CDPQ Infra has announced that a REM train has crossed the new Champlain bridge for the first time.
Updates from July, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The tunnel-boring machine called Alice has reached the end of the line delving a route to the airport for the REM – but not a further 700m to the Dorval train station. Good photos of the same journalist junket from Le Devoir.
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Kate
Few who read this blog seem likely to consider voting for the Conservative Party of Quebec, but nonetheless, the party has been rising in the polls (driven, I suspect, by the lack of strong competition to the CAQ by either of the traditional parties).
However, this Twitter thread by Jonathan Montpetit is good reading because he shows just how wacky a right‑wing party it is, fostering conspiracy theories and misinformation about Covid.
H. John
I thought Montpetit’s thread was interesting; but, I wondered if anyone has done a deep dive into the social media of the other parties, especially the CAQ.
Ephraim
I’m just interested in one thing… the letter A from the CAQ. What is their plan for the future. These political parties talk and talk and talk… but there is only one way to get my vote, show me the future of what my life will be like in 4 years if I give you my vote… show me YOUR future vision for me
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Kate
The SPVM has had mental health workers in its ranks for ten years – but only two “cop and social worker” teams are available per shift on the entire island, so the claim that this is changing all of police culture in Montreal is a bit hefty.
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Kate
The latest Covid version, BA.4 and BA.5, take their time to show up on tests.
Ephraim
We were told, in spite of the instructions in the box, you swab both cheeks well and then you insert the swab into both nostrils deep… and then the rapid test is more effective.
But aren’t the kits the same all over Quebec? I’ve never seen a kit other than the light green box we see at all the pharmacies.
Joey
@Ephraim same – plus the back of the throat. Haven’t been able to read something conclusive about why the tests take so long to come up positive.
mare
There are kits in Quebec with 25 and 50 tests, made by other brands. They’re only distributed to businesses, film shoots and schools.
jeleventybillionandone
At work, it seems that people are symptomatic but not testing positive until day 4 or 5.
Kate
And yet, they’re going to work while symptomatic?
blork
Loads of people going about their business while symptomatic and even after testing positive. Because the loudest messages these days is LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT and YOU HAVE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE.
I’m not just being snarky. I hear about this all the time (people going out or going to work while symptomatic).
dhomas
When the head of our provincial government says this, is it any surprise that people just go about their business?
My wife is a teacher and got COVID during the last days of school. Her administration told her that she would need to go into work until she presented a positive PCR test (which are still available for “essential” employees like teachers). At the end of the school year, most teachers have no sick days left (they have 6 total for the year), so people will go into work or not get paid, on top of the pressure they get from their administration. I suppose it’s similar or worse for other industries.
jeleventybilliionandone
@Kate no, at least in my department, they are teleworking until asymptomatic *and* have a negative covid rapid test.
Kate
Good.
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Kate
There were three separate shooting incidents overnight leaving one man dead and three seriously injured.
The killing took place in a car in Montreal West at 2 am, and arrests have been made. A second person was injured in this incident.
Shots were also taken at a bar in Lasalle, with no victims, and late Wednesday, two men were shot in Point St‑Charles.
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Kate
Christopher Curtis writes about a sports coach in Montreal North who goes all out to bring sports to young men at social risk. Curtis reminds us that the city and the province have poured millions into policing that part of town, while breaking a promise to build a sports complex. But the Nos jeunes à cœur group is moving ahead with mutual aid regardless.
My only question on reading this and looking at the site is: I wonder whether anyone’s doing anything similar for girls and young women in the area.
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Kate
Listening to the endless news about the Pope in Quebec City, I keep hearing “Plains of Abraham” – a name that has a sort of Old Testament solemnity about it.
The piece of land called “Plains of Abraham” is “likely named after Abraham Martin (also known as L’Écossais) (1589–1664), a fisherman and river pilot called The Scot.” (Wikipedia)
Brings it back to earth, doesn’t it?
Daniel D
There’s also the Heights of Abraham in the UK, which apparently takes its name from a resemblance to the one in Quebec: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_Abraham
Kate
Unusual to have a feature in England named after something in North America rather than vice versa!
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Kate
The rise of the seventh wave of Covid spoiled the mass return to the office – what a pity, I don’t think.
Update: The Santé Québec numbers were late on Wednesday but now 25 more deaths are on the board over the last day. The total for Montreal has not been updated in some time.
Blork
And of course the main reason we have a seventh wave is because people are idiots. As I’ve mentioned before, many people can’t seem to differentiate between “it is no longer required by law to wear a mask” and “there is no reason to wear a mask.”
There’s also the “freedom” contingent. (I hate that we live in a time when “freedom” is so strongly linked to irresponsibility and ignorance.)
And finally there’s the third lot: apparently many people don’t wear masks even though they wish the government would bring back the mask mandates. They say they feel “self conscious” wearing a mask when it isn’t legally required, to which I say “FFS where’s your sense of personal agency?”
So that’s three cohorts of non-maskers against the tiny holdouts of people like me who still wear a mask on the Metro and in non-ventilated public places.
Waves waves waves, never ending.
Daniel D
When I went through Montreal airport recently, they were insisting people wear masks when going through security. I saw multiple passengers complain at the security agents, even though they were providing free masks. The standard response from the agents seemed to be along the lines of “Blame the federal government” clearly implying they weren’t any happier about it than the passengers.
Take from this story what you will.
H. John
From Rima Elkouri’s column yesterday in La Presse:
Qu’en a pensé la Santé publique ? Pas grand-chose.
« Il semble y avoir une mauvaise compréhension qui suggérerait que la Santé publique ne recommande plus le port du masque. C’est faux », m’a répondu par courriel une porte-parole du ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.
« La Santé publique n’a jamais cessé de recommander le port du masque, plus particulièrement lorsque la distance avec les autres ne peut être observée et pour les personnes vulnérables. […] Nous croyons que les gens sensibilisés et informés sont en mesure de faire les bons choix pour leur santé et celle des autres. »
Je le crois aussi. Mais c’est bien là le problème, souligne la Dre Amélie Boisclair, intensiviste à l’hôpital Pierre-Le Gardeur, qui a applaudi la proposition du Dr Vadeboncœur. « Le message de la Santé publique ne passe pas. »MarcG
To give an idea of the simplicity of some people’s thinking, I spoke to my neighbour yesterday and she asked why my hobby rock band no longer plays music together in the garage. I told her because of Covid and her response was “Isn’t it better now? I’m back at the office and nobody is wearing masks”.
MarcG
SMD
Blork
Regarding the Rima Elkouri article:
“Nous croyons que les gens sensibilisés et informés sont en mesure de faire les bons choix…”
That’s the problem right there. “Les gens sensibilisés et informés.” Educated and informed people. That creates a matrix of four cohorts:
Educated/Informed | Educated/Uninformed
Uneducated/Informed | Uneducated/UninformedHalf of those cohorts are uninformed. Of course we have no idea how large each cohort is, so this isn’t a useful exercise. I would even remove “educated” since I’m not sure it has the same meaning in English as in the original French, and anyone who lacks the interest or the intellectual ability to understand what they are being informed of are essentially uninformed.
So really, we have three cohorts:
The informed.
The uninformed.
The misinformed.That third one is tricky, because it’s really a subset of the uninformed, but since the misinformed THINK they are informed, they deserve their own cohort.
So now the question is “what is the distribution of the population across these three cohorts?”
I would say by far the largest is the MISINFORMED. They’re misinformed because they’re getting their info from idiot relatives, cab drivers, social media, and shitty mainstream media (which is not just the extreme right-wing media; most mainstream media does a really poor job of getting out accurate messaging about mask wearing).
They’re also misinformed because many of them lack the intellectual rigour and clear-mindedness to think the issue through. This can be out of laziness, or lack of education in analytical methods and critical thinking, or because of deep set biases, or because they are just plain stupid.
The next largest cohort is the uninformed. To us folks who read and listen to the news and whatnot, it is shocking when we discovered the percentage of the population who never read, and never pay attention to any credible news source. Hint: it is not a small percentage.
And that brings us to the smallest cohort: the informed. And given the lack of clear messaging from the sources we turn to, it is no surprise that this is a small cohort given how difficult it is to get straight and consistent information.
So if the government says, as Elkouri reports, that “Nous croyons que les gens sensibilisés et informés sont en mesure de faire les bons choix pour leur santé et celle des autres.” Then the government should also admit that their policies and practices are geared towards a small minority. And maybe they should reconsider that.
qatzelok
@Blork: “And that brings us to the smallest cohort: the informed.”
To claim to know that the informed are but a small cohort, one must know all of the information yourself. Every last bit of it. Only then can one be in a position to know **who knows what.**
Without perfect knowledge, one can’t really make the claim that you did in the above quote.
(logic)
Michael
Blork
Most people are informed. 85% vaccinated. People just don’t care anymore.
7th wave, 8th wave, they move on with their lives as if it doesn’t exist. I don’t blame them.
Joey
The current dominant variants are estimated to be, what, twice as transmissible as the previous Omicron variants? Which were exponentially more transmissible than the original variant, and are right up there with Measles as the most transmissible viruses ever. But please go on again about how all the people catching COVID this summer are sTuPiDeR than you.
Kate
I do blame them because we still have to consider those at more risk than ourselves.
Blork
Joey, there’s a certain level of stupid when you collectively agree to remove your masks and remove other defenses AS THE VIRUS EVOLVES TO BECOME MORE CONTAGIOUS. Look at all those people on the Metro not wearing a mask. Hey, it’s more contagious than it was a year ago, so what should we do? TAKE OFF OUR MASKS! How is that not stupid?
Tim S.
I see it as more of a collective action problem than of individual intelligence or informed-ness. If I walk into a store and I’m the only one wearing a mask, nothing much is being accomplished except I’m slightly inconvenienced. My personal level of protection, outside of a N95 (which seem to be more expensive now than they were a few months ago), is pretty minimal as far as I understand it. For them to be effective, we need most people on board, which is why we have governments, who should be held responsible for this current mess.
Also, the people shouting/typing about their right to infect others. I blame them too. Not ordinary people trying to go with the flow.
Blork
Tim S. consider yourself misinformed. Mask wearing still works, even if you’re the only one wearing a mask.
One source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/01/does-it-help-wear-mask-if-no-one-else/621177/
Another: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/there-still-benefit-masking-when-youre-only-one
There are plenty of others.
Blork
And I wish everyone would read this article from September 2021. It’s about how to deal with peer pressure to remove your mask when you really don’t want to:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/still-wearing-a-mask/
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Kate
Maria Mourani has an important column Wednesday about the harsh treatment of foreign workers here in Quebec. Whole sectors of our economy are propped up by foreign workers, who are not treated as our equals. It’s a factor about which politicians (and everyone else) lives in denial.
Ephraim
Are foreign workers allowed to come if they can’t speak French within 6 months of arrival? Or is this the workd-around for the fact that we won’t have immigrants anymore?
Blork
It’s an important topic, but I’m not so sure this is an important article. Problems include:
No sources cited. There have been plenty of in-depth articles and reports written about this, but she doesn’t point to a single one.
No data cited. While it’s certain that some migrant workers suffer indignities and worse, what’s the percentage? Are 80% of migrant workers mistreated? 40%? 10%? 1%? By not giving a sense of the scope of the problem, it gives the impression to some that ALL migrant workers suffer like this, while it gives the impression to others that this is just pearl-clutching and hyperbole.
Which brings us to… hyperbole. It’s a bit much to invoke slavery. While there have been cases of migrant workers reduced to near slave-like conditions, this is (AFAIK) quite rare. Mistreatment of lesser types is not so rare, but by painting the whole industry as “SLAVERY!” it just throws the whole article’s credibility out the window.
One-sided. How about hearing from migrant workers? I’ve seen plenty of articles in the past about how many of these workers (mostly from Mexico and Central America) come back year after year because it’s decent (but hard) work, provides income for the families back home, provides a sense of community among the workers, and in general is way better than doing the same work in the US.
That last part is not meant to dismiss the legitimate issue of mistreatment of migrant workers, but this particular article does a poor job of putting a spotlight on it.
Kate
Blork, I cut her slack because the Journal isn’t Le Devoir. The word count on most of their stories is really short, and they don’t run to footnotes.
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Kate
The 24th International AIDS Conference is to open here Friday. The Gazette piece mentions that the weekend overlaps Pride, which runs from August 1‑7, and which will include Rapture, a performance that commemorates the many lost to AIDS.
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Kate
Quebec can expect more extreme weather as the planet heats up, but there’s some consolation for the city: its position in the river protects it to some extent.
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Kate
The SPVM is getting it out there that the’ve been trying to make friends in Montreal North. They were visiting parks along with agents from the Centre d’aide aux victimes d’actes criminels (CAVAC) – although, as Ted Rutland points out, police often deny victim support to shooting victims on the assumption they’re gang members.
mare
I’m not living in Montreal-North, but last weekend in our local park, I saw cops come out of their squad car and making efforts to *socialize*. They weren’t interviewing, and weren’t wearing gloves or had their notebooks out. I was amazed, they strayed away from their car, parked in the middle of a grassy area, for at least 25 meters, and for 10 minutes or so. They even kicked a soccer ball when a kid kicked it in their direction. Because of the way cops walk, with that self-important swagger, probably caused by the restricted movement of their body armour and a belt full of things to hurt people*, they never come over as very friendly though, whatever they say or do.
I noticed that bike cops, often in shorts, have a much friendlier posture. Maybe they should do the socializing in Montréal-Nord, and play the friendly next door neighbour.*How does one sit in a car all day with a full belt like that? Do they have special hollowed-out car seats? I can’t even stand a wallet in my back pocket.
SMD
Imagine all the good a coach like Jude-Alain Mathieu could do with even a fraction of that police budget. A lot more than strutting around in parks.
Kate
I had that story tabbed up to post, SMD!
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Kate
Montrealers have till Sunday to request a free treatment against the emerald ash borer if they hope to save their ash trees. Article has a link to the city site.
Kevin
I looked at that link and was thwarted by the demand for the legal representative of a non-existent board, accompanied by a copy of the board resolution naming that person as legal representative, and the demand for the name of the non-existent company that the website believes owns my home, as opposed to the reality that it’s just my wife and me.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Kate
That’s weird. Do they have your address mixed up with a condo building that would have a board?
Kevin
I think it’s just that I live in a duplex and the government seems to think that a small building with 2 units is run exactly the same way as a building with 10 or more owners.
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Kate
La Presse caught a good shot of the new downtown REV, showing motorbikes parked in it, and trucks moving across it. Although some are happy with the new path, running along Viger, St‑Jacques and St‑Antoine, it’s (predictably) also receiving some criticism.
j2
uh the sign says they can park there… well done VdM. And that must be just before the entry to the Centre de Commerce Mondial parking, so of course traffic will cross it.
Simon
Looks like there’s about to be some motorcycles toppled over.
I can’t believe the cowards building this REV didn’t even properly separate the path, as though we haven’t had enough lessons about how much protection a handful of flexible plastic posts offer.
DeWolf
I think part of the problem is the work is still not officially finished, meaning the REV is not officially open, something the city is extremely bad at communicating. It was similar when the REV St-Denis was under construction – there were several weeks of confusion thanks to half-finished installations and contradictory signage.
I really don’t understand the city’s reluctance to use hard barriers on paths like this, even if it’s a temporary arrangement. They already have some concrete barriers on Metcalfe just north of de Maisonneuve, so why not install them on Viger and St-Antoine to physically prevent cars from parking in the bike path?
Blork
Yeah, there’s a sign on the pole saying “No parking except for motorbikes” but presumably the motorbikes are supposed to park in the median, not right there on the bike path. Another example of clueless signage.
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