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• Kate 16:24 on 2022-04-27 Permalink | Reply  

  It’s all over the news Wednesday afternoon that François Legault insulted Pierre Arcand in the National Assembly. When Arcand rose to ask a question, Legault quipped Il n’est pas mort, lui?

  Arcand said he was shaken by the incident and Legault has had to apologize.

  Update: Curiously, when you Google for Arcand, the initial result info box comes up “Former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec” but Arcand is still member for Mont‑Royal–Outremont. He’s been an MNA since 2007, interim PLQ chief between 2018 and 2020.

   

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• Kate 07:55 on 2022-04-27 Permalink | Reply  

  I’m sure this issue won’t affect any of my usual readers, but there’s a warning that cocaine circulating in the city has been cut with dangerous chemicals commonly known as bath salts.

  Ian is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Ian 08:50 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Considering how often fentanyl has ben turning up in street drugs those little baggies are more and more of a crapshoot. Good thing we now have 24 hour bars to fulfill that need lol

• Kate 07:52 on 2022-04-27 Permalink | Reply  

  Dogs are to be allowed on public transit in a pilot project by the end of the year. The current rule says animals must be in a carrier except for guide dogs.

  Update: CBC radio says “the metro” but the text media above don’t make it entirely clear whether buses would also be included.

  Uatu, Tee Owe, Ian, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • carswell 08:19 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Am distressed to read this and suspect it will affect my usage of public transit and make me look into getting a car. At a minimum, muzzles and diapers should be mandatory. The animals should also be confined to the last car on trains.

    Aside from the anthropomorphizing “dogs are family members,” the most repeated justification for this awful change is that big dog owners shouldn’t be forced to use a car or taxi to transport their pets to the vet or dog run. BS. Those expenses — like food and vet bills — should be taken into account before deciding to have a big dog in the city. If you can’t afford to take a big dog to the vet in a taxi, you should choose a different breed.

    BTW, assuming I heard it correctly, CBC Daybreak reported that the animals would be allowed on the metro, not buses, which would at least provide an alternative for the dog-wary like me. I’m uneasy with the idea of being on the metro with them but terrified about encountering them on a bus.

  • Kate 08:36 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    carswell, I’ve updated the post. CBC radio is saying the metro, but the Metro link above says “dans le réseau de métro et d’autobus de la métropole” and TVA says “dans une partie de son réseau” so I suspect that aspect has not been made clear yet.

    I also hope dogs won’t be allowed on buses. Imagine how buses would smell after dogs are welcomed on board, especially on rainy days.

  • Uatu 10:46 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    I’m allergic to dogs. I’m wary of riding a crowded metro car or being stuck waiting on a platform with multiple dogs. I get that they’re considered family, but they will also give me an asthma attack so I’m kinda hoping it doesn’t go through or maybe I’ll just start driving again

  • Tee Owe 15:48 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    I am with Uatu on this. Many years ago I phoned a cab to take my cat to the vet. The cab driver was really unhappy that I had not announced this before I got in, because he had customers who might be allergic to cats. The cat was in a carrier, we got there, but he was right. Would not support that dogs (or cats) travel freely on public transport.

  • Kate 15:53 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Most times I’ve taken a cat to the vet it’s been in a carrier by taxi, and drivers have never complained. If anyone using a vehicle in the future might be allergic, therefore no one would be able to bring their cat or dog anywhere by taxi or bus, and that gets a bit difficult for pet owners without their own cars.

    I doubt having an animal in a taxi for 15 minutes makes the vehicle unlivable for all but the most freakishly allergic customers.

  • Ian 18:01 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    I’m not allergic to dogs or cats but unless it’s a seeing-eye dog or an animal being transported in a crate it doesn’t belong on public transit. I don’t want some dog sticking its nose in my crotch with the owner assuring me “oh don’t worry he’s friendly”. The potential for random cat vs dog fights in a crowded metro does have some comic appeal though so I say let’s go for it. Maybe we can send in some clowns to animate the scene.

  • Tee Owe 13:15 on 2022-04-28 Permalink

    I agree with you Kate, I also don’t see a major problem – my point was and should have been more clearly expressed, the cab driver was within his rights to be asked whether this was OK when I called him – bus and metro passengers don’t get that option.

  • Uatu 13:47 on 2022-04-28 Permalink

    Actually I can probably just wear an n95 mask now that mask wearing is no big deal.

• Kate 07:48 on 2022-04-27 Permalink | Reply  

  The Phi Centre, a private art gallery in Old Montreal, is adding a new venue called Phi Contemporain costing $80 million to build, including $27 million from government.

  (Le Devoir has started having ads that automatically play music or sound, so watch out for that.)

  Kate, mare, DeWolf, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Joey 08:42 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    True, it’s a private gallery, but it’s run by the Phi Foundation, which is not for profit. In that sense, I’m not sure how it’s fundamentally different from, say, the Contemporary Art Museum or the Museum of Fine Arts (though I’m not sure what kind of governance structure it features).

  • Kate 09:50 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Neither am I. A wealthy woman started Phi a decade ago, whereas the other museums were, I believe, begun by groups of people, but they’re all run by boards acting for foundations by now.

  • mare 09:51 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    @Joey The staff aren’t unionized government employees, for one thing. And the owner of the Phi Centre has veto power over the exhibitions (and anything else), which the owner of the other museums you mentioned (the government) thankfully does not.

    @Kate They don’t sell any art (apart from small items like books and clothing in the shop), so I wouldn’t call it ‘an art gallery in Old Montreal’, since it’s *very* different. You should go and check it out, they have good shows, and only charge an admission fee for some exhibitions.

  • Kate 10:14 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    mare, it’s not a museum though, so it’s a gallery. Unless we just call it a “space”?

    I’ve been in it. I wasn’t especially planning to visit, but I was meandering around Old Montreal at some point before the pandemic (the Phi website says it was mid-2019) and saw signs for an exhibit by Yoko Ono, so I went in and looked around. I was confirmed, more or less, in my jaundiced opinion that Yoko Ono is not all that, but I got a look at the existing “space” which was fine.

  • DeWolf 11:49 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Art gallery is a pretty broad term. My sense is that it usually refers to something quite small in scale, but there are actual museums that call themselves galleries (eg the Vancouver Art Gallery) even though it’s a bit of a misnomer (why would a gallery contain multiple galleries?).

    In this case the most accurate term would be kunsthalle: a museum without a collection.

  • DeWolf 12:01 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    Also, thanks to this news I just discovered there is an exhibition of Stan Douglas’ photography on now. I love his stuff so I’ll go check that out soon!

    The article in Le Devoir is a little confusing about the actual scope of the project. The new building will be located at St-Paul and Bonsecours, right across from the market, and it will include a new structure built on a vacant lot and the transformation of some existing historic buildings. (The international architectural competition required entrants to have experience in heritage conservation.) But it’s not clear what will happen to the existing Phi building at St-Paul/St-Pierre.

  • mare 19:51 on 2022-04-27 Permalink

    I quited ‘an art gallery in Old Montreal’, because that to me has a different ring to it. There are a lot of those, and a lot of them sell bad art to tourists, and they have someone sitting at a table who looks annoyed when I come in because it’s obvious I’m not a buyer.

  • Kate 14:05 on 2022-04-28 Permalink

    mare, I so know what you mean.

• Kate 07:18 on 2022-04-27 Permalink | Reply  

  Global looks into the complex preparations for Guy Lafleur’s national funeral to take place next week. They didn’t talk to the cathedral people, which would’ve been interesting, since this will be the highest profile Catholic mass here in a long time.