The tunnel boring machine is in place
TVA goes to see the huge tunnel boring machine that will drill the hole for the extension of the blue line.
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DeWolf 12:23 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
“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 14:53 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
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 14:55 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
love that the article is fronted by an Alice. Interestingly, it is not the first TBM named Alice.
Kate 16:13 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
Isn’t “bless you” dying out? I’ve never said it, nor have most of my friends.
DeWolf 16:22 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
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 16:30 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
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 16:42 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
I say gesundheit…
Joey 16:59 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
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 19:19 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
I kind of like the Islamic version – Yarhamukallah, ie, “may god have mercy on you”. Memories of the plague I guess.
Kate 19:48 on 2025-11-13 Permalink
So’s “Bless you”, or so they say.
Chris 07:01 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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 07:13 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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. 09:26 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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 10:26 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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 10:54 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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 11:35 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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 11:37 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
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-finishes
GC 12:18 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
Surely the CAQ will want to crack down on that, after they get done banning public prayer.
DeWolf 12:49 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
Chris, you seem to be under the impression that I’m opposed to this tradition. I’m not. Read my post again.
Daisy 18:43 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
It might be odd, but it is a firmly established tradition. I feel rude if I *don’t* say “bless you.”
Ian 20:59 on 2025-11-14 Permalink
I think I might take up “may the gods have mercy on you”.
Tim S. 00:00 on 2025-11-15 Permalink
@Kate: Because it’s a very small acknowledgement that other people care about us and we’re not all isolated, siloed individuals?