Updates from April, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 14:52 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

    Quebec plans to demand an inquiry into the fire on Place Youville, echoing a demand Monday from Ensemble.

     
    • shawn 17:36 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      And Legault no doubt will try to shift the maximum amount of blame onto Plante and Projet Montréal?

    • Kate 19:05 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      I wondered about that too. Legault does seem to be signalling more support for Ensemble than for Projet.

      I wonder too what the overlap is between CAQ voters and Ensemble voters…

    • Ian 08:47 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      I doubt they get that granular, it’s enough to see that PM is in power on a municipal level and most of the island isn’t controlled CAQ on a provincial level.
      We don’t need to do overlays of voter intentions to determine emergent properties, it’s pretty obvious.
      I’m sure that CAQ didn’t even win Ste-Anne rankles, being Legault’s hometown and all.

    • shawn 10:26 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      I agree with Ian.

      I also believe that Legault hates her, as a powerful woman and a “woke” political leader. And weakening her and Projet Montreal weakens Montreal, which I would argue has been a goal of CAQ.

  • Kate 11:40 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

    A few American media sources are mildly excited about the Adirondack train which resumed its daily run between Montreal and New York on Tuesday.

     
    • EmilyG 13:06 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      I’ve enjoyed taking that train from Montreal to New York City and back. Though I wouldn’t want to spend all those hours on a train during a pandemic, I might like to take that train again someday.

    • Janet 14:18 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      Ha! We drove under it today just as it was about to cross the Victoria Bridge.

    • Kate 14:59 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      The trick is to be on the left side of the train going south, and the right going north, so that you get the view out over Lake Champlain. I remember one rainy foggy day when the view looked like a Japanese screen, little islands half in view out of the mist. Very nice.

    • carswell 16:34 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      You’re right about the northern half of the trip, Kate, but I also try to be on the other side (the west side) of the train between Schenectady and NYC for the best view of the Hudson.

      Another tip, this one for bird watchers: sit in the first car behind the engine. You’ll see a lot of birds the engine scares and that’ll quickly be out of sight.

      Also, on the trip back, go to one of the city’s food emporia and buy the makings of a picnic lunch. Beats the food available on the train. Unfortunately, US customs can have issues with Canadian food when you pack a lunch for the trip south.

    • CE 16:40 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      I’ve taken that train quite a few times and it’s really nice. I usually leave my seat as soon as they’ve checked the tickets and make my way to the club car. I don’t remember where I read it but it’s often considered one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. I’m really glad it’s running again (I was afraid Amtrak would unceremoniously kill the route) and will probably take it to New York very soon.

    • Kate 19:07 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      It’s a damn long trip, though. One of those articles says 10 hours, but I’ve known it to be closer to 12.

    • EmilyG 20:44 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      Yeah, it’s more like 12 hours with the time it takes for everyone to go through customs.

    • CE 20:47 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      I’ve done it in 10 hours but 11 or 12 isn’t unusual. Take a few books and some snacks.

    • CE 20:49 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      I think it could be quite a popular train if they did an overnight run with some sleeper cars. Imagine you leave at 7pm, go to bed after customs and wake up in New York at 7 or 8 am. You’d be ready for the day in New York with a full night of sleep and wouldn’t have lost any time to travel.

    • Kate 22:04 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

      CE, it used to run overnight. I don’t remember whether they had 2 departures every 24 hours or if it only ran at night, but I recall getting in to Penn Station in that gray gritty light that New York has in the early morning.

      I don’t remember whether there were sleeper cars, because I wouldn’t have been paying for one.

    • carswell 00:32 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      The night service was the Montrealer, which went through Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. It did indeed have sleepers and, if you were on the left side of the train (heading south), you’d get a grey, gritty view of Manhattan over the Long Island Sound as you woke up. At the time, the Adirondack deposited you in Grand Central Station, a far classier entrance to the city.

    • Kate 17:29 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      carswell, did you ever take a sleeper?

      I wish I had now, although it wouldn’t quite be the Orient Express.

    • carswell 19:23 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      Yes, once. Heading south. Forgettable food but comfortable for sleeping and fun. And it was interesting to arrive in NY well rested at the crack of dawn. On my trip, the weather was pleasant, so I decided to walk the quiet streets to my destination, surprised at one point by a blaze of colour, cloud of fragrance and hive of activity, a block of wholesale florists receiving and dispatching the day’s shipments all in the open air.

      For a while, you could take a 5:30 a.m. bus from Gare centrale to St. Albans to catch the Vermonter and then rail it all the way to D.C. Now that was a long trip (17-18 hours to Union Station IIRC).

      My best-ever train trip toward NYC was my first on the Adirondack, in the mid-1970s, just before it was taken over by Amtrak. Our train was run by Delaware & Hudson and had an actual dining car, so not only did you get the view of Lake Champlain scrolling past, you got it while sitting at a cloth-covered table set with quality ware and a cut-glass vase with a rose, ordering from a waiter, eating a cooked-to-order meal (we had steak grilled rare) and sipping a respectable wine, uncorked at the table, from a real wine glass.

    • CE 20:58 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      I once took the Adirondack to NY then transferred to the Crescent and rode it the full route to New Orleans. It worked out to about 39 hours. I stayed in New Orleans for about a month and when I got back on, the conductor recognized me asked me if I was the guy who rode it from New York a few weeks ago. When I told him I came by Amtrak from Montreal, he couldn’t believe it. He told me that it’s pretty rare for someone to do the entire route (it becomes a real milk run sometime after Charlotte and lots of people get on and off at small towns along the way).

      The Crescent has a dining car with a Southern kitchen. I had dinner on the trip back and it was very good.

  • Kate 11:38 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

    Programming for the Jazz Festival has been unveiled and is all over the media on Tuesday morning. The festival runs from June 29 to July 8.

     
    • Orr 14:08 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      Looking forward to seeing the Burning BRASs and Kingfish.

    • EmilyG 14:35 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

      I have a friend in Burning BRASs.

  • Kate 11:26 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

    A man was badly beaten and left for dead Tuesday morning in the back lot of a business in St‑Laurent.

     
    • Kate 09:15 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

      A freezing rain warning is up for Wednesday.

       
      • Kate 08:45 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

        The city’s biggest education group, the CSSDM, is beset by many problems, finding and keeping workers for starters.

         
        • jeather 09:48 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          Interesting detail distinguishing how we need to stop equating “first language spoken” and “language spoken at home”: Le document du CSSDM note que près de la moitié de ses élèves (47 %) ont comme langue maternelle une autre langue que le français. À la maison, 30 % d’entre eux ne parlent pas le français avec leurs parents.

        • Meezly 11:07 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          Here’s a radical thought: if the CAQ really wanted to protect French language and culture, wouldn’t the best way is to properly invest in public education for the province’s largest city?

          Oh, but wait, the CAQ are kinda of neoliberal when it comes to public education… oh, and they don’t care much for Montreal either… and since half of Montreal students are allophones, what’s the point in investing in the CSSDM and making sure school buildings are safe…? Right. So here we are.

        • jeather 11:34 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          They don’t really have to, because families that can afford it can and do opt out (to private schools which teach a lot more English than public), and everyone else has no option.

        • Kate 15:12 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          The item does say that more than 30% of the CSSDM’s grade school students went off to private high schools. I knew some did, but I didn’t think it was as many as a third.

        • Meezly 21:54 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          Quebec (not just Montreal) has a three-tier education system that is known as the most inequitable in Canada, and that no one seems to be the least bit interested in abolishing.

      • Kate 08:35 on 2023-04-04 Permalink | Reply  

        The city had an ambitious plan to replace all its lead water pipes by 2032, but has fallen behind.

         
        • MtlWeb 17:27 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          Parent’s place in PX is affected; they visited last summer and sent my Mom and Brita pitcher and some filters.

        • Kate 19:09 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          She actually got it? I’d heard they were taking their time even providing pitchers.

        • Chris 20:43 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          MtlWeb, are you using the term “Brita” generically, like “Kleenex”? Because Brita filters don’t filter lead (hardly). The City is giving the much better brand Zero Water.

        • maggie rose 21:55 on 2023-04-04 Permalink

          Chris, the Brita Elite filter takes out lead. It’s pricier than their regular ones, but lasts longer. They say 6 months, but I replace after 4. I looked into Zero, but something put me off about them.

        • dhomas 05:24 on 2023-04-05 Permalink

          My mother-in-law got the Zero Water pitcher with 3 extra filters last year. They gave it very quickly and I believe also have coupons for future filter purchases.
          Maybe they’re running out now? Because it was super fast for my MIL.

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