There’s a survey on Jarry Park you can do, apropos of recent discussions here. It’s mostly choices on details already pretty determined, though. You can’t opt to remove the tennis facility and replace it with trees, more’s the pity.
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Kate
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Kate
Some readings at the Hautes Études Commerciales are given out in English, and a woman received her Air Canada refund in English, and these are in the news. (The woman in the second story has an Irish surname, which may have confused the airline, although this is not pointed out.)
Ant6n
Wait how can somebody with an Irish name be a true French Canadian /s
JP
I don’t feel any sympathy or offense that these happened..If you’re doing a higher degree, expect readings in English, regardless of whether you’re in China, North Africa, or somewhere in Europe.
This debate is really becoming tiresome and a waste of energy.
mb
It’s the case at UQAM as well, nothing to call home about.
As for the refund in English, what is she complaining about ? She would have preferred no refund in French?
Kate
Ant6n, like Claude Ryan, Pierre Fitzgibbon, et al?
david74
Still sort of amazes me that three stone cold francophones called Johnson, from the same family, individually led each of them one the three iconic political parties of 20th century Quebec, each of them serving a brief time and never receiving an electoral mandate. It’s just one of those strange things in Quebec’s history that seem to crop up from time to time.
Kate
david74, things are named after Daniel Johnson Sr., so I looked him up. And you’re right. Although all moderately successful as politicians, none of the three Johnsons succeeded in getting elected as premier. Each fell into the role by other means.
Also, reading Johnson Sr.’s Wikipedia bio, there’s this: “In 1943, Johnson married Reine Gagné. In 1953, she survived being shot twice by her lover, Radio-Canada announcer Bertrand Dussault, who then committed suicide.”
david74
Gravenor bait, that.
Kate
I haven’t read any Gravenor since he became a Covid denier last year.
PatrickC
While the refund story may not be a big deal, it is true that in recent years Air Canada has been less than committed to its bilingual mandate. In my own (pre-Covid) experience, I have heard flight departure announcements to Montreal from US airports given in English only, even as departures from nearby gates to Asian countries are given in Chinese or Japanese as well as English. Flight attendants during service often use only English, though when I address them in French (which I often do, despite being a native English speaker) I often find the attendant is a fluent French speaker and perfectly qualified for bilingual service (the pilots, usually not so much). There have been a number of stories in the press about this kind of thing happening during domestic Canadian flights as well. As a national flagship company, Air Canada should on the contrary be exemplary in its language policies, and I totally understand the irritation of francophone customers.
Jack
What’s even more astonishing vis a vis the Johnson’s is the fact that Daniel Sr. wife was shot by her lover , who then committed suicide in their NDG home in the mid 50’s. He was a cabinet minister with Duplessis at the time so the story was hushed up.
dhomas
To learn a bit more about the Reine Gagné shooting story:
http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2013/02/reine-johnson-how-woman-behind-three.html?m=1Kate
Thanks for the links, dhomas.
Francesco
@PatrickC not denying any of what you said, but AC doesn’t have any actual airport employees in the US. Third-party ground handling companies don’t generally staff for specific languages *unless* it’s for very large airlines from countries that *don’t* use English. If the airline next gate over was DL/UA/AA that’s a different story; they staff their own gates and usually have bilingual employees working those flights. All that said, when AA/UA/DL flew mainline aircraft into YUL (pre-pandemic), they did make a point to have at least one flight attendant on board able to speak French.
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Kate
Radio-Canada did some exemplary investigative work here revealing the Montreal headquarters of a worldwide web scam network. On the CBC side there’s an explainer in English.
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Kate
The Irish Monument Park Foundation has received an honour for its work in preserving the Black Rock.
Do I believe the city would actually move Bridge Street so’s not to disturb the placement of the Rock? I’d like to think it possible – like one of the people in this story, I’m probably related to people buried there – but it seems more likely they’ll take Hydro-Quebec’s offer of a piece of land for a memorial park nearby and move the Rock there.
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Kate
Two new homeless shelters are being created to offset the closure of the Place Dupuis hotel shelter at the end of this month. One will be in part of the old Hôtel-Dieu building, and the other in a hotel near Radisson metro.
mare
The temporary shelter in the soccer stadium next to Parc-Frederic-Back on Papineau has also closed its doors, and the bike path passing the all glass building that was closed to give them some privacy is also open again. Maybe youngsters can play soccer again soon, at least on the outside fields.
thomas
Excellent news.
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Kate
The city’s air quality was significantly better in 2020 than in other recent years, but it isn’t surprising to learn that this is ascribed to the pandemic – people working from home and not going out as much, and construction sites slowing down.
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Kate
Bar terrasses are now open again and doing good business, but La Presse asks whether real nightlife will come back.
DeWolf
La Presse also has a good story on night mayors and the importance of allowing nightlife to thrive:
https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/2021-06-12/montreal-la-nuit/l-importance-sociale-de-la-vie-nocturne.php
Given the number of park raves happening these days, I think that as soon as restrictions are fully lifted, nightlife is going to come roaring back. There’s a lot of pent-up demand.
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Kate
A ghost bike will be placed on Papineau near St-Joseph on Saturday morning to commemorate Maxime Lévesque, killed there in April when a driver flipped his car several times and crushed the cyclist. Whether the driver was ill or speeding has not been made clear.
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Kate
The Canadiens are petitioning to be allowed more than 2500 fans per game at the Bell Centre as they embark on the next round of playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights.
MZMN
The fans sounded incredible on the radio in the last Jets game.
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Kate
The restaurant in Lafontaine Park, which belongs to Plateau borough, has been closed indefinitely despite infusions of public money in attempts to keep it afloat. It’s not just the pandemic, there’s a back story of internal dramas that somehow kept the spot – an attractive building in a nice location in a popular park – from flourishing as it should have done, although a spokesperson here also says it’s not a great location because it isn’t near a metro or facing a street.
mare
A cafe with a large terrasse would be much better in that spot than fine dining. They would make a ton of money on nice days —which we have a lot of so far this year. Even in the winter, serving hot cocoa and soup, and providing a warm place after a snowy walk in the park, it might be profitable. They are more places in the area, but none have a nicer view.
GC
Yeah, I’d vote for an affordable place for impulse buys, rather than a Tavern on the Green knockoff. If you’re deep in the park, it’s a bit of a hike to the nearest cafe or dep or whatever. I honestly sort of forgot there was even a restaurant in the park, and I used to hang out there a fair amount when I lived closer to it.
Kate
I suppose it’s possible they aimed for too upscale. It’s sort of what happens, everything can be made to sound good on paper, but when you’re in the park with kids and they want to use the bathroom and have an ice cream, and the restaurant wants to sell you vertical food on a square plate, it doesn’t work out so well.
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