Police kept an eye on the funeral of Claudia Iacono on Wednesday, but that’s not unusual, since they usually surveil the weddings and funerals of people connected with the mob, photographing the attendees for future reference.
Updates from May, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Outremont borough distributed a flyer recently with suggestions for fighting climate change, and people are unhappy that one of its suggestions is to have fewer children.
It’s undoubtedly true that each kid you produce adds an environmental footprint, but for a long time it’s been nefas to suggest that people limit their ventures into reproduction.
Also, although this is not mentioned in the item, consider which families in Outremont tend to have a lot of kids.
dhomas
Without immigration, we have declining population in Quebec. I don’t think people in Quebec having fewer children is going to help climate change.
DavidH
I don’t remember any flyer or junk mail being part of our thought process when we considered having our kids.
steph
@ dhomas, a declining population would help climate change. Yes a declining population is bad for capitalism, but we need to start adopting sustainable models.
I’m happy these types of information are being shared. Even as a post-factum scandal, the digital flyer is being seen by more eyes. I consider the ‘thought process when we considered having our kids” is terribly distorted and biased. There’s a good reason that educated people have less children.
JaneyB
Population growth is at less than replacement throughout the rich countries. The problem is the consumption lifestyle that has emerged with globalization. Growing up in the 70s, I recall most families in Canada had 3-5 kids each. However, the overall carbon-use and even garbage generation was far, far less than it is right now, when people here have barely 2 kids if any. The consumer goods, the excess packaging, the international transport of goods and people, the precarity of work and constant demenagement, the social isolation, the light pollution, the commuting, the financialization of the economy into commodity speculation etc, etc, …these are the causes of our climate crises. The problem is not number of kids.
walkerp
The butthurt here is just infuriating. They get one outraged citizen who has too much time on their hands and who actually says “When you suggest that having one less child per family, [well] which of my kids is too much?” Yes, that’s right, Outremont is suggesting a program of euthanasia for families who have violated the new upcoming One Child to Save the Planet policy. Going to be difficult to choose which of your children have to go.
Stupidity + self-righteousness + what about the children’ism. And it gets an entire article and the borough actually reacts. Just nuts and depressing.Meezly
The article does lightly touch on it: “though the borough’s population represents 1.4 per cent of Montreal’s total population, Outremont is home to more children under the age of 14 than any other borough”
People with less education about birth control tend to have more children and for a non-Hasidic Outremonter who has probably never experienced religious or racial discrimination to take personal offense to the idea of having fewer kids and to suggest this can lead to discrimination is pretty rich. Like what exactly is she going to be discriminated from…?
As long as global capitalism keeps people poor and uninformed, esp. in countries that were exploited by colonialism. More and more people will be displaced by climate change and will need to emigrate to more stable countries. But rich countries only want educated and economically promising folks, even though population growth is at less than replacement throughout the rich countries, as JaneyB pointed out.
In the end, the flyers are working in that it’s creating a dialogue at least! And I agree with Barrington-Leigh’s points about not over-emphasizing the role of the individual in the fight against climate change, saying that it shifts the burden of responsibility and guilt away from larger players like fossil fuel companies.
“The solutions to collective action problems are through legislation, through changing the rules to changing incentives, not through berating people into feeling guilty”
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Kate
Some prominent folks are pleading for an east‑end REM, while the mayor asks for a clear explanation of the delays and cost overruns on the section of the REM that’s almost complete.
A regular reader drew my attention to this item in Policy Options saying that the proposed Pink Line would be fairer for more low‑income users than a REM de l’est, giving more people the physical mobility to get better kinds of jobs.
shawn
The Globe’s Konrad Yakabuski has a paywalled piece on the REM. Nothing that original for Montrealers, I think. Here’s a “gifted” link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/1dda01131f4a49b8b69490d42f979fedcc57bcbd0a1e3f8f16462de69a0c1127/PHAXA7O46FBL5PM3ASXC7S2JRQ/
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Kate
Possibly useful list of where to find public toilets downtown this summer.
Andrew
I wasn’t even sure where it was, but I might have to make a trip just to pee in the Maison Alcan bathroom
EmilyG
It’s a useful list, though I’m not sure if any of those places are open late at night.
JaneyB
@Andrew – oh my god. I must make a visit to that bathroom! Love the door lol.
DeWolf
The list only includes places that are part of the official network put together by the SDC, but it would be nice to have a truly comprehensive list of publicly accessible toilets and the hours they’re available. I’m sure we all have our mental maps.
The public pavilion at Esplanade Tranquille is a great addition downtown, not only because it’s a surprisingly beautiful place to hang out, but because it has two public washrooms that are open late into the evening.
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Kate
More news of weekend highway closures is sure to cause a ruckus, also more closure of the tunnel.
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Kate
La Presse summarizes the reactions to the news that Michael Sabia will be heading Hydro‑Quebec.
dhomas
This is very bad news, IMO. Isn’t this the guy who orchestrated the privatisation of CN? Is that who (and what) we want for Hydro-Quebec?
Kate
No, and every time anything is reported lately about Hydro, there’s a reminder that we USE TOO MUCH POWER and we’d BETTER CUT DOWN. We’re being softened up for something and it isn’t going to be fun.
DeWolf
The CAQ is clearly steering Hydro-Quebec away from its mission of providing affordable clean energy to Quebeckers so it can cash in on the booming demand for energy caused by electrification programs south of the border. Sabia is a businessman whose experience is in making money, not running a utility.
carsswell
I forget where I heard it (probably CBC One or ICI Première) but the interviewee (a prof?) made the case that Legault’s priority isn’t to hire someone with a background in the environment and energy transition fields but rather someone who will rubber-stamp his plan to build more dams and increase electricity sales to the US and other provinces. The environmentally unqualified Sabia fits the bill perfectly.
Not that it was needed but this is additional proof of how skeptical and hypocritical Legault and his party are of climate change.
If the US does indeed transition to renewables and especially if fusion ever becomes tamed and domesticated, Quebec may end up with several white elephants on its hands, not to mention a further-degraded environment.
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Kate
I’ve gone past this place often but never gone in: Vintage Parc, a sort of antique and junk shop on Park Avenue near St‑Joseph, has to close at the end of the summer because of renoviction.
Meezly
Sigh. That was part of the appeal of that section of Ave du Parc and beyond. Even with its proximity to Outremont, it was still very middle class and mixed use. What will replace it: another artisanal plant or pastry shop that nobody needs?
And all the divey bars have disappeared from that strip: the Buvette Chez Simone folks have taken over La Petite Idée-Fixe and Prime Time remains a burnt out boarded up husk.shawn
Am I correct that this was previously the location of Bibliomanie, a used bookstore that had also closed?
Kate
It may have been, although the article does say Vintage Parc has been open in that spot for 28 years.
I thought Bibliomanie had been further south, on the east side, at the corner of Villeneuve. It’s an odd spot, it was definitely a used bookstore for awhile – not sure it was Bibliomanie – then a dépanneur, then a patisserie. Not sure what it is now.
shawn
The Bibliomanie that I frequented was definitely on the west side of Parc… and at least nearby.
Kate
shawn, it turns out you’re right. Google dug up a list of bookstores from Usenet in 1994 including Bibliomanie (4872 av du Parc, 514-278-6401) and that’s the same address as Vintage Parc.
shawn
Yes I remember when it closed. I used to go in there a lot. The owner was sort of a local legend too but I have forgotten his name.
shawn
I think Bill Brownstein or someone did the obligatory Gazette piece on the closure, too.
Kate
I wondered why that book list sounded familiar. I submitted most of the Montreal section!
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Kate
A single tenant’s demands are blocking the redevelopment of the Da Giovanni block opposite Émilie‑Gamelin square.
Carla White is a hero to tenants everywhere.
Nicholas
Is it good, in a housing crisis, to block 176 housing units next to some of the best transit, bicycle and pedestrian access in the country? And she doesn’t want to move a few blocks east along with $20,000; she wants a penthouse for five years and $50,000? Sure, always look out for yourself, I guess I can’t complain, but even with these units likely being expensive, they’d help stop people getting displaced from the Village and Hochelaga by the higher income people who will move in here instead of there.
Kate
Some part of me is just happy to see a tenant refusing to be bullied.
Daniel
She’s lived there a decade. She’s seen what can happen to rents and the cost of living in a decade. They’ve offered her a pittance! I mean, the offers outlined in the article are lowballs of the worst sort. She would seem to hold all the cards. The developer is lucky she’s not asking for more.
John B
Daniel’s right, the amounts offered are very small for the size of the project. In my recent experience & conversations, cash for keys payments of $5k – $12k are relatively normal when renovating a plex. In this case 176 units are riding on convincing her to move, a $50k payment and some housing are simply the cost of doing business, I’m not sure why Mondev hasn’t already written a cheque.
However, it sounds like there’s a hearing at the TAL in June, I think the standard that the TAL orders is 3 months rent, so Mondev may have decided the costs of delaying by a month are less than what she’s asking – assuming they win.
dhomas
Seriously, Mondev? Assume a build cost of 100k per unit (I think this is actually conservative). Times 176 units. That’s 17.6 million dollars to build this development. And they can’t afford an extra 50k for Ms White? Fuck ’em. I hope she gets even more.
mare
It sets a precedent. I’m sure other developers ‘told’ Mondev to use the official channels. When I had a hearing at the Regie (now TAL) I saw tenants go into a room all by themselves and then the (corporate) landlord barged in with three lawyers in expensive suits in tow.
The whole holding out until the end reminds me a bit of Ben’s Delicatessen who refused to sell, and then they tried to declare it a heritage site. So they started building around it. When they eventually did permission to demolish it, and there’s a weird alleyway between the buildings on the higher floors.
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