Simon Jolin-Barrette’s Bill 96 will mandate that everyone coming to Quebec has to learn French within 6 months, even refugees and asylum seekers.
It must have taken even little Simon J-B longer than six months to learn French.
Updates from February, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
People living in the east end are struggling with the possible impact of more industrialization, including the extension of rue Souligny for truck traffic, the construction of the Ray‑Mont terminal, a new Hydro‑Quebec post, and the REM de l’Est.
dhomas
The only part of these developments that kinda makes sense is the extension of l’Assomption and Souligny. Right now, trucks leaving the port need to take Notre-Dame to Dickson, then get on Souligny “bretelle” on their way to the 25. It’s a mess and it prevents that area from developing properly. I used to bike on the bike path alongside Notre-Dame on that stretch and the dust and debris created by the passing trucks made for quite an inhospitable environment. I later decided to bypass that area altogether and cut through HoMa at Bennett street instead.
Getting those trucks get on a near dedicated artery which leads directly to the highway system could make sense.
As for the rest, the Ray-Mont project is absolutely bonkers; the REM de l’Est doesn’t make much sense; and I don’t know much about the Hydro-Quebec project.
Faiz Imam
I don’t know the technical spefifics of this Hydro facility, but we should expect a lot more electrical infrastructure built in inconvenient places in the years ahead.
Our city was built with a certain expected population and density, and as it grows both larger and denser, we will need much more electricity in a given area.
So much of the infrastrure is old and is at the edge of its current carying capacity.
Not to mention, modern houses all have air conditioning, electric heating, plus the rise of EV charging. It all means we need more transformers, more sub-stations and more excavation to add wires to built up areas.
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Kate
Google sometimes turns up odd stories I don’t find in the local media. Here’s an incident reported on trains.com: a new train car meant for Exo trains was damaged last weekend because it didn’t fit under an old lift bridge structure. Exo certainly hasn’t trumpeted the fact that its new trains are coming from China.
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Kate
Dezeen’s got a house renovation this weekend, a small house on Berri with “a residential extension wrapped in galvanised metal.” Check out that matte black kitchen too.
Would it be so difficult to “wrap” an extension in brick to fit in with the structures around it?
Also like “The Berri House is located on a short street in Montreal” given that Berri stretches from the St Lawrence to the Back River, albeit with a few breaks.
Blork
I have notes.
First, it probably would be hard (although not impossible) to clad the extension in brick, because the extension is elevated and there isn’t a bottom platform to carry the weight of the bricks. Regardless, I think the metal cladding is fine. It’s set back from the street, and is barely visible when the tree has leaves. Plus it’s an extension, not a primary facade, and it coordinates well with the grey fence.
The inside is another story. I like modern architecture, and much of what some people see as “sterile” actually appeals to me. But not this place.
First of all, if you want a modern house, build (or buy) a modern house. Converting a 1910 house to a modern interior is not the way to go. (Adding modern touches to century home is one thing, but completely re-doing the interior is another.) That said, the nicest room in the house is the extension; it’s no coincidence that the extension is new and modern inside and out.
I don’t like the plywood. I’ve seen plywood used successfully, but in this case it just makes that part of the interior seem unfinished.
The exposed floor structure — which on the main floor is exposed ceiling — is also not great. I suppose it looks OK, but whenever I’ve been in a place with that kind of ceiling there has been zero soundproofing between floors. If you’re going to live in a very expensive renovated house, the least you should expect is to not hear every thump-thump-thump of the people upstairs (even if they’re your own kids).
That black kitchen. No. Just no. Light and visibility is very important in a kitchen. Not only for that warm and fuzzy “homeyness” but also so you can see WTF you’re doing when you’re cooking.
Love the breakfast bar (if only the counter top were not black.)
The address is 4705 Berri.
DeWolf
I love the extension. I like the way the metallic cladding reflects the light, and the sheltered space underneath is interesting. But the interiors are cold and uninviting. The whole vibe is more office than home.
I can understand why you’d want to gut the interiors and build something more modern, though. A lot of Montreal apartments have very little vintage charm left, just crooked floors and ten layers of lead paint on whatever woodwork hasn’t been stripped out or massacred.
As for modernist interventions in a historic setting, I think thoughtful contrast is always better than imitation. We aren’t in the 1910s anymore and if you try to build something that looks just like its century-old neighbours, it’s going to look like it got lost on its way to Disneyland.
qatzelok
The metallic cladding is a nice reference to the sheds that normally resided behind many plexes.
The black kitchen is design-over-function.
GC
Calling Berri a “short street” is laughable. I don’t expect the writer to be in Montreal, but couldn’t they spend the five seconds to look at a Google map?
Kate
Blork, is there a breakfast bar? I can’t see one, but maybe it’s black on black.
qatzelok, you have a point re metal-clad sheds. There are still some of those around.
Blork
The large kitchen counter has a row of seats on the far side (closest to the dining table). I assume that’s what’s meant by “breakfast bar…”
Blork
I just looked again. The counter is designed to accommodate seats, but there are no seats in the photos.
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Kate
CBC has been running a lot of pieces around the Black History Month theme. Black Changemakers profiles active people doing all kinds of things around Montreal. I haven’t linked one each day because they’re features, not news; presumably CBC will keep running more till the end of the month.
CTV also has some features on the theme including the first Black player in the CFL (1946!), and the story of Fred Christie, a Black Montrealer who was denied service in a tavern in 1936, and took the discrimination to the Supreme Court, where he was stood up by a ruling that a private business had the right to serve whomever it pleased. This item mentions a 1975 ruling in Quebec that contravened that principle, but doesn’t expand on it. Possibly they mean the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was passed that year.
There’s also some coverage of an upcoming CBC series, The Porter, about the lives of Black railway workers in Montreal a century ago.
Uatu 19:03 on 2022-02-21 Permalink
So 6mos. to move to Toronto. Ok.