A demonstration Saturday pressed for the idea that shelter is a fundamental right and demanded action on the housing crisis (which François Legault claims doesn’t exist) including a register of rents and effective rent control.
Updates from June, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Serge Joyal asks in Le Devoir whether the monuments to Maisonneuve and Dollard des Ormeaux should be the next to go.
JaneyB
Like many, I never pay attention to the person commemorated with these statues or read their plaques. These statues can go. Really, severed heads and strangling? How was this ever good? I’m increasingly thinking we should stick to monuments that commemorate different forms of wildlife. I could go with a large moose on a pedestal or a bronze bouquet of milkweed. Even symbols could work – perhaps a large ‘A’ instead since many use the statues as places to meet up eg the puck at UQAM.
Kate
I’ve always liked the flair of the Maisonneuve statue, but its intent was underlined by the plaques on the building nearby (now removed or obscured) about how Maiz killed the native chief with his own hands, or words to that effect. The body language of the statue is of a brave adventurer leading his crew forth into a land of promise, but that is not, as we know, what was actually happening.
But the statue does give Place d’Armes a focal point, and it would feel sort of denuded if there was nothing in the middle of the square. We’d have to come up with something to put there that wasn’t going to become an embarrassment to future historians.
The Dollard monument is in Lafontaine Park but isn’t nearly as focal to the space.
EmilyG
I remember seeing the plaque for the Maisonneuve statue, and wondering why the hell something like that, and the person who did it, were being commemorated.
Maybe the plaque served to say “hey, this guy wasn’t so great after all,” but to me, it looked like this act was being celebrated.Taylor Noakes
It’s important to remember the monuments are historical objects, so I’d argue strongly that they do belong in a museum and people should be encouraged to take a closer look at them.
I would prefer these monuments get taken in by a museum before they’re destroyed, which is a real enough possibility and one I think is completely justified. People have every right to be as upset as they are.
Alternatively, it would be super interesting to ‘deconstruct’ the Maisonneuve monument and create a new monument with the pieces, though the bas relief panels will be difficult to re-use without a lot of work to explain them.
There are paintings based on those panels at the Kondiaronk belvedere that are even more graphic.
Kate
Taylor, there are also paintings inside the cathedral on René-Lévesque, very imperialistic in tone.
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Kate
The Botanical Garden has created a new pond as an ongoing experiment to fight invasive plants. Oddly, I can see purple loosestrife in the picture, which, while pretty, is considered invasive.
dwgs
There is a plant that looks similar to purple loosestrife from a distance call fireweed that is native, it may be that.
Kate
I hope so. You’re probably right. The folks running the Garden are not idiots.
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Kate
Taylor C. Noakes on the blue line to nowhere: recent Quebec history and the failure of Quebec’s promises to extend the metro over the decades.
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Kate
The city is putting some money into reviving or preserving Chinatown.
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Kate
La Presse has a fulsome description this weekend of the Gare Viger project written as if the new development is a chiefly intended as a way to help people “get to know” the old “chateau.”
Max
Jesta’s really into this project for the long haul. Here’s a G&M article from 5-1/2 years back, when Lightspeed had just moved in.
I can’t wait to see this completed. It should prime the pump for the redevelopment of the Molson land but good.
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Kate
There isn’t a lot of news Saturday morning that isn’t about the Canadiens’ overtime win Friday night, but here’s a bit about a new venue planned for the Royalmount development. I like the reporter’s underwhelmed “most of what had been completed entailed a cement foundation.”
Faiz imam
If the pandemic and the death spiral of retail has done anything, I hope it has moved Royal Mount further from a big mall concept to more of a community.
Live event space is something the city really needs, and this will be one of the better amenities Royal mount can offer.
I’m not expecting a elementary school or anything, but the more residential and local uses the place has, the less of a traffic snarl it will be.
DeWolf
Even though this project is completely disconnected from the rest of TMR, the town seems very opposed to any sort of residential development. I’m not sure why they think a megamall would be more acceptable than condos.
There’s also a lot of opposition to a proposal to redevelop the parking lots around Rockland Centre into housing. That makes more sense given that it would have a direct impact on people living in TMR. But Royalmount?
Robert H
@DeWolf-Et si les affaires à Rockland souffrent après l’ouverture de Royalmount à seulment quatre et demi kilomètres de là, ne serait-il pas possible que les citoyens de VMR changeront-ils d’avis? Surtout si les commerces l’abandonnent pour la nouvelle boule brillante sur la route. Que va-t-il advenir de ce centre commercial en déclin? Espaces vides à l’intérieur et pas beaucoup de voitures dans le stationnement, il deviendrait peut-être un bon endroit pour un nouveau développement à usage mixte.
Joey
The people of TMR want the commercial tax revenue from Royalmount. They do not want to expand their population to include people who can’t afford TMR-priced homes who might consume more in public services than they contribute in municipal taxes. Same applies for the Rockland-adjacent undeveloped land. Moreover, new housing stock there would just drive down existing property values.
David633 00:15 on 2021-06-21 Permalink
Housing activists’ position: block housing development for aesthetic reasons orr because it’s built by “greedy developers,” but complain that the government doesn’t tax its citizens and create housing.
Imagine blocking farmers from growing food as a core policy and then complaining about the high cost of produce.
An incoherent mix of true economic illiteracy and statism that we’ve seen before.