A report from an inquiry into the operations of Canada Post recommends abandoning daily deliveries to residential addresses.
Updates from May, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The Journal seems to be trotting out its greatest hits Friday before the Journée des Patriotes: an op‑ed headlined Les maudites pistes cyclables is bound to hit the right notes with its core readers.
DeWolf
The writer literally just makes things up to prove his point.
Taylor C. Noakes
The entire world: “wow, Montreal has an incredible bike network, this is awesome, how progressive!”
Montreal news media: “BIKE LANES MURDER CARS!”
EmilyG
User Untonplusbas on Mastodon linked the following article, calling it the counterpoint to the Journal article:
Human safety before traffic fluidity, says Valérie Plante.
https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/transports-urbanisme/880408/securite-humains-avant-fluidite-trafic-dit-valerie-planteIan
Meanwhile in Mile End we have neither
CE
Why Parc has been left a three lane traffic sewer in the middle of one of the densest neighbourhoods in the country is a complete mystery to me. It’s the main commercial street in the area, there are lots of children and elderly people walking and crossing the street making it pretty dangerous to cross at every single intersection. It’s also never felt particularly safe to drive a car on either. Remove the centre lane and the entire neighbourhood is going to be much safer and pleasant for everyone.
Ian
The problem there is that there is no back alley for deliveries on the east side of Parc from Laurier to Mont-Royal. Morning deliveries always block northbound traffic , so drivers (and bicyclists) jog into the oncoming lane to pass trucks. Laurier to Van Horne though, sure. Even just making the centre lane a dedicated bi-directional turning and delivery lane from Van Horne to Mont Royal would be a big improvement. Make the east-west streets one way with scramble lights on each corner at Parc, and you’d eliminate a lot of the intersection issues, too.
Joey
Agreed all around. I think Projet intends to get to Parc with the next batch of streets to redo, now that St Denis and Pine are done. Given the general climate these days, it will be a hard sell for the next mayor to make – don’t underestimate the number of Montrealers who primarily think of Parc as a mini-highway between the 40 and downtown. It’s a shame because it could be a really interesting urban planning exercise – you’ve got long blocks, more roadway than you need (if you’re intention is to make the street safer), and lots and lots of foot and bike traffic. And mostly local stores to support!
CE
I’m not sure the general climate is against converting streets, especially in the central city. Projet has been elected twice on platforms of entirely transforming the streets of the city and are likely to win again. Also, as time goes on, we’re starting to see the benefits of converting these streets from mini-highways to safer and quieter shared spaces. I think it would be a hard sell to turn St-Denis or des Pins back into the streets they once were.
Ian
Parc is hardly a mini highway to the 40, it stops at Jean Talon, lol.
Kate
And resumes above the 40, for three unimpressive blocks. The original Cafe Gentile is on the final corner.
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Kate
Long weekend notes from CityCrunch, La Presse, CTV, CultMTL.
Radio-Canada previews Pouzza Fest.
There’s also an anarchist festival this weekend with a clever pseudo‑Mucha poster design.
Road closures on a weekend TVA announces will be miserable for drivers.
Open and closed for the long weekend.
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Kate
Radio-Canada has a video report about murals and graffiti but I’m not sure it helps to confuse the two.
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Kate
Dear old MBC is trotting out his version of the Great Replacement theory again Friday with the question Laval et Montréal seront-elles encore demain des villes québécoises?
(What kind of name is “Bock” anyway?)
Uatu
Just reframe immigrants as expat passport Bros and all’s good lol
Robert H
Immigrants to Quebec are doing what immigrants have always done elsewhere in the world. They are gravitating to the places they’re most likely to find work and opportunity which is usually the largest city in a region. This is the primary phase of this process of resettlement anywhere in the world, or at least in any democracy in the world. Even MBC knows this, but he finds it inconvenient to his argument. So instead, we get an alarmist message of invading foreign hordes. It’s as if the wandering spirit of the notorious English parliamentarian Enoch Powell found a home in a Québécois columnist. At least, the rhetoric is distressingly similar.
I suppose there are policies MBC could recommend:
Le Natalisme québécois, or Le retour de la Vengeance du Berceau. This imperative would of course apply strictly to white females “de souche.” I’m sure they’ll be happy to cooperate.
A moritorium on the movement of all white Francophones from Île de Montréal or Île Jésus, car le maintien du poids démographique est fondamental pour la survie!
And for immigrants themselves a policy equivalent to the PREM now applied to Physicians, but with more choice. Newcomers to Quebec will be required to settle for at least five years anywhere they please outside of the Greater Montreal or Capitale CMAs. Trust us. We know what’s best for you.
P.S. Bonne question. Quel genre de nom est «Bock» d’ailleurs?
Joey
Maybe he’s named after a Portuguese beer.
MarcG
Joey
I was thinking more of Super Bock, but ok
Annette
Do you remember when he seemed like one of the good guys, and inspired hope that the youths were about to shift the provincial narrative to something new and progressive?
Kate
Annette, I don’t remember that. I do remember reading Martineau in Voir when he seemed like a reasonable, mildly lefty commentator on local affairs, but that was before he drank the Quebecor koolaid. I wasn’t aware of any MBC writing back then.
Ian
Bock is a pretty common Germanic/Saxon name (meaning “goat”) that appears throughout many regions of western and eastern europe – including Ashkenazi Jewish surnames – but is not uncommon in Alsace-Lorraine. Pretty ethnically suspect by MBC’s standards, for sure, though of course those aren’t mesnt to apply to HIM.
Kate
MBC must love the knowledge that he’s part Saxon.
Ian
At lesst he’s a Saxon, not an Angle. Better a saxophone than an anglophone.
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Kate
The CNESST has inspected the REM worksite and found it lacking in rigour over worker safety.
Taylor C. Noakes
I’m stunned – stunned! – a for-profit enterprise funded by public money is cutting corners on worker safety?
Has that ever happened before?
Taylor C. Noakes 15:47 on 2025-05-16 Permalink
First of all, is this the same William Kaplan who groundlessly accused Stevie Cameron of being a confidential informant for the RCMP, and wrote that book of Mulroney-Airbus apologia?
Second, why is Canada Post expected to run as a business rather than a public service?
Why are we doing the same thing the Americans are doing to the USPS?
Why isn’t the federal government interested in maintaining one of the few services that connects government ot citizens directly, in a positive way?
And why is Canada Post never given the option to make money for itself, like through the postal banking service they’ve long said would help boost their revenue?
Why are we so committed to causing our own failure in this country?
Kevin 16:16 on 2025-05-16 Permalink
My 2 cents: it’s a bleedover from the corporate trend to silo divisions of a company in order to pretend companies aren’t profitable / justify eliminating employees.
It’s laughable logic because seen through that metric the overlords making those decisions also are not moneymakers and so should be fired, but…
Tim 13:52 on 2025-05-17 Permalink
A couple of things to note:
Canada Post must reimagine itself and its place in Canadian society based on what Canadians need today and in the future. And most of us would have no problem going once a week to retrieve our mail at a community mailbox located a reasonable distance from where we live.