CTV tells about a Montreal cyclist who thought she was riding through a puddle, but instead fell into a pit face first. Item doesn’t say she’s suing the city or borough, but she should.
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Kate
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Kate
We have a freezing rain warning for a weekend of no public transit. Well, except for the REM, which will be free – if it’s running.
Ian
They could rent out stalled trains as AirBnBs. to offset lost fare revenue
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Kate
TVA goes to see the huge tunnel boring machine that will drill the hole for the extension of the blue line.
DeWolf
“Le Bureau du projet de la ligne bleu va lancer un concours pour trouver un nom féminin au tunnelier. Comme le veut la tradition, les tunneliers portent des noms féminins pour se placer sous la protection de Sainte Barbe, patronne et protectrice des mineurs et des ouvriers qui travaillent en sous-sol. Par exemple, le tunnelier du REM s’appelle Alice.”
This is a very charming tradition and I think this kind of weird quirk that gives texture to local life and culture, but it really reinforces the notion that Quebec is “catholaïque” and not actually secular.
Chris
So every little remnant of religious history must be purged before you consider a society secular?
I guess we have to stop saying ‘bless you’ after sneezes too?
Come on now.
patatrio
love that the article is fronted by an Alice. Interestingly, it is not the first TBM named Alice.
Kate
Isn’t “bless you” dying out? I’ve never said it, nor have most of my friends.
DeWolf
No, Chris, I’m saying Quebec needs to stop the hypocrisy of pretending to be secular when it actively maintains Catholic traditions while suppressing those of other religions. If there was an acknowledgement that certain religious/cultural traditions are acceptable in public life, whatever their origin, there wouldn’t be an issue.
kb
In an Intro to Religious Studies course I took at Concordia in 2001, the professor recommended that all people should consider what saying “bless you” after someone sneezes implies about themselves and their world views of other people/religions. She also recommended it stop….
Ian
I say gesundheit…
Joey
Seinfeld covered this, we’re supposed to say “you are soooo good looking” when someone sneezes.
Anyone, this bit if catholaicite would be more annoying if it were unique to Quebec but it feels like a very, very old tradition that dates back to miners in the 15th century. The implication seems to be that Saint Barbara only cares for women (or machines assigned the gender female), which in its stupidity undermines the whole project, so we can probably chill out…
Ian
I kind of like the Islamic version – Yarhamukallah, ie, “may god have mercy on you”. Memories of the plague I guess.
Kate
So’s “Bless you”, or so they say.
Chris
DeWolf, giving a drill a woman’s name does not reach the bar of “actively maintaining a Catholic tradition”. You are stretching beyond credulity here. Quebec is secular, but in an ex-Catholic way. Just as an ex-Muslim might still say Yarhamukallah, so here do we name drills after women. It doesn’t make us non-secular. It’s just a harmless nod to our past.
Ian
At some pont religion becomes custom, like “touch wood” or hanging up horsehoes for luck, or having the days of the week named after. pre-Christian gods in English. It may seem like nothign but there’s a reason that Wednesday is Mittwoch in German – they Germans were converted to Christianity before the English.
Tim S.
My take on “Bless you” is that people appreciate the common courtesy more than they resent the religious implications. But who knows, maybe they’re just being polite for my sake and secretly seething inside.
Kevin
If Quebec is secular, then all the people who triple park on lawns around churches on Christmas Eve in the suburbs should be getting tickets.
Kate
Tim S., but why is “bless you” a courtesy? If I sneeze, someone piping up to acknowledge that I sneezed doesn’t do me any good. If anything, it might make me feel fleetingly (and uselessly) selfconscious.
Coughing or farting or any other involuntary physical action doesn’t need acknowledgement. It’s such an odd tradition.
EmilyG
I feel the same way.
I’m always a bit embarrassed when I sneeze in public, and someone acknowledging that I sneezed, is making me more embarrassed.Andrew
It might be debatable whether naming the TBM after a woman is traditional or religious, but they also installed a shrine to Saint Barbara at the worksite for the REM, so…
https://rem.info/en/actualites/TBM-alice-finishesGC
Surely the CAQ will want to crack down on that, after they get done banning public prayer.
DeWolf
Chris, you seem to be under the impression that I’m opposed to this tradition. I’m not. Read my post again.
Daisy
It might be odd, but it is a firmly established tradition. I feel rude if I *don’t* say “bless you.”
Ian
I think I might take up “may the gods have mercy on you”.
Tim S.
@Kate: Because it’s a very small acknowledgement that other people care about us and we’re not all isolated, siloed individuals?
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Kate
Fire is a constant risk in homeless encampments when winter comes. A sidebar describes how the ETS is working on creating a safe little camp stove that can be made out of scrap.
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Kate
Soraya Martinez Ferrada will be sworn in as mayor on Thursday. Le Devoir has an interesting piece on the history of the practice, including that it dropped mention of royalty in 1982 with Drapeau, and of God in 1986 with Jean Doré.
Ian 21:47 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
Yikes, no kidding. People sue for way less – and not to diminish their injuries, either.
If she were to sue, how would she go about it?
Kate 23:22 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
Not sure about suing, but I suspect you’d need to start with a lawyer.
My friend who got hurt tripping over an unsecured street bench stub sticking out of a sidewalk had her partner take his camera and document the site, then document her injuries and the damage to her clothes – everything. As I recall, the city paid up rather than go to court. But I’ll ask her and correct myself if I’ve misremembered.
Bert 23:43 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
Wait, the cyclist ignored safety cones and somehow does not have to accept responsibility of the outcome? Who would think that a cyclist would ignore basic rules of the road and common sense. Any road user who does not treat a “puddle” with some amount of respect does so at their own peril.
Chris 06:51 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
She was in a reserved bike lane. The bike lane was closed with a couple of cones, which would have been sufficient to stop a car because the space between cones was too small for a car to fit. But if you’re really trying to stop a bike (which they should have been given the size of the hole), the barricade needs to be such that a bike can’t fit though. They failed to create a sufficient barrier. And they failed to provide a protected detour. There are 2 lanes for cars, one should have been repurposed as a dedicated detour lane for cyclists. Look at the space between the farthest cone and the car that passed it: zero room for a cyclist.
It’s typical car-centric thinking on the part of the construction workers and their management. 1) no thought to bike-specific barriers 2) bike lanes are toys and don’t need real detours.
She was faced with moving out of a protected lane into busy traffic or squeezing through what looked like a minor patch job. She made the wrong choice clearly, but they should have provided her with a safe choice.
Ian 07:07 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
I’m thinking the improperly secured angle woudl go further in court, especially as there was no way to tell that was a hole, not a puddle.
Kevin 10:24 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
The video of her plunge is really astonishing, and she’s lucky she’s still alive.
Meezly 16:54 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
The hole was 10 ft deep! It should’ve been covered up from the start.