The West Island is being invaded by wild turkeys.
Updates from October, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Every few years, Elections Canada ordains the redistribution of seats in Parliament and redraws riding boundaries accordingly. It won’t happen right away, but Quebec is slated to lose one seat, while Alberta gains three and Ontario and B.C. gain one each. It’s not political, it’s based on population shifts and uneven growth across the country. But François Legault is steamed and so is the Bloc’s Yves-François Blanchet. They say Quebec must not lose that seat, even though in no sense is the change an attack on this province. Legault even says it’s a test for Justin Trudeau but it has nothing to do with him. It’s a formula that’s laid out in the Constitution.
The irony is that, had Legault accepted more immigrants in, he might have kept the population up and not be facing this change.
Update Sunday: Michel C. Auger basically agrees with me, and he gives some history about the representation of Quebec in Ottawa, which has apparently been a hot potato for a long time as populations of western provinces have grown relative to eastern ones.
GC
It’s ridiculous posturing, but I suppose they need to do it to pander to the part of their bases who consider it some evil plot by the ROC.
Meezly
The CAQ wants to pass yet another discriminatory and potentially unconstitutional bill that can impact the trans community.
Chris
How does this have anything to do with transgender issues?!?
Kate
Chris, you’ve had too much coffee this morning. Maybe go for a walk. It’s a nice day.
thomas
This gap between Quebec and ROC will only be exasperated over time. Canada took in 400,000 immigrants last year and Ontario is asking Ottawa to increase the numbers they can bring in under the provincial nominee program.
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Kate
A group of women calling themselves “Mères en colère” blocked access to the Ray-Mont Logistics site Friday morning. They want the proposed project to at least be submitted to the BAPE, but fundamentally, they don’t want a 24-hour shipping terminal going up in their back yard.
Making the land into a park would cost money, while making it into a logistics terminal will make big money and pay taxes. Which do you think will happen?
dhomas
The city already tried to stop this project and got sued for it. As much as I hate to say it, I think it’s a lost cause. I really hope I’m wrong because it’s really a terrible, terrible project which will impact that neighbourhood for generations.
Also, anyone else notice that the text in that Journal Metro article seems to be copy pasted twice in a row?
Kate
It’s one way to fill our your word count.
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Kate
A debate Thursday evening among the three mayoral candidates is described as acrimonious by Le Devoir. The key anecdote was Coderre telling Plante to “stop laughing, it makes you look nervous” – a condescending remark which he refuses to apologize for.
As a woman I cannot put into civil words how much this exchange angers me, but it’s also deeply revealing of Coderre’s id. I don’t want Coderre’s id stinking up my town any more. We can’t let him back in.
Em
Somehow it’s never male politicians who are criticized for their voices or mannerisms.
DeWolf
Coderre has gone from Mayor Quimby to a kind of half-baked Trump.
GC
So true, Em. And how is it Coderre’s place to police her behaviour, in any case?
Chris
>Somehow it’s never male politicians who are criticized for their voices or mannerisms.
What?! It happens all the time. Preston Manning’s voice was made fun of. Trump’s hand size was made fun of. Plante is being treated as an equal, and getting the same base shit dished around by all. It’s a dirty game.
Bryan
>Preston Maning…
What!?! An example from 30 years ago is hardly an illustration of something that happens “all the time.”\\\\\\
dwgs
*sigh* See Chris, the difference is that (to the best of my knowledge) Manning’s and Trump’s opponents in political debates never mocked those things on stage.
I know you like to play the contrarian but this is not your best work.jeather
I’m sure all the women here truly appreciate you explaining to us what is or isn’t misogyny.
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Kate
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death this week of Jannai Dopwell-Bailey, also 16, outside his high school in Côte-des-Neiges.
Update: A vigil was held at the school on Friday evening.
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Kate
The Lajeunesse section of the REV has won a mobility award. We’re several paragraphs in before we find out this is the Prix Jalon, which is purely local and has little on its website about who they actually are. A feather in Projet’s cap, certainly, but a small one.
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Kate
The outbound Lafontaine tunnel will be closed again this weekend.
Also, expect a ton of other road closures.
TVA is calling it the worst weekends for drivers.
steph
I’m having a hard time understanding what they’re saying:
”direction sud sera partiellement fermée”, ok, so some lanes south will be open.
”direction nord sera fermée de manière complète (1 voie sur 3)” . what??
Kate
Maybe it’s clearer on Mobilité Montréal, which is what the TVA site was citing anyway?
I’m not too familiar with the geography of the tunnel and its exits, so I can’t help you make sense of it.
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Kate
For the second time in their history the Canadiens have lost the first five matches of the regular season. Item ponders how things panned out afterwards in the 1995‑1996 season, the last time it happened, as if this might predict the outcome in 2022.
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Kate
CBC says Coderre has been telling a lot of lies, and proves it. But does anyone care?
GC
I work with a man for whom it’s a single-issue election. He found it easier to park his car when Coderre was mayor, so he wants Coderre back. I asked him about the Formula E, the rodeo, the stumps… He didn’t care because “those things didn’t affect [him] directly.”
Of course, I’m not convinced that he will actually bother to vote at all. But, to answer your question: no. A lot of people don’t care.
dhomas
That’s the reaction I get from most people, too. “Plante only cares about bikes, and cyclists are terrible. Coderre can help me drive my car anywhere and park it anywhere.”
Many of them just hope Coderre will be elected, but won’t actually bother voting, if history is any indicator.EmilyG
Sadly, quite a few people in the West Island (especially in parts of it that are part of the city of Montreal) care about cars and not much else, when looking for someone to vote for.
Mr.Chinaski
West Island has only Pierrefond-Roxboro as a MTL bourrough (Ile Bizard is more french), so it’s unimportant what they think.
dhomas 04:38 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
There are roving bands of these critters in the East end, too. We spot them on the way to my kids’ school in RDP almost daily. And they’re growing in numbers. Our sightings are so frequent that my kids have come up with a code-word to use for a sighting: “turk-alert”. (Kids are funny and weird)
dhomas 07:33 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
I’m more worried about a different “invasion” I noticed yesterday, but didn’t really see reported in the news anywhere. Did anyone see an airplane banner in the sky yesterday with the message “Allez Brandon “?
dhomas 09:10 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Looks like my post contained some formatting that made part of it disappear. The airplane banner said “Allez Brandon (website I don’t want to link to)”.
Kate 09:36 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
I had no idea what this was about and even after reading this I still don’t. Why would it be relevant here?
dhomas 09:50 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Yeah, it has nothing to do with this story. I just didn’t find it reported anywhere, so I attached myself to the “invasion” theme of your post.
So, this social media website, g e t t r . c o m, was hoping to land Trump on their platform, since he’s been deplatformed everywhere else. He announced that he was starting his own network, so this company went on a marketing blitz to stay relevant. The slogan they’re using, “Let’s Go Brandon” is a euphemism for “Fuck Joe Biden”. This kind of marketing only works (and is sometimes overlooked/ignored) because only the people “who are in the know” will understand it.
Except, we’re in Canada. And Joe Biden is not president here. So, keep your far right bullshit to yourselves. And that explains the (admittedly loose) invasion angle.
And the sign flew over Montreal all day, which explains the Montreal angle.
Chris 10:23 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
>Except, we’re in Canada. … So, keep your far right bullshit to yourselves.
So, basically, you’re against Canada having free speech. At least for sentiments you disagree with. If they were flying code for “Fuck Trump” would you be here telling them to keep their far left bullshit to themselves? Somehow I doubt it.
Kate 10:23 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Good lord. If I’d seen that I might’ve thought it was something to do with a sports team from Brandon, Manitoba. I don’t even understand why Joe Biden can be mocked with “Let’s Go Brandon” at all.
How weird.
Kate 10:24 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Chris, your contrarianism gets a little tiresome. It’s not free speech, it’s bullying.
Chris 10:24 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Kate, imagine it as a sports chant: “Fuck Joe Biden” sounds like “Let’s Go Brandon”.
Chris 10:29 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Which POTUS hasn’t been “bullied”? The right to criticize, even mercilessly, political leaders is fundamental to free speech and democracy, and sets us apart from places like China, Saudi, Russia, etc.
dhomas 10:32 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
My point wasn’t that people shouldn’t be allowed to criticise the POTUS. My point is, why should we care, in Canada? To me, it’s an American problem. Why are the people behind this site trying to import it here?
dhomas 10:37 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Also, I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth, Chris. “basically, you’re against Canada having free speech”. I never, ever said that. Also, what many people who chant “free speech” don’t understand is that, though you do have freedom of speech (technically, freedom of expression in Canada), it does not mean you have freedom of consequence. What you say can and should have consequences.
Chris 10:48 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
>My point wasn’t that people shouldn’t be allowed to criticise the POTUS.
OK. I guess I misunderstood your point then.
>Why are the people behind this site trying to import it here?
Presumably, because the US is highly influential on Canada. The previous POTUS influenced our lives with trade tariffs, scrapping NAFTA, etc. We are affected by every move of the elephant as it were.
>Also, I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth, Chris. “basically, you’re against Canada having free speech”. I never, ever said that.
You said “keep your far right bullshit to yourselves.” Saying to “keep something to yourself” means to not speak, doesn’t it?
>What you say can and should have consequences.
Yup, I agree. In fact, that’s often the point. To provoke public debate as a consequence.
Myles 10:57 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Expressing a personal desire for someone to keep something to themselves isn’t the same as wanting them silenced by the government. That’s a very dramatic reading.
Kate 11:48 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
My turkey post took a weird turn here.
dhomas 11:56 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Hah! Sorry about that, Kate!
In turkey-related news, thanks to your post, TIL that wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated cousins, can fly!
Kate 14:11 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
dhomas, when I said above “why would it be relevant here?” I meant why would that phrase have any relevance in Canada, not why would your remark have any relevance on this blog.
I’ve yet to see a wild turkey. This summer was the first time I even saw a raccoon in my immediate neighbourhood, and we don’t get visits from coyote or deer either.
Kevin 15:16 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
Free speech has limits and consequences. It always has. Pretending it hasn’t is a sign the person presenting the argument is acting in bad faith.
If you uttered nonsense in a bar, you’d be told to shut up and stop being an idiot. But because the same nonsense is uttered online, that somehow makes it sacrosanct? Get real.
People can say almost anything they want — but nobody has to put up with it, associate with the speaker, or even deal with them.
Say what you want, but don’t you dare act surprised that the people you’ve upset take action.
dhomas 16:03 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
@Kate I misunderstood your original comment about being relevant here. Your reaction was similar to my own. How does it make sense to use this kind of slogan here? And apparently, they did the same thing in Italy (Andiamo Brandon) and Brazil (Vamos Brandon). I’m realizing now that we might be bringing unwanted attention to your blog with all these key words.
@Kevin: thank you. This is pretty much what I was trying to express.
Ephraim 18:06 on 2021-10-23 Permalink
I’d pay good money to get an entire newsfeed that never mentioned that the US existed at all. Just let me blissfully have an entire world where I could be just ignorant of the entire US, it’s politics and everything else shitty about a country that can’t see that liberty can also mean to be free of hearing about any of this shitty politics forever as well.
Kate 09:54 on 2021-10-24 Permalink
Ephraim, if you use Reddit at all, the /r/worldnews sub is pretty good, because it’s defined as “major news from around the world except US-internal news / US politics.”
Ephraim 14:00 on 2021-10-24 Permalink
@Kate – It was more about the America “Free speech” and “Liberty” nonsense. Anti-vaxers aren’t about free speech and liberty at all. It’s simply a reframing of their anti-science nonsense in the realm of calling it free speech and liberty. And Liberty has two meanings…. they want to be “free” to not vaccinate and I want to be “free” to not worry about sitting next to them because they are more likely in fact, upwards of 15x, to be plague carriers. They are both freedoms or liberties. I am not discriminating against them because of a protected class… I’m discriminating against them because they present a danger to me, just as a man with a gun presents a danger to me. And making a choice to not get vaccinated doesn’t indemnify you of the consequences of that decision.
Take for a example, the police, who now claim that they don’t want to be vaccinated and are fighting the city’s mandate https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/will-a-city-mandate-cause-thousands-of-unvaccinated-l-a-cops-to-walk-off-the-job-were-about-to-find-out-1237989/ but yet, COVID is the leading cause of police deaths in the last year. They forever want more money for weapons, armour and vehicles and yet the number 1 killer is… COVID and they don’t want to be protected from COVID. It’s beyond stupid. And, I’m just tired of hearing the stories that are framing this to be about liberty and freedom. No one doing that in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or even until the last few years. It was a fringe group, like the flat earthers. And it still should be. It isn’t based on science, health or even intelligence. And I’m tired of the fact that we even have to hear about this as a logical argument…. because It isn’t a logical argument. You don’t want to vaccinate… fine, don’t vaccinate. But don’t expect to be allowed to be part of society either. Just make your choice and shut the F up and live with your damn choice.