U.S. consulate workers warned off
Workers at the U.S. consulate have been warned to avoid downtown and Old Montreal in the evening all week this week, because of the likelihood of protests possibly boiling over into riots.
Some Old Montreal store owners are keeping their windows boarded up for the nonce.
David564 17:59 on 2021-04-13 Permalink
Ugh, she’s making it easy for Coderre.
Chris 09:25 on 2021-04-14 Permalink
Will make a good attack add photo.
Kate 11:57 on 2021-04-14 Permalink
I don’t understand what you guys mean here. Plante did not ordain the curfew or any of the measures against which these folks are protesting. Why do you think these riots will tell against her?
Chris 13:58 on 2021-04-14 Permalink
Because attack ads work on emotion, not logic. An image of a boarded up store with fires around, viewed months later after you forget the details, can come with a caption like “Montreal went to shit under Plante”. It doesn’t have to be true to influence.
Blork 15:38 on 2021-04-14 Permalink
Chris does have a point. OTOH I think that kind of thing mostly just reinforces prejudices that already exist.
And they do exist. I recently saw a picture on FB that showed a Streetview image of a vacant lot in PAT that leads to the river, labelled “2014” and next to it a picture of the same site that says “now” that shows a bunch of condos being built. In the comments, people were blaming Plante and they were complaining that this blocked access to the river so “the rich” could have condos.
Where to start…
In about 90 seconds of research I determined:
Construction had begun in mid 2017, before Plante was elected (and presumably the plans and permits were done the year before).
The condos are not “for the rich;” it’s a fairly dense development of middle-class condos. Nothing luxureous.
The development consists of about 100 units in a string of low buildings, taking up the space of about 10 single-family houses. It’s right in the heart of the “village” (the commercial part of Notre-Dame for that neighbourhood). Basically a by-the-book perfect example of building for both density and human-scale living.
150 metres south of the site is a beautiful park that is open to the public and provides access to the river.
150 metres farther there’s a second public park that also provides access to the river.
400 metres north there’s yet another public park that provides access to the river.
But all those people in the comments see is PLANTE BUILDING CONDOS FOR THE RICH! But those people have already made up their minds and don’t let facts get in the way of good dumbassery.