The deadly attack on the Quebec City mosque was five years ago, and memorials are being held, but a vigil planned in Ottawa was cancelled because of the convoy taking over that city.
Updates from January, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Ted Rutland writes about how Montreal is superfunding the SPVM. The article’s also available in French.
Joey
Hard to tell what “superfunding” means when Rutland doesn’t even explain what percentage increase the $45M represented for the SPVM (and it’s actually less than the previous year’s overspend). No benchmarks with other cities, etc., either.
Chris
Joey, it’s labelled an opinion piece, so he’s unlikely to explain anything that goes against his argument/opinion/viewpoint.
Kate
Chris, Ted Rutland has been critiquing the city and its policing policies for awhile. I’ve linked to some of what he’s had to say, in various media, but didn’t see a need to make a summary of his entire commentary on Montreal policing.
Ted
It does say it was the largest increase in Canada this year (so there’s the benchmark). Last year’s increase was $14.6 million. It’s smaller than last year’s overspend, but there’s nothing stopping the SPVM from overspending by the same amount or more this year. There will be a piece on police budgets across Canada in the Breach today.
Joey
Perhaps the story in the Breach will define “superfund”…
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Kate
A developer is suing the city and the mayor personally over one of the towers planned for the old Children’s Hospital site. This was meant to be social housing, the developer balked, the city cut down the scope of the permit, and now it’s going to court.
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Kate
An idea that’s been percolating for ages is a new bridge to link Nuns’ Island to Verdun. Whether this would be a link for walking and cycling only, or allow motor vehicles, is yet to be decided.
As I recall, the denizens of the island traditionally resist this plan, although with Wellington Street’s trendiness in recent years the islanders’ attitudes may have relaxed a little.
Now that I look at the map, linking Verdun’s Galt Street to the island’s Marguerite‑Bourgeoys Boulevard would have a benefit not mentioned in the brief article: it would create a link between De l’Église metro and the island.
GC
I don’t live in Verdun, but it seems sensible to me to have one for emergency vehicles. And then, of course, let pedestrians and cyclists also use it.
MarcG
I have a friend who doesn’t drive who lives at the far end of Nun’s Island and he’s very isolated. There are a few grocery stores at the other end which he has little choice but to shop at and says that the prices are significantly marked up. One problem I see with this bridge is that it would ruin those sections of the waterfront walking/biking/skiing paths on both sides. The Verdun side in that section has already been kind of ruined by the beach, but I would be surprised if they plopped a regular traffic bridge down right next to it.
Kate
Wouldn’t your friend benefit from being able to cross the bridge to shop along Wellington?
I can’t imagine choosing to live in that area without driving. I’ve walked around in Nuns’ Island a little. It’s surprisingly big and not generally very welcoming to pedestrians.
MarcG
I’m sure he would really appreciate a pedestrian bridge. The reason he lives there is because the apartment buildings aren’t made of cardboard like they are in Verdun.
GC
Thanks for clarifying where it would likely land on the Nun’s Island side, MarcG, as I don’t know the geography that well. I’ve only visited a handful of times and it certainly did not appear very pedestrian-friendly, but that’s just a shallow observation as a visitor. 90% of my visits were to see a friend who is the sort that would drive five blocks to get somewhere because he loves his car that much.
Kate, do you know on what grounds the residents are generally against it? Is it a no-traffic thing? A no-motor vehicles thing? Protecting the waterfront, per Marc’s post? Just a strong desire to remain isolated?
Nicole
I’ve lived on Nuns’ Island for 11 years, and I am strongly in favor of another link to the mainland, which would provide easier access to shopping and restaurants on Wellington as well as an alternate way off the island when there’s construction around the highway exits, which there often is. The walking/biking trails won’t be ruined–there’s already a paved road that goes almost to the waterfront at that point. I think the island residents who are against it (who are probably still the majority) are mostly isolationist; for instance, my neighbor is afraid it that will attract a “bad element” (which seemed to mean people who aren’t white and wealthy) from mainland Verdun.
Kate
GC, I can’t cite you a reference, but there was, at least at one time, a feeling in Nuns’ Island that they didn’t want to be bracketed with Verdun, and there were some who wanted it to be declared a separate entity. This would’ve been before Wellington Street had any cachet. I don’t know whether this tendency was supported by developers on the island, or by residents who resented having their taxes possibly used for things on the Verdun side. It’s not a notion I’ve heard much about lately, but see what Nicole has to say – the river keeps the canaille out.
walkerp
If you’ve seen Cronenberg’s classic Shivers, you’ll know that we want fewer not more ways to get off of Nuns Island.
GC
walkerp, I was also thinking of https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4546694, which involved a fictional island that felt like an even wealthier version of Nuns’ Island.
walkerp
Nice! I’d forgotten about that. I’ll add that to my watch list. I hope they have it in the original french because the dubbing sounded quite bad.
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Kate
Exo, which I suppose goes on existing because it serves areas the REM will not, has bought ten new diesel locomotives for a total of $153 million. They will be built in California. Despite burning hydrocarbons, they’re claimed to be less environmentally damaging than the model they’re replacing, locomotives bought second hand from Ontario in 1989. Some notes from a trade site.
ant6n
The climate impact of a diesel commuter locomotive is not primarily the exhaust of the locomotives, but the uncompetetive and suburban centric transit system that’s usually built around them, compared to, say, an electric metropolitan surface metro.
Kate
ant6n, why would a diesel system cause different kinds of urban sprawl from, say, the REM?
dhomas
If I had to guess, these diesel trains encourage commuting for work only, due to their less frequent, rush-hour schedules. Whereas a metropolitan metro runs much more frequently, enabling people to use public transit as their primary means of transit, instead of using it only to get to and from work.
ant6n
Exactly. Systems like the RER in Paris or German S-Bahns also work well for trips inside the city, while still having huge reach over the metro area and have huge all day capacity and frequency (the REM will have the frequency, but not the capacity, and is mediocre on both inner city station density and reach). Commuter rail trends to focus on far away places and connecting people via parking – i.e.they induce sprawl.
In terms of ridership, diesel commuter systems get ~10K trips a day, the REM gets ~100K, and aproper RER or SBahn gets ~1M.
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Kate
Sue Montgomery has won her case in Superior Court, where two previous decisions on her alleged violation of municipal ethics were overturned. The decision could still be appealed by Quebec’s municipal commission.
Update: Montgomery says she intends to sue the city, the mayor, and the city’s comptroller general for defamation of character.
H. John
I don’t understand CBC’s use of “planning to sue”. Montgomery and Harris filed their defamation suits last June:
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Kate
Here are the driving crises of the weekend.
Blork 21:56 on 2022-01-29 Permalink
Because the “freedom” to infect and kill our most vulnerable neighbours with a deadly pathogen is obviously more important.