Updates from November, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 21:02 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

    Bill Brownstein starts this column about the razing of Goose Village with a mistake. Goose Village was adjacent to Point St Charles, but it wasn’t considered part of it. I had this information from my mother, who was born in the Point and was categorical about the boundaries between the Point, Griffintown, Goose Village and Saint‑Henri – and the class shadings among the areas, too.

    Anyway, a professor has written a book about Goose Village, where some of her forebears lived.

    In case the Gazette paywall clamps down, here’s an archived version.

     
  • Kate 18:50 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

    La Presse interviewed Mayor Plante this week, essentially concluding that she has the right aims but not the means to get them done.

    Update: Further description from La Presse about the interview.

     
    • Ian 19:55 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Projet has always been super good at virtue-signalling then passing the buck.

      I’ve never understood what the point is of voting for politicians that make extravagant plans they know they don’t have the power to enact. Maybe it’s because I’m an anglo that grew up in a largely protestant culture, but I don’t care about the condition of your soul, I care about your works.

    • Kate 20:46 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

      Politicians have to embody the aspirations of their voters, even when cooler heads know some of the ideas are not realistic. This is what charisma is about.

      Nobody would get elected if they sat there in a gray suit saying “Healthcare, can’t afford it. Transit, can’t afford it. Old people need to die and make room for productive workers. Vote for me. Good night.”

    • GC 11:01 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

      I thought that was Legault’s platform 😉

    • Meezly 11:05 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

      Voting has almost always been about the lesser evil. Would our city be better or worse off under another Tremblay reign? For a pelican, Plante seems to be some integrity – has there been any corruption scandal directly associated with her leadership? And she has a vision of how she wants her city to be, even if it goes against so many people. I’d rather she was anti-car then anti-environmental. It’s probably why she’s at odds with the CAQ. Would it be better to have a leader who’s in bed with Legault? It could be so much worse.

    • Kate 17:51 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

      Yep. Always vote. Even if there’s nobody you’re enthusiastic to vote for, there’s always someone to vote against.

  • Kate 16:20 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

    The special constables who keep order at the Palais de Justice have donned the camo pants as a pressure tactic to get their new contract signed.

     
    • Kate 16:18 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

      The Common Front still plans a one‑day strike Monday.

      In addition, 65,000 elementary and high school teachers plan an indefinite strike starting later this month if a better offer is not forthcoming from Quebec.

       
      • Ian 17:39 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

        That will also be a common front strike. One thing we learned from 2015 is that it’s important that we all act together. All the public workers in the CSN, FTQ, and CSQ will be mobilized, with 95% in favour of the strike.

    • Kate 16:07 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

      I thought it was already a given that the Publisac was history, but it’s news again Friday that the Sac will stop in February or March and be replaced by a printed format that Canada Post will be obliged to deliver to everyone.

       
      • Kate 11:43 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

        A regular reader suggested this Youtube link about a technology used for boarding planes at Trudeau which isn’t used in many other places.

         
        • GC 12:54 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Interesting. I did ride one of those when I had a connection at Dulles–which is mentioned in the video. I’ve never been in one at YUL, though.

        • dhomas 13:09 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I actually did take one of these the last time I landed back in Montreal. It was pretty neat. The issues I found with them were twofold: 1) they have the same issue that buses and other forms of transit have in that people try to stay as close as possible to the exit, thus wasting space towards the rear, and 2) the airport staff trying to cram as many people into one vehicle as possible, so we were all crammed in like sardines (probably a little bit due to issue 1).

        • Blork 13:36 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Those things were widely used at Mirabel when it handled passenger flights. In fact maybe all flights at Mirabel boarded that way. I only flew out of there once, and I thought having to use those things was ridiculous; you basically have to board twice: first line up to board that bus thing, then drive to the plane and board it. I didn’t realize they’re still using them at Dorval.

          (I also used them once going through Paris but I forget which airport it was.)

        • dhomas 17:55 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I agree with Blork in that you have to “board twice”; exiting straight into the terminal is much better. However, the use case is different. I’ve had to de-plane at airports onto the tarmac and that is decidedly less fun, especially in very hot or very cold environments (I think for me it was in the Dominican Republic, so I was quite sweaty after the ordeal). You have to go down stairs with all your stuff/hand luggage, then you have to get on a bus to the terminal or in some cases walk to the terminal. The PTV is a much better solution in this scenario. You have the same downsides (you have to take a bus and board twice), but more advantages (no exposure to the elements and no complicated descent from the plane).
          In any case, thanks for sharing the video, Kate. It was quite interesting!

        • Orr 23:06 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Washington Post mentioned them briefly in a travel story about their use at Dulles airport last July.
          There are very few of them at trudeau airport.
          You can play the game of looking at a satmap of the airport and try to find them.
          In a message to me about them she said:
          “Hi there — Thanks for reading. We reached out to the folks at the Montréal-Trudeau International Airport and they sent us this note: Today, eight PTVs are regularly in use at YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, notably for passenger transport and special events.”
          So if you want to have a very special birthday party…

        • Kate 10:37 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

          Orr, who is “she”?

        • Orr 11:12 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

          the writer of the wapo article.

      • Kate 09:56 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

        Weekend notes from CityCrunch, 24Heures, Sarah’s Weekend List, CultMTL.

        Highways to heck this weekend.

        I wanted to link to Toula Drimonis’s Friday column, but the 12‑foot ladder is broken.

        Clocks go back this weekend. How many more years till we abolish this nonsense?

         
      • Kate 09:49 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

        La Presse covers the layoffs at TVA, with a gloomy commentary by Mario Girard.

        Pierre Karl Péladeau swears that the LCN news network will be sticking around.

         
        • Ian 19:56 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I swear when I stub my toe but it doesn’t mean anything 😉

      • Kate 09:11 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

        The city is rushing to clean up leaves, although I didn’t notice the effect described here. Did all the leaves fall at once, in your neighbourhood?

         
        • MarcG 09:21 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Nope, still lots on the trees here in my part of Verdun.

        • Kate 09:50 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I was noticing a few streets around here in Villeray yesterday that are still very leafy. It’s a nice effect when they’re all golden. Depends which tree species dominate, I imagine.

        • jeather 09:59 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Are they rushing? Because the leaves have been around for quite a while here, and though we got a “move your car for street cleaning assholes” note, they are still there.

        • CE 10:52 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I was out of town for a while and was surprised by how many trees were still green at this time of year.

        • EmilyG 10:56 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I was checking the autumn leaf forecast, and although it said most places on its map were past their prime in terms of leaf colours, Oka was still near peak time.
          (The map doesn’t have any locations inside of Montreal.)
          https://www.bonjourquebec.com/en/explore/seasons/fall

        • Ian 13:39 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Here in the northwestern tip of Mile End the ash and maple trees are mostly bare but the apple tree outside my window still has green leaves.

        • Mike 16:20 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          They did fall almost all at once here on the Plateau. They were there and then we had one cold windy night and foom.

        • DeWolf 16:25 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          I was downtown and in Westmount earlier today and on some streets you’d think it was still early October. September, even. There are a bunch of big trees in Victoria Square that have only just started turning.

          This year is exceptionally late but even normally the colours change a lot later on the south/west sides of the mountain than on the north/east. Anyone know why?

        • carswell 17:08 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          @DeWolf The southwest has more sun exposure and is better protected from the prevailing winds by the mountain, so it’s warmer.

          My flat’s next to the UdeM, so on the “north” side of the mountain. The trees on campus are fully exposed to the northern elements and their transition to bare ruined choirs is advanced. But the trees in the little suburbanish enclave behind my building are only beginning to change; the predominant colour out my back window is green. Am pretty sure that’s because, protected by a flank of the mountain and the row of tall buildings on Édouard-Montpetit and open to the compass southwest, the enclave has a milder microclimate.

        • carswell 17:25 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          Should have noted that the enclave borders the campus so its still-green trees are only a few hundred metres, if that, from the changing campus trees.

        • Ian 17:43 on 2023-11-03 Permalink

          The mountain is also the reason Montreal gets far fewer thunderstorms than the north and south shore.
          Out in Ste Anne the weather is a lot worse, and it’s usually 5 degrees colder in winter. Leeward of the mountain is the place to be.

        • Kate 10:37 on 2023-11-04 Permalink

          Trees on my street are half bare, where late the sweet birds sang.

      • Kate 09:09 on 2023-11-03 Permalink | Reply  

        Quebec has boosted its offer to cities for transit, Geneviève Guilbault claiming that the current sum will take care of 70% of their deficit. Cities need to know how much is coming so they can finalize their budgets for 2024.

         
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