Metro goes into some detail about how the REM will change Exo’s suburban bus routes, essentially supplanting them in ferrying South Shore commuters in and out of town.
Updates from April, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
La Presse’s Caroline Touzin recounts the breathless medical drama of a caesarian delivery on a very sick Covid patient at the Vic last month.
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Kate
Nakuset has tweeted that Resilience Montreal, at 4000 Ste-Catherine West, will administer vaccinations to the homeless population this Wednesday from 9 am to 2 pm. No registration necessary.
Bill Binns
No paperwork, no appointments, no age requirements, how convenient!
For the price of a dirty hoodie and an old backpack, maybe some super low priority people like myself could receive life-saving medication.
Kate
Bill Binns, your attitude is not only offensive but scientifically stupid. We need to reduce contagion, so offering the vaccine to people who don’t have anywhere to quarantine to is a smart move. This is not primarily a favour and benefit to them, but makes sense for the whole population.
EmilyG
Bill Binns, even if you feel the need to comment and want to make this about you, this is actually absolutely nothing to do with you.
Bill Binns
If it’s all about “the science” and protecting the rest of us shouldn’t we also be prioritizing the nice folks who refuse to social distance and ignore the curfew like certain groups in Mile End? Where’s the science in that story?
Science was abandoned on the subject of the pandemic long ago. All of the usual victim groups are simply competing for position on the hierarchy just as they always do. We have finally and predictably reached the point where being bestowed with vaunted “Most Vulnerable” title may actually mean life over death.
@Emily- How does it have nothing to do with me? I am patiently waiting for a scarce medication which may prevent my death. As I stand here in line, whole segments of the population are waved to the front. I take 1 step forward and 3 back every day.
walkerp
EmilyG
Bill, you say you’re waiting patiently, but you don’t sound patient.
As for me, I am in a priority group and have already received my first dose, though that’s not really much to do with the initial story in this blog post.
Bill Binns
@walkerp – Oh I’m aware believe me. That pretty much sums up my feelings on the city’s sainted homeless and the city’s opinion on the relative value of my life as well.
ant6n
Disadvantaged home owner / home office worker fears for his life sitting at home, while the privileged homeless get all the great opportunities. Unfair!
Ephraim
If there was any population that should be getting the J&J shot, this is it. One shot, no return shot. Canada is supposed to receive some in the net few days.
SMD
Bill, you know volunteers of community organizations working directly with vulnerable populations can get the vaccine, right? You could volunteer to help at Resilience! Everybody wins: you get your shot, Resilience gets some help, and we don’t have to hear your whining anymore.
Joey
@Bill if you want to jump the line you don’t have to pretend to be homeless, you can simply pretend to have a chronic illness. Don’t think “blog trolling” counts, but you never know.
Janet
Or you could claim to have an intellectual disability… No proof required.
Bill Binns
I would really like to put on the Hugo Boss suit I got married in and show up in the Homeless VIP vaccination line with no ID and challenge them to prove I’m not homeless. Sadly, my wife insists that I stay out of the news.
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Kate
Montreal is the 96th happiest city in Quebec out of 100 according to a new Léger poll. But with D.D.O. at number 3 and St-Lambert at 100, I’m pretty sure the distribution is random.
GC
I decided to take the poll. I am apparently as happy as the average person who lives in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, even though I live in Montreal.
I don’t know. My immediate circle is generally pretty happy about living here, because a lot of us have chosen to… But, of course, that says nothing about the actual average for the city. I do find the timing interesting. Those of us in Montreal might be feeling the impact of the pandemic more than others in the province.
qatzelok
I really thought Dorval would do a lot better with all the chlorine they put in their water.
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Kate
There was a deep trough at the start of the pandemic, but now 80% of the customary road traffic is back.
Kevin
I am rather dubious about this interpretation, at least in the Montreal area.
There are more vehicles on the road compared to last spring, or last autumn, but they are not travelling at customary rush hour times.
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Kate
No other Canadian city has succeeded in convincing their province and Ottawa to permit permanent residents to have a municipal vote, but Montreal’s going to try.
Bill Binns
I’m sure the CAQ will be enthusiastic about adding 100,000 immigrant voters in the only region they don’t yet dominate.
Kate
This is for city elections only, Bill Binns. Quebec will probably refuse to agree anyway, but then – as the article says – provinces have always said no.
Bill Binns
From the article I read, the Province would have to approve for the city to pull this off. Something tells me if it was the city’s decision, it would have already happened.
Kate
That’s the point, Bill Binns. The city needs the approval of the other levels of government, but is unlikely to get it, even though it isn’t asking for permanent residents to vote at any level other than the municipal.
david228
It’s not a very convincing argument. Canada is one of the easiest places on earth to gain citizenship for residents, and if you’re just a permanent resident then it’s either because you’ve only been here a year or two, or you’ve decided not to take citizenship for whatever reason (some countries prohibit dual citizenship).
A lot of people might think that this position is a desperate move by the mayor and her team to find some way to stay in office in what’s looking like an increasingly hopeless campaign for re-election, but I think it’s probably more another American-inflected thing, where a small number of very vocal people locally have complaint, and the city hall people consume a very high volume of international news and have come, incorrectly and without a huge amount of knowledge, to believe that Canadian immigration must be a lot like US immigration, equally oppressive or whatever.
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Kate
The young woman who told Le Devoir about the poor conditions of patients at the CHSLD de St‑Laurent has been fired. While the health minister talks about “ending the omertà” in the system, people are still routinely fired for speaking up.
Jack
I had the head of my teachers union tell me to tread lightly because of the “loyalty” clause. Any Civil Code aficionados out there ? Can it be circumvented ?
Raymond Lutz
Jack, Here it is. Article 2088 of Civil Code of Québec (voted in 1991 under Bourassa?):
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2088: The employee is bound not only to perform his work with prudence and diligence, but also to act faithfully and honestly and not use any confidential information he obtains in the performance or in the course of his work.
These obligations continue for a reasonable time after the contract terminates and permanently where the information concerns the reputation and privacy of others.
__________Discussed discussed here (in English) et ici une autre ressource, en français. Nemo censetur ignorare legem!
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Kate
Very good piece by Michel C. Auger on Bill 21 and the peril of using the notwithstanding clause too nonchalantly.
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Kate
Brandon Shiller has bought a chunk of Chinatown. Some folks think the area should be protected from aggressive profiteers by being declared historic.
Meezly
Shiller and/or Lavy keep getting called predators or parasites, but they’re more like a disease – a cancer that spreads and infects an entire society.
Matt G
Just think about the evil plans they’re plotting today (probably).
Bill Binns
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but someone has already turned this historic school building into a noodle factory.
DeWolf
I looked into the zoning of the properties in question and it seems like a 65-metre building (ie 20 storeys) would be permitted without needing a derogation. The one potential obstacle to redevelopment seems to be the block’s location near the Saint-Esprit church, which has heritage protection. In theory the city or the province could deny any demolition permits. (Unless I’m completely wrong – hopefully someone else here can shed some light on this.)
It wouldn’t be a bad thing if you could artfully insert some new building into the vacant lot on St-Urbain, but you don’t pay $20 million to build something modest that fits into the existing context.
david228
I’m probably in the 1% of pro-development types, but I just hate this guy. Anyway, there’s no way he could put the money and political capital together to flatten this area, and the main thing to worry about is just that he’ll continue his run of evicting long-standing commerces.
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Kate
The general strike at the Port of Montreal began at 7 Monday morning.
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Kate
The massive mansion under construction in Ahuntsic for one of the owners of Pornhub went up in flames overnight. The fire is regarded as suspicious. Nobody was living in the house yet, and the Journal reported last week that it had been put up for sale.
steph
Ephraim
Is it this one? https://www.centris.ca/en/houses~for-sale~montreal-ahuntsic-cartierville/11303538?view=Summary It was listed as for sale.
Kate
That looks like the one, Ephraim.
Ephraim
@Kate – Which suggests that there is something afoot… because why put it for sale if you wanted it custom built for you and it’s basically an unsalable mansion. First thing that pops into my head is starts with a and ends in n. And recently the price of materials have skyrocketed by 3x their cost.
mare 23:58 on 2021-04-26 Permalink
All eggs in one basket. The REM better not break down on the new Champlain bridge during rush hour… Ever.
Uatu 10:38 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
A reminder that the only real beneficiaries of the REM are the residents of the condo developments built by the cdpq infra. Every one else gets an added “last mile” tacked on to their commute whether they like it or not. I specifically chose my apartment because it eliminated the last mile, but looks like I’m back to waiting in the cold. Also there will still be traffic jams except they’re going to be in the streets leading to the train stations. But what do you expect from a transit system designed by people who never use it and rubber stamped by bureaucrats in QC who view Montreal with contempt
Spi 11:10 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
@mare because the old system of reserved bus lanes wasn’t just as vulnerable in case of breakdown? At least the new Champlain has a shoulder that’s can be used as bus lanes.
@Uatu, CDPQi is not building any condos.
Kevin 12:36 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
The head of the Caisse testified Tuesday morning at a parliamentary hearing.
He estimates that only 40-50% of REM travel will be to-from work, and he says provincial estimates are that only 20% of all work going forward will be WFH.
That second figure seems absurdly low https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/03/24/le-teletravail-plus-populaire-au-quebec-que-dans-les-autres-provinces
steph 14:15 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
I don’t understand the public transport plans of ‘replacing’ old modes, vs ‘augmenting’. If ridership wasn’t going to be increasing, why did we have to re-invent the wheel?
mare 15:34 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
@spi When the metro breaks down, or is blocked because someone jumped in front of it, the STM *owns* busses and employs drivers and can use them on short notice to run a bypass route. CPQInfra doesn’t own busses and doesn’t employ bus drivers and they might be reluctant to hire them immediately after a blockade because the cost might go on their budget (but maybe not, and exo wil foot the bill).
There is also no staff on the train, so dealing with a person or object on/near the track might take longer.
We’ll see…
dhomas 17:09 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
@Spi CDPQi is not building any condos. Otera Capital and Ivanhoe Cambridge, on the other hand….
It’s hard to tell what and where they are building, but Otera Capital shows on their website that 40% of their projects are in residential, and 24% of their *global* portfolio is in Quebec.
https://www.oteracapital.com/en/about-us/activities
Guess who owns Otera Capital and Ivanhoe Cambridge. If you guessed the CDPQ, you’d be right.
I’ll be curious to watch who builds what around those new REM stations. Not that funding public transit with real estate is necessarily a bad thing, but it could be a conflict of interest. Instead of servicing already high density areas (like, for example, Anjou, where the Blue Line is about to get scrapped), they are creating demand where there is none, and contributing to sprawl at the same time. It’s all very sketchy to me.
Tim S. 18:57 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
@Spi buses could be diverted to other bridges. I have fond memories of magical mystery tours on the 45.
ant6n 19:02 on 2021-04-27 Permalink
Once we start being picky about ownership, we could note that CDPQInfra isn’t owning trains either. They just own 51% of the REM, which in turn owns trains.
The amount of commuting has been surprisingly low in general. In Germany, there are statistics that show the “reasons” for trips, and work is only 16%, study 11%. Surprisingly high is recreation 28%, shopping 16%, taking care of something 14%. I do wonder whether these statistics come about because they consider only the next destination – but if my day consists of a chain of trips, where in the middle there is 8h spent in the office, to me the main reason for leaving the house is still work.
In any case, diversification of trip reasons has been ongoing, its not just a covid phenomenon.
[1] page 61: http://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/pdf/MiD2017_Ergebnisbericht.pdf