The city is asking Quebec to extend the REM de l’est beyond Autoroute 25 to Rivière-des-Prairies.
Updates from May, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
If you’d told me during the last municipal election that language would be one of the hot potatoes in 2021, I don’t think I’d’ve believed you, but it’s shaping up that way. Le Devoir has an op-ed Tuesday from Hadrien Parizeau, grandson of the sainted Jacques, pushing the city to do lots more to promote French.
The thing is this: it does already. Everything the city does is in French. All its communications, all its activities, are in French. Unfortunately where this tends to go is subtracting anything done in English (or other languages) to make it even more perfectly, piously, prodigiously French.
Valérie Plante has always been aware of having other communities in her city, speaking English and many other languages, and it being sometimes important to communicate with them in their language, especially during a pandemic. She knows she’s a mayor for everybody.
The comedy here is that Denis Coderre – federalist, at least by his track record – may be allowing his followers to paint him into a perfect little French-only corner.
In tangentially related news, Justin Trudeau says Quebec is absolutely allowed to unilaterally modify the Canadian constitution.
Update: Some additional thoughts on belonging in Quebec from Émilie Nicolas and on Bill 96 from Toula Drimonis.
dhomas
Unrelated to these stories, but what the hell is this at the bottom of the CBC article?
“This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook-Canadian Press News Fellowship, which is not involved in the editorial process.”
I’ve not noticed it before. It’s this new?
Kate
I meant to note that, thanks dhomas. No idea what’s up with this, and not seen it before today.
Kevin
Dhomas
Long story short: it’s a wire service item.Long story long: https://www.thecanadianpress.com/about/partnerships/facebook/
GC
Thanks for that Drimonis link.
Kate
GC, Toula Drimonis is always worth reading.
Jack
Toula is the best ! She is absolutely representative of the English speaking community now.
GC
I generally only read her stuff when you link to it but, yes, it’s usually on point.
Martin
Indeed, that Toula Drimonis article is the best *balanced* summary I’ve read so far.
I especially like her emphasis on the low literacy and graduation rates among Quebecers. What should be an important part of *any* plan to strengthen the French language in Quebec is conspicuously absent from Bill 96.
It’s almost like the Bill isn’t about the French language at all… just like Bill 21 can be construed as not being really about “la laïcité”.
Daniel
Too much stick, not enough carrot, as she says.
It’s also sad to see “which language is spoken at home” used as any sort of barometer. I could study French for the next 20 years and I would never speak it at home. The measurement seems purpose-built to make some people an other.
GC
100%. If a couple has the same mother tongue–whatever it is–of course that’s what they are going to speak to each other at home. And there’s a high chance they will also teach that language to any children they have. Which is not a bad thing.
It’s not a statistic that any legislation is going to change–other than restricting immigration to people who have French as a mother tongue.
-
Kate
The city ombudsman received a record number of complaints last year, many of them about bike paths.
Blork
You know that sense of repulsion you feel when you see the “Comments” link on a news story? I feel that same repulsion just looking at the main link to this story.
walkerp
I wouldn’t be surprised if the bike path complaints were coordinated. Probably some coalition with the Joe Beef guy and a bunch of West Island car addicts organizing a phone-a-thon to the ombudsman.
qatzelok
“Please hold while we transfer your call to Drivers’ Anonymous.”
M
Or maybe this is an echo chamber? I think a majority of people don’t like that bike paths are seemingly the main focus of this administration, a goal that benefits a minority of citizens. I’m all for bike paths, I like how quaint a narrower Saint-Denis looks now (even though it’s a bit of headache at rush hour to drive there when someone is trying to turn), but go to the East End and it’s a different story. Why were so many streets turned into one-ways when they could have accommodated both motorists going in two directions *and* cyclists? Instead, you’ve got four lanes’ worth of bike paths and one for cars. Add never ending construction and getting around in that area is ridiculous. I can see how many are annoyed.
Kate
four lanes’ worth of bike paths and one for cars
Where is this?
DeWolf
St-Denis has right turn lanes at every intersection and left turns are prohibited. If someone making a turn is blocking traffic, it’s either because they’re making an illegal left turn or they’re a dope who tries to turn right from the centre lane. (I’ll admit, I’ve witnessed plenty of both, but you can’t blame bad driver behaviour on the street’s design.)
As for the “East End” (which is a very big area) I assume you’re talking about Bellechasse in Rosemont? The reason the bike paths are so wide is because they’re designed for all ages and abilities. The old style of bike paths barely allow room for one person at a time. The new ones are meant to accommodate everyone from road cyclists to schoolchildren. I use it quite frequently and it can get very busy in the afternoon with kids going home from class. I can only imagine how much busier it will be when people eventually go back to offices and universities.
Otherwise I can’t think of any streets have been made one-way in recent years. Maybe Laurier East? But that was in 2014 and it has been a huge success for businesses and of course the pedestrians and cyclists who benefit from more space.
mare
Another major reason to make bike paths wide is so they can be cleared of snow in the winter by standard snow clearing equipment . The Bellechasse bike path (around the corner from me) was often cleared earlier than the road, and definitely salted more and more often (too much actually, it was completely white and crusty in the spring, and my dogs hated it because it hurt their feet).
dhomas
@DeWolf: I will start by saying that I’m a cycling advocate (almost annoyingly so to friends and family), and the recent changes to roadways to accommodate cycling are a welcome change for me.
That said, it’s not only Bellechasse in Rosemont. Further East (in my neck of the woods), a few examples come to mind:
de Marseille street, in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It runs parallel to Sherbrooke Street and was often used by motorists to avoid traffic on said street. It’s been made one-way and large bike paths have been added
Gouin street in RDP. Large swaths of the street were made one-way to accommodate bike paths
de Carignan, in HoMa. North-South axis, made one-way.-I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting
In Ahuntsic, close to my parents’ house, there is also Christophe-Colomb, Sauriol, Prieur, others.
I’m all for these changes, but I know not everyone is of the same opinion.
-
Kate
The public security commission has given the nod to making STM security into official constables, but there may be upsides. They will get more training, will be more answerable for their actions, and will not be allowed firearms.
-
Kate
A young man was stabbed, nonfatally, Monday evening on Place Jacques-Cartier, after a fight with a group of others.
-
Kate
The city has planned various sessions to discuss what to do with the Peel Basin area but, André Dubuc says here, apparently without irony or sarcasm, failed to invite Stephen Bronfman, who has long made a claim on the spot for a new baseball stadium. It doesn’t say here that he owns the land, so I don’t see why he should be regarded as having a prior claim.
Kevin
They still got to present and will again.
These people make Charlie Brown attempting to kick a football look cynical.
-
Kate
A woman was killed overnight in an apartment in Côte-St-Luc, and there has already been an arrest.
Update: A man, apparently the woman’s husband, has been charged with murder in the second degree. Two children were present at the time, too.
It’s the 9th homicide of the year here. This numbering clarifies an unrelated story early last month when police were unsure whether a man’s death was homicide. Presumably they determined it wasn’t, so I removed his story from the incident map.
Reply