An item in the UK Telegraph swoons over the city, determinedly calling it Montréal. It’s amazing how much that one quirk gives away about a writer’s attitude, and the deal they made with Tourisme Montréal.
Updates from March, 2024 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Mayor Plante says she’s already in campaign mode, in response to La Presse’s revelations that her party was testing public responses to various possible leaders for Ensemble.
Ensemble may need a leader, but more than that, it needs a coherent vision for the city – something beyond kvetching about Projet.
James
As things stand right now, Projet will win easily. Despite the complaints and misogyny on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Valerie Plante has done a great job and nobody has the profile to challenge her so far.
Ensemble has nothing to offer – no vision at all. Just individual councillors each with their own issues. Ensemble is kind of pathetic. Did they repay their debts from last election?DeWolf
I’d love a real opposition party that holds Projet’s feet to the fire. Unfortunately, Ensemble seems to consist mainly of second-rate politicians who don’t have any real ideas, and old-time political bosses who want to maintain the political fiefdoms they’ve built in their formerly independent suburbs.
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Kate
A man who got onto the tracks of the orange line Monday morning was electrocuted and died somewhere between Rosemont and Beaubien stations, stopping service at morning rush hour.
TVA says the man was homeless, and his death could be due to heart attack and not electrocution.
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Kate
City hall is putting nearly $100 million into spiffing up Parc Jean-Drapeau. Millions have already been spent renovating the Hélène‑de‑Champlain building so restaurants can return.
Is it a great idea to revive commerce on the island? Commerce means parking lots and traffic, but this piece says the Plante administration wants to reduce the presence of cars in the park. You can’t have it both ways.
su
Commerce has been revived on that island as well as St Helen’s for some time.
I was shocked by the situation on St Helen’s when I rode my bike over a couple of years ago- I had not been there in a couple of decades.Blork
I really don’t understand why they’re pouring money into the Hélène‑de‑Champlain building for restaurants. It’s a lovely spot and all, but it’s also quite large, so any restaurant there will need to seat a hundred+ people per night in order to be viable, and I just don’t see that happening.
Back in the day, when Hélène‑de‑Champlain was a destination, the restaurant scene was very different. All you had to do to stand out was to be “fancy” and have a nice setting and people would dress up and come. But now there are so many restaurants out there, of such wide variety, that going over to Parc Jean-Drapeau for dinner just won’t appeal to many people.
Sure, they could take the Metro or whatever, but I don’t believe the kind of people who go to high-priced restaurants in traditional “big/old money” settings are inclined to arrive my Metro (followed by a 500 metre walk on uneven paths).
On top of all that, the restaurant industry is not doing well. Costs are high, butts-in-chairs are low, lots of turmoil. Who is going to (a) invest in opening a restaurant at that location, and (b) actually be a customer of that restaurant? Ultimately, who is going to prop it up and keep it afloat with subsidies and whatnot? (The answer to that one is obvious.)
The park could definitely use more dining/eating options, but I don’t think that’s the way to go. There’s something of a “bistro-terrasse” near the Metro station, in the new plaza, but that’s pretty much it for now. I’m not sure what else would work, but my inclination is to go in the opposite direction of dress-up/sit-down joints. What’s needed is more takeaway sandwiches and other picnic style options.
Ephraim
The HdC shouldn’t be a restaurant… it should be a reception hall. You rent it and have catering come. No one can survive running a restaurant there.
Blork
100% agree.
Kevin
Speaking from experience, it is a wonderful place for a wedding.
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Kate
Community groups are not happy that the community policing group l’Équipe de concertation communautaire et de rapprochement (ECCR) of the SPVM is coming to the end of its funding. This group, involving both cops and counsellors, patrolled on foot and did interventions and preventive policing, notably in the metro and around the Village. Even the mayor did not know the funding was to be discontinued.
What I can’t see here is the justification. Did the group not make enough arrests or issue enough fines? Did the SPVM not understand the purpose of the squad was to avoid doing those things?
Update, sort of: CTV spells out that Quebec won’t hand over money to sustain the squad, and the SPVM won’t fund it internally. And yet this is while everyone knows homelessness is a chronic and growing problem and there needs to be exactly such a team on the ground in the metro and in the Village. Either there’s a factor we’re not being told, or Quebec is wilfully harming Montreal – again.
Meezly 11:32 on 2024-03-12 Permalink
“According to the Global Destination Sustainability Index, Montréal is North America’s most sustainable city”. Really? We can’t even recycle properly!
And if it’s true, other North American cities must be REALLY bad.
Kate 11:41 on 2024-03-12 Permalink
They’re probably bad.
This is like when complaints come up about our public transit, and some respond – legitimately – that it’s still way ahead of the vast majority of North American cities.
Meezly 11:41 on 2024-03-12 Permalink
Nice that they mentioned the Tohu circus site – very cool.