Updates from November, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 19:21 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

    A good piece on La Presse looks at three false ideas held by the CAQ government about the funding of public transit. Item #3 is simply “Montreal is a problem.”

    “Public transport is not an expense like any other. Public transport users provide a service to the government, not the other way around.”

     
    • Orr 11:14 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

      If you can’t use your power to somehow hurt Montreal, are you really the party in power in Quebec?
      Asking for a friend.

  • Kate 16:44 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

    Faced with the tuition hikes for out‑of‑province students, McGill may have to abolish 700 positions, and it may mean the end of some faculties, school sports teams, and infrastructure projects.

     
    • Tim S. 17:39 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      There’s got to be a tipping point for Legault somewhere. You’d hope he couldn’t shortchange 420,000 public sector workers, slash public transit funding, destroy a flagship university, all at once, and keep people distracted forever by complaining that teenagers are listening to too much foreign music on Spotify. Can he?

    • Kevin 17:43 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      Tim S.
      You may be underestimating the antipathy Quebecers have for Montreal, non-francophones, and anyone and anything perceived as a tall poppy.

    • qatzelok 19:23 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      I don’t see how a hike in tuition will affect an Ivy League university like McGill. Concordia, yes. But do you really think McGill will have a hard time finding people willing to pay 20 grand to attend?

      Also…more locals will get accepted because of this, and this IS a local blog.

    • jeather 19:31 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      The problem isn’t undergrads — qatzelok is quite right that there will be no shortage of international students who still find it a good deal (though that doesn’t mean specific departments won’t be hurt) — it’s grad students and postdocs, which will eventually hurt the status enough that there will be a shortage.

    • Ian 19:45 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      The thing is, for stuff like Sciences McGill really is an international draw. Humanities and Arts, not so much.
      Concordia is a draw for Humanities and Arts – but at double the tuition? nope. Fine Arts will probably be OK since most of the studetns are Dawson grads but Creative Writing will suffer a lot.

      Sure it will be easier for locals to get into university but let’s be real, part of what makes a university program excellent isn’t just the institution or its faculty – it’s the people you will get to study alongside.

      Are there enough motivated Anglo music students in Montreal to keep the Music program going at McGill despite half the students not showing up? We’ll have to wait and see.

      Anyway if this means more Americans coming to McGill you’ll see the exact opposite of Legault’s intent. Despite polluting their air with their foul Anglo words, at least Canadian students give a fliegende fick about Quebec culture.

    • Kevin 21:02 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      qatzelok
      Fewer students.

      “We are increasing the tuition fees so there will be a drop (in enrolment) at Concordia, Bishop’s (and) McGill but, obviously, this is a choice that we’ve made” -Pascale Dery, Friday Oct. 13

    • Tim S. 21:57 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      It’s also about entering grades: McGill can be very choosy about which Canadian students to accept, which boosts their entering average, which boosts their ranking which in turn drives applications, and so on. Similar logic for faculty, research funding etc. Yes, it’s a bit of a circular racket, but the important thing is that McGill is now on top of that cycle, which benefits the local students who go, anglo and franco. If (when) this cycle breaks down, it’ll be very hard to get back. Once McGill slips in rankings, the Americans will stop coming, and the downward cycle will accelerate.

    • Kevin 09:41 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Ian
      Internal emails from McGill say the Music program will likely shut down, as will Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Education, and more.

    • CE 10:58 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      I’m sure this will affect the francophone universities as well. There is a lot of collaboration between researchers in different institutions and losing departments at McGill, Concordia, and Bishops will mean fewer resources for everyone. That’s not something additional funding coming from the higher tuition rates will be able to fix.

      Ian is right, there are lots of students conjugating irregular verbs across Canada right this moment with the hopes of studying here. I came to Montreal with limited French that I learnt in school but with time, I became fluent which means one more French speaker in Quebec and one less English speaker in the ROC.

    • MarcG 11:17 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Maybe this is actually anti-intellectualism/anti-science/anti-woke dressed up as anti-English.

    • MarcG 11:22 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      … or they see it as two-birds-with-one-stone.

    • Ian 15:01 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Kevin
      This Gazette article says the same.

      I did an MEd at McGill and now teach at their old education campus in Ste Anne. Sigh.

      https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mcgill-says-quebec-tuition-hikes-could-cost-it-up-to-94m-lead-to-700-job-cuts

    • EmilyG 17:51 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      I studied music at McGill and I really, really hope the music program won’t be shut down.

    • Orr 23:10 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Well on the plus side at least now many more people know about Bishop’s University.
      And now more of the francophone media know how to spell the name in french (still with the ‘s)

    • JaneyB 12:58 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

      These cuts will indirectly hurt the better Franco universities eg: UdeM, Ecole Polytechnique, and HEC. The Franco universities can draw their faculty to live here in part because of the promise of collaboration with McGill researchers, Schulich, the Jewish General, and the Glen. Attacks on McGill will reverberate throughout the university networks of every language. Legault clearly does not know how academic circles work.

    • EmilyG 21:12 on 2023-11-05 Permalink

  • Kate 16:39 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

    TVA has just announced the layoff of more than 500 employees, almost a third of its workforce, as of next February.

     
    • Kevin 16:50 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

      PKP must secretly be an anglo.

  • Kate 16:36 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

    Lots of sordid details here about Future Electronics’ Robert Miller and his alleged sexual exploitation of underage girls, collected during a class action suit.

     
    • Kate 10:01 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

      Quebec firms are hiding billions in profits in Luxembourg to avoid tax. If you’re wondering why there’s no money for public transit and no money for health care and no money for social housing, there’s your answer.

      And it’s all perfectly legal.

       
      • steph 10:51 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

        It’s perfectly legal to name, shame, and boycott these places too. Consumers need to stop frequenting these places.

      • Ian 11:23 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

        Not surprised to see PornHub, er, Mindgeek in there … but Couche-Tard? Reading up on them I see they really are quite the multinational conglomerate now, I had no idea.

      • Orr 12:56 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

        Protecting corporate income from taxation is a major industry.
        Very well-paid too, so if you have no morality and you’re looking for a career path for you or your kin…

      • DeWolf 14:22 on 2023-11-02 Permalink

        @Ian It really is huge, nearly 15,000 stores around the world. And in 2022 they were on the verge of taking over Carrefour (!) but it was blocked by the French government.

    • Kate 09:58 on 2023-11-02 Permalink | Reply  

      La Presse has looked into how long it takes to get a construction permit in various boroughs.

       
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