ‘because Trump’?
Kate
According to the CDC, the UK variant is known as B.1.1.7, the South African as B.1.351, and the Brazilian as P.1.
Chris, Trump is a big reason, because he clearly wanted to impute blame to China, even suggesting the virus had been engineered in a lab there. Whereas these variants have been traced by identifying travellers from specific locations. Also, it’s easier, as I said above, to give a name to the variant rather than talking about B.1.351 or whatever.
As GC says, nobody is blaming the UK or Brazil for a viral mutation happening in their population.
MarcG
It could be that in places with pre-existing hatred towards those countries that there is blame and conspiracy happening that we’re not aware of. For example it seems like Argentinians and Brazillians have some kind of rivalry, perhaps the “Brazil virus” has inflamed that conflict. Just speculating, of course.
Chris
>As GC says, nobody is blaming the UK or Brazil for a viral mutation happening in their population.
Dunno about that. As MargG says, humans everywhere have rivalry/hatred towards in/out groups.
I’ve seen op eds against using the term ‘South African variant’ for example:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/12/its-time-we-stopped-using-the-term-south-africa-variant
It just strikes me as inconsistent for people to get their knickers in a knot about “China virus” but not the other terms (not saying anyone here).
MarcG
Chris: It’s simply based on context and intent. “China virus” in North America is a tool of division while “UK virus” has no weight.
Tim S.
Actually, given that the virus is most likely to mutate in places that are having difficulty containing the spread, maybe a little bit of blame is in order, especially if there are political reasons for the lack of containment:
And I don’t have a link, but I’ve heard of Europeans being similarly unimpressed with the UK’s efforts. At least pre-vaccination.
GC
I don’t know about other places, but I haven’t heard that Montreal has shown a spike in hate crimes against people with British accents.
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Kate
A contest has been announced to find uses for pieces of steel from the old Champlain bridge. Private uses are allowed, but a preference for public projects is mentioned.
Francesco
The main span is just shy of long enough to bridge the channel between Galt in Verdun and Marguerite-Bourgeoys on Nun’s Island…
Kate
But is it in any shape to be reused as a bridge?
Blork
My understanding is that the problem with the old Champlain was always with the bed, not the span. That said, it’s far too wide for a Galt/MB span. You don’t want to turn that into a major road for cars!
But dang, would it be sweet if a bike/pedestrian bridge were put there! It would bring a lot of islanders to Wellington for shopping and dining (at least in fair weather) and would make the bicycle crossing from the south shore so much nicer.
Kate
If I recall correctly, the island dwellers have resisted the idea for a long time, not wanting the Verdun hoi polloi crossing to their side. But Blork points out a benefit for them: access to Wellington Street.
Mr.Chinaski
Yeah, but the moderate version of the bridge from Verdun to IDS would be a walking/biking bridge, with a 1-way road that can only be used for busses and ambulances/firetrucks/police
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Kate
qatzelok
While on the subject of cars as a worthy object of cancel culture:
Why not go back and remove all pop-song-lyric references to “cars and driving,” and change these to references to bicycles, walking, mass transit, and other active transportation options?
I’d even retouch all the old songs, Stalin-style. It would provide jobs to out-of-work musicians.
CE
Man, you’ve really lost it qatzelok.
PO
CE, I don’t know how long you’ve been following this amazing web log. I’ve been around since 2011 and it was clear from the start qatzelok lost it a very long time ago.
MarcG
Get outta my dreams and into my rollerblades
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Kate
A woman living alone was found dead after relatives sent police to check on her several times. Seems foul play is not suspected and, while the BEI solicits information here, no details are given out about who she was or where she lived. Did she die of Covid? We don’t know.
I’ll be surprised if this remains the only instance of an isolated person found to have perished unnoticed during lockdown, whether from Covid or some other cause.
dhomas 16:27 on 2021-03-05 Permalink
I’m no fan of the Shiller-Lavy empire, but Masson turned out pretty well for awhile after they started buying it up. I would still see sex workers walking that street as late as 2005. Since then, it has definitely become “classier”, and then gentrified. They might be really good at playing the long game in real estate. I lived in the area from 2010 to 2014 (my wife, who I started dating in 2003, grew up in the area) and it was great, but property value pretty much doubled in that time, to the point that when I was ready to buy a home myself in 2014, it was too expensive for me. Masson was a destination for awhile (nicknamed “Plateau Masson”), and rents got really expensive. They might have accelerated the process as this was likely one of their first real estate experiments during the “Au Bon Marché” era. The original “Marché du store” (Oui, Papa!) was not too far from Masson street on Saint-Joseph just east of St-Michel.
Blork 18:37 on 2021-03-05 Permalink
I’m not sure how getting priced out of your own neighborhood amounts to it “turned out pretty well.”
dhomas 19:20 on 2021-03-05 Permalink
Well, I did say “for awhile”. This being their first attempt at the real estate game (I think), they went about it a little slower. It allowed the neighbourhood to thrive a little more organically. They started buying it up in the mid-80s, and it only started fully gentrifying by 2011 or so. We had a good couple of decades of organic growth. I think they perfected and optimized their model after the Masson experiment. Or perhaps after they partnered with the Lavy clan, I don’t know.
Raymond Lutz 10:14 on 2021-03-06 Permalink
Capitalism “turned out pretty well” for a short period too. Murderous global and colonial wars, ecosystem collapses, alienating social inequities… Since a few decades we are starting to pay the price of our scupidity. Bernard Friot explains how we can abolish private lucrative propriety. In French, slow with plenty of hesitations (eeuuhhh), but informative.