The city has given a $2M subsidy to local papers to keep them afloat, although a mention of the impending ban on the Publisac suggests the payment is to offset costs to distribute by some other means. (And then there’s the Transcontinental pilot project to use Canada Post, which isn’t mentioned here.)
I’d also like to see a list of the papers, but it’s not here.
La Presse spells it out that the payment is to help offset losses from the Publisac ban.
CDPQ Infra is now making excuses why the REM won’t be opening on time: the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation, supply chain issues, the labour shortage and complications in the Mount Royal Tunnel.
Bees, the colour yellow, petrichor, Taylor Swift’s new album, and leather.
Actual LOL.
The British prime minister resigning, wildfires, any election anywhere in the world, the health system.
Three comments in and nobody has mentioned the real reason (for anything in Quebec): language.
(I bet the build instructions were in English, provided by the factory in India that made the trains.)
mare, I wonder sometimes how much effort and funding in Quebec quietly goes into translating software and manuals, mistakes resulting from bad translations, and general breaks in communication caused by language difficulties. It won’t turn up as such on any accounting sheet, though.
Also, with Bill 96, how much will go unnecessarily into providing French versions of software and manuals. I have heard, although not sure how true, that one reason Quebec hasn’t had the sort of online medical records Ontario has had for years is because the software is not available in French.
It’s probably in the budget and considered the cost of doing business. I’m sure there’s at least one English speaker who has to deal with the outside world (my aunt was the one in her workplace). I’m actually glad it’s postponed until spring. Better to work out the kinks in good weather than snow storms.
Maybe I missed it, but it didn’t seem clear from those articles who will be absorbing the costs of the budget overruns. Was it in the contract that the CDPQ has to pay for these?
Things to do this weekend: CTV, Daily Hive, City Crunch, CultMTL, and we have a retour du beau temps for it all.
And now the driving troubles.
Cycle crossings of the Jacques‑Cartier have been rising while those on the Samuel‑de‑Champlain have declined.
Rode out to Ste-Catherine via the estacade/ice bridge and back last Sunday afternoon, a near-ideal warm and virtually windless day. Found it strange that we encountered only two other cyclists when biking southward and one coming back.
I wonder if that pattern is because the JC is seen as more of a (bike) commuter bridge than is the SdC. Obviously both are used for leisure cycling, but I suspect that people inclined to bike to work are more likely to live in Longueuil or St-Lambert than Brossard and beyond.
Also, the ride across the JC SEEMS more direct, even if it isn’t necessarily much shorter. For example, once you’re across the bridge you already feel like you’ve arrived somewhere; you’re right in the city and not far from downtown and the stuff around CBC/RadCan (that area has a LOT of TV/media production companies, and I swear 80% of people who work in TV live in Longueuil). It’s also close to the Plateau and whatnot.
Compare that with the SdC. When you land on the other side you’re still caught up in a tangle of autoroutes and other busy roads, then it’s a long slog to downtown, much of it on streets that either have no bike path or not very good ones (vs. the de Maisonneuve path, which is like an autoroute for bikes).
As an island resident, JC also seems more direct when heading to the south shore. Champlain drops you on a bike path that you have to do some gymnastics to get off of and into actual civilization, whereas JS drops you onto a fairly normal suburban street.
JC is a very scary narrow bike path with pedestrians, Bixi-ing tourists and fast eBikes. Its a miracle there aren’t many accidents each day. The barriers to lower the speed don’t help and are hard to navigate (try it with a kids trailer!). The entry and exit from Île Ste-Hélène is super dangerous with stop signs and a sign that says that cars have priority, even though they also have a stop sign. Always very confusing, with cars waving you trough but then an exiting car doesn’t stop.
The Mercier Bridge bike path only goes halfway the bridge (the federal part) because Quebec doesn’t think it’s important. So there is no bike path, even though going at bike speed would often be faster than the cars are driving… 🙁
@mare: I had to see that bikepath stopping halfway over the Mercier with my own eyes but I can’t find it on google streeview, can you share a link?
@MarcG it’s behind a concrete barrier and the Streetview car was in the wrong, leftmost, lane. It’s at the west side, also obvious because the anti-suicide fence. But you can see the actual path when you ‘drive’ southwards near where the 138 splits, and you see the overhead signs for St-Constant and Chateauguay. The streetview car changed lanes and you can do a 180 and look back and see it bend outwards when the bridge span starts. You could then ‘drive’ backwards and see the fence disappear when the St-Lawrence part of the bridge starts.
Thanks, mare. For anyone else who wants to see this idiocy, here ya go https://goo.gl/maps/KEZ82c1fYaYTzNuBA
If you go to the other end of that half-bike path you see that it just starts out of nothing. No bike path leading up to it. There are stairs that go off to the side, but they just go down and under the bridge and come up on the other side (apparently; if you “drive” around in Streetview at least that’s what it looks like).
Champlain path will be much more popular when the nuns island station opens up. It’s right at the foot of the bridge and makes it super easy to enjoy the walk.
I’ve ridden on the bridge from Brossard and it’s really isolated. Even if you drive over its 15 mins from the closest lot to the bridge itself.
A new plan to fly people between Montreal and Sherbrooke is described here in almost entirely laudatory terms, including the headline – under 30 minutes! – except for a brief coda in which two Sherbrooke councillors express environmental concerns.
Expanding Quebec transport by plane, right now, is a bad plan, unless you’re going so far north that it’s the only option. There’s no Via Rail stop in Sherbrooke – that’s not good – but there are a lot of bus departures, both from downtown and from Longueuil metro. If what they need is a bus from Sherbrooke to Trudeau airport, that’s got to be doable. But why no train?
There is talk of a train, but it may be a long time coming.
https://www.latribune.ca/2022/08/15/train-montreal-sherbrooke-boston–la-mobilisation-reprend-a-toute-vapeur-4b2b149737cea14e3454ac1ebb99d99b
In the meantime, travellers wanting a direct lift to Trudeau Aiport from the Townships, can take a shuttle. https://aeronavette.ca/en/home/
I wasn’t even thinking about the airport when I was doubting there were many people who wanted to take a train from Sherbrooke to Montreal every day. That definitely makes the train seem more viable, but still not in the 2000 passengers a day that proposal cited.
That said, if people are coming all the way from Sherbrooke to go to the airport then that adds to my perspnal argument that the St-Hubert airport should be opened up to more regional flights (meaning: main carrier flights to Toronto, Halifax, etc.). So stick in a train from Sherbrooke to Montreal that has a stop at St-Hubert airport. Imagine how many people in Montegregie and Eastern Townships fly to those cities every day, and imagine they did NOT have to cross a bridge!
I guess the idea is that folks living in the townships who are headed on vacation or for business travel would prefer to start their air journey in Sherbrooke to connect in Montreal rather than drive to Trudeau. There’s some sense in wanting to check-in, clear security, etc., at a smaller airport, but it’s hard to imagine the schedules would regularly line up such that it would be much quicker to depart from Sherbrooke than to drive to Montreal – leaving aside the concerns related to GHG emissions, public subsidies, etc. I assume the ultra-rich are already using private planes, helicopters, etc., to get to their township estates.
Joey, it’s also about avoiding the uncertainty of having to drive all the way to Montreal, then cross a bridge and get through traffic. Since traffic into the city is unpredictable, it makes scheduling tricky. Even for someone like me, just coming from Longueuil, it can be stressful to take a morning flight because of the risk of running late when the normally 25-minute drive becomes two hours because of traffic jams.
We need electric trains and on a national rail route, not shared. And we need them NOW. We need to build a system of public transit to rival no other… all electric and FAST. If this means that we need to bring in Chinese companies to build it, then so be it… 250km/h to 350km/h. Montreal to Toronto in about 2 hours. Shorter distances take longer, because of the stops… but Sherbrooke to Montreal should be doable in 1 hour or less. Quebec city in less than 90 minutes.
Does a Montreal-Sherbrooke train need to rely on extending the route down into the United States?
@Kate: no way. The time cost of extending it into the US (i.e, the added duration of the ride) vs. the small number of people it would add makes that a non-starter. If it was extended all the way to Burlington (a few more potential passengers) then it’s a whole other project. Train from Montreal to Sherbrooke via Burlington is the antithesis of “rapid.”
@Kate – the route is currently part of the Central Maine and Quebec Railway https://www.cmqrailway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CMQ_Map_20190129B.pdf for the map. The route for Sherbrooke heads down to Bangor, definitely NOT a central corridor. The route that goes to NYC with Amtrak actually goes through Rouses Point for both the Adirondack or the Vermonter (the Vermonter stops in St. Albans now).
The Adirondack hasn’t run since it was shut down for the pandemic.
I was looking at Amtrak routes for a family member last week, the closest you can get to Mtl is St. Alban’s Vt.
After Amtrak (long ago) cancelled the Montreal segment of the Vermonter, they did provide chartered bus service to St-Albans and back. The southbound bus left Central Station at some ungodly hour (like 5:30 a.m.) and then took about a couple of hours to get to the train.
You then faced the prospect of a 15 or 16-hour train trip to DC (usually longer though — I remember getting off at the Baltimore airport station shortly after 1 a.m.) but at least had the advantage of being able to choose just about any seat. Scenery was great too.
IIRC the northbound train left DC’s Union Station shortly after 6 a.m. Improvements to the track have shortened the travel time a little and allowed for more reasonable departures.
The Centre des mémoires montréalaises, meant to open at the corner of Ste‑Catherine and the Main as a replacement for the history museum on Youville Square, was supposed to open this year, but the opening has been delayed, and it’s blamed on the pandemic.
How’s that food court doing downstairs, anyone know?
It’s busy most of the times I pass through. It’s more affordable than the Time Out Market and the location makes it a good spot to eat during festival season. I sometimes go for the pizza al taglio at Morso (three slices for $11!) or the pav bhaji at Le Super Qualité.
Billy 07:21 on 2022-10-22 Permalink
They have not given it out yet. These are the criteria.
Kate 07:47 on 2022-10-22 Permalink
Thank you, Billy.