The Rogers tennis tournament, to be played between August 4-13, is facing the overwhelming distraction of the Olympic Games this summer. The games end August 12.
Updates from August, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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I never met Bronwyn Chester, whose tree blog Forêt Montréal was a great exploration of the arboreal wealth of this city. As mentioned in the last post on her blog, she found out last year that she had advanced cancer. I’ve just seen on Facebook that she died today. CBC’s Mike Finnerty has also reposted this excerpt from a Daybreak interview he did with her last year.
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Ian
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walkerp
Will the book get made?
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montrealfilmguy
Will the book get made ???
You didnt REALLY just say that didya ?
Here,have a delicious facepalm sandwich.You deserve it.
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walkerp
Huh? I’m not sure what you mean? I read in her last blog that she was working on a book about the trees of Montreal to be released by Véhicule Press. I used to have her on my blog roll but stopped keeping up and would love to have such a book. How is that a face palm?
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montrealfilmguy
Lemme see this again
She had advanced cancer and she just died.
You ask about a book ?
Way way way too soon maybe ?Dunno man,i mean if you love her work that much…..
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walkerp
My apologies to all involved for not correctly demonstrating the appropriate grief and sorrow. Implicit in my question was the notion that her legacy of appreciation for trees and her love for walks on the mountain (a passion which I share) would be continued in a book and that by purchasing such book I could also in a very minor way contribute to the financial well-being of those who survived her. Again, I apologize if the way I worded it (being in a rush at the time) seemed cavalier and uncaring.
Also (and I really hope this is acceptable to moralwatchdogguy), I hope they can keep her blog up for a while, so I can go back and review the posts I missed and go appreciate the cool trees she used to find all over the city.
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Kate
No blame, walkerp.
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Bill Binns
@walkerp – I understood what you meant and was wondering the same thing. Her last blog post was from nearly a year ago. The book could be at the printers for all we know.
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montrealfilmguy
Tremendous.I applaud you sir walkerp.Well done.
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Ian
I took it the same way Binns did. The book may very well have been finished and it’s a valid question.
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Kate
OK, I’m properly back. montrealfilmguy, please don’t call out other people like that. walkerp is a regular presence here and a friend of the blog, and I know he did not mean harm. When I die I hope someone is just as keen to find out whether my life’s work is going to be preserved.
I don’t know anything about the progress of Ms. Chester’s book. It isn’t listed in the Véhicule fall 2012 list, but I could drop them a line and ask.
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montrealfilmguy
Kate,its noted.
Guess im alone in my view on this.
Sorry walkerp.
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Doobious
Gazoo obituary by Anne Sutherland.
I wish I’d met her, if only to say that I knew someone with such a ridiculously awesome anglo name.
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A cyclist is in serious condition in hospital after an altercation with an SUV driver downtown.
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cheese
I rode past this on my way to work. Did not see the accident nor the parties involved, just he crumpled bike and the blood on the street. I’m glad to know that the rider is still alive. I love this blame the victim type comment from a passer by mentioned in the english article: “We make bicycle paths for cyclists,” said a witness who didn’t want to be named. I have to say that the de Maisonneuve path is usually more dangerous than the street. It’s the only place (so far) in town that I’ve been hit (also by an SUV) while using the path.
As to why was he on the street, I think it was answered in the article. The driver and cyclist were arguing and the SUV probably could not fit in the bike path to continue the conversation there.
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Kate
CBC news at 1 said something about the driver “trying to force the cyclist onto the bike path.”
If this is true…
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Michel
I expect a rational, well-thought-out thread about this. Especially on the CBC website.
My guess: Jeep may have cut off cyclist (inadvertently or not), cyclist informs Jeep driver of his displeasure, perhaps kicking or punching said vehicle. Each participant probably questioned the other participant’s ancestry and sexual orientation.
Light turns green, they both ride off. Ah, but here’s a double-parked Purolator truck. Cyclist veers into lane in front of Jeep to avoid riding into back of Purolator truck. Jeep hits cyclist.
/conjecture
Glad that I chose today of all days to not ride my bike, where I ride right past there. Getting run over by a car once was once enough. -
j2
@Kate from the north side where the accident happened to the south side where the bike path is?
(Notice how when an accident happens, the motorist is usually taken to the hospital for shock? Just sayin’… well making up details, but it amuses me.)
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Kate
I wasn’t there, and obviously there are accounts and theories. CBC says “Authorities believe the cyclist may have been hit on purpose.”
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mare
It must be the heat that makes drivers go berserk. I also had a altercation with a woman in a very new BMW SUV today. She cut me off, then started claxonning like mad and then slammed on the brakes right in fron of me. I almost just drove into her, but instead let my adrenaline go up to 11.
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Matt
I hate how motorists whose vehicles often outweigh a cyclist’s by a factor of about 20 think that we’re subject to their aggressive replies. They behave the same way versus a bike as they do versus another vehicle. Most of the morons I’ve had arguments with as a cyclist (taxi drivers aside, ahem) are so stupid it’s anyone’s guess how they managed to fool the SAAQ into awarding them a driver’s licence.
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Kate
Drivers shouldn’t even do it with other vehicles, but at least you’re safer inside a metal box. I spend less time inside cars than almost anybody, but even I’ve been shocked to see some perilously childish behaviour by people piloting their lethal crapmobiles.
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walkerp
The car, like the internet, gives people a feeling of security and power that they don’t actually have and thus is often an interesting test of character.
As a firmly pro-bike person, I always argue that us bikers need to follow the rules of the road and be more friendly and polite. However, the onus of all these problems lies with a society and economy that is dominated by the car and the idiots who drive them to maintain their bloated, unhealthy lifestyles.
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qatzelok
@ walkerp: “The car, like the internet, gives people a feeling of security and power that they don’t actually have and thus is often an interesting test of character.”
The car/Internet comparison is a bit weak. You can’t just turn cars off and have a carfree day like you can with the Internet.
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walkerp
Yes you can.
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meezly
2 qatzelok: “The car/Internet comparison is a bit weak”
Actually, it’s not a bad analogy. Some people find it incredibly difficult to have an internet-free day or mobile device-free day, probably more so than a car user. Many find it easier to spout off opinions and insults on the internet when they would never dream of doing the same thing face to face with another person. The SUV driver who ran over the cyclist probably would have reconsidered attacking the cyclist if he or she had to step out of his metal box and have it out face to face.
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Doobious
Just a little cautionary tale…
Last weekend I was crossing the Charlevoix bridge northbound over the canal on a Bixi around midnight. I was coming off the canal path and there was traffic on the bridge so I opted to take the sidewalk, forgetting for the moment how narrow it is and the unholy drop down to the road surface. After crossing the bridge I decided to continue on the sidewalk for another block so I could collect myself for a minute and get a bead on the traffic at Rufus Rockhead. The sidewalk was empty. While waiting for the light to change, some douche walking his dog in the park across the street threw a full 1L bottle of water at me, missing by just a couple of feet, and cursed me out for riding on the sidewalk.
All this to say: pedestrians can be your mortal enemy too.
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Chris
Doobious, the commonality of course is humans. They all have the capacity to be douchbags, regardless of their means of transport.
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qatzelok
I don’t drive a car, and haven’t in many years, and yet I am constantly hearing their noise, avoiding being killed by them, and forced to look at the car sewer that our roads have become every day. The computer: I haven’t looked at it in 2 days and haven’t heard anyone else’s either. Nor has my quality of life been decreased by one. With cars – like with cigarettes – you get cancer from second hand consumption.
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Both Captain Kirk and Captain Picard are expected at Comiccon, which takes place mid-September.
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cheese
Does that mean there will be TWO “number one”s? Or will one of the captains have to have a goatee? Man, wish I could be there.
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Mark
“Number one” is the second-in-command, e.g. Will Riker. I don’t see Frakes nor Nimoy there, so we’re safe on that account.
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Faiz Imam
Wow, this is one of the more celebrity heavy cons, as far as Montreal is concerned.
I might make this my first one, i’m getting pretty excited
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walkerp
Wow, that is kind of a big deal.
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Metro has a photo series on Wednesday night’s demo. Reports from Journal de Montréal, Le Devoir.
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Henry Aubin proposes several economies the Quebec government might make that would concern Montreal. But he glosses over the profound difficulties involved in some of the ideas. Think of the crisis we’d face if cities refused to continue paying employee pensions. Casserole demos would look like kindergarten games by comparison.
Reducing the size of city council would also open the can of worms of the city structure, which I think most would agree has been a kludge since the demerger debacle, but which totters on like a determined zombie. Now that people have cushy jobs in the arrondissement system, they too will kick like mules at the idea of streamlining it.
Metro proposes a few city ridings to watch.
Some level-headed critique of the Charest Liberals’ doubletalk on democracy from le Devoir, more level-headed critique of the Charest government’s economic record; some well presented indignation from someone who says she’s been told to take down liberaux.net but hasn’t so far.
The campaign’s going to drown out most city-level news for a month, but my plan is to make one entry a day looking at campaign news that directly touches on the city, and not let it dominate the blog. I’ll give it a try, anyway.
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AJ
Looking forward to your coverage. I don’t think “economies” is an accepted synonym for “savings,” though, even as Aubin commits this gallicism in the last paragraph…
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Kate
No, it’s standard English. The OED:
■[count noun] (usu. economies) a financial saving: there were many economies to be made by giving up our London offices.
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cheese
I think the use of the word “economies” in this context is more common in England (where I used to live) than here but still totally valid methinks.
I’m looking forward to elllection coverage here, dominant or not. I need to find out what is going on to figure out how to vote in this thing. This site is the best place to gather such information, especially with the comments from people with differing opinions and priorities. Thanks in advance!
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Bill Binns
Can anyone even imagine Quebec politicians getting together and saying “Ok, it’s time to tighten our belts and start paying down this debt. This program has to go and this one and these taxes are going up etc”. It’s easier to imagine Martians landing in Victoria Square.
At some point in the future the province will go through something very much like what Greece is going through now with Ottawa playing the part of Germany. After the reaction we saw to a rather modest rise in tuition fees that only affected a relatively small percentage of the population, how could the reaction to severe “austérité” measures be anything other than blood in the streets? Perhaps this will be the push that seprates Quebec from Canada to form it’s own nation. A tiny, impoverished nation with bad credit.
+1 for the “determined zombie” imagery. I got a chuckle out of that.
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Kate
What would be spectacular is if a Quebec government said “We’re going to cut corporate subsidies, reinstate corporate taxes, and make sure the highest taxed people in North America continue to receive the social services for which they made an implicit contract years ago.”
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AJ
Huh! I was always taught it was a gallicism, as that particular meaning had fallen out of general English use, but found its way back in as franglais here. So much for *that* English teacher.
I think it’s worth re-examining what kind of society we want to be now, and prioritizing and budgeting for that, rather than perpetuating 19th century models of education, industry, “growth,” and general unsustainability. Unfortunately it usually has to break down completely before we even start thinking about it.
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qatzelok
Six things Quebec could do to be more like New Jersey.
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Ian
I’m guessing you didn’t read the article, qatzelok? None of those ideas seem like the typical neoliberal austerity measures we might expect from our yanqui chums or the PLQ.
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qatzelok
Ian, unfortunately, I had the misfortune of wasting five minutes of my life reading that column.He suggests NOT building tramways as a way of saving money. On the question of our trillion dollar highways, he is silent. This isn’t urbanism, it’s brown envelope-ology. “Car ads bring in revenue, so I’ll use by urban issues column to trash less expensive alternatives to massive car use.”
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La Presse looks in detail at the plans for upgrading Champ-de-Mars station as the new CHUM comes into focus.
That’s sad. I learned a lot about Montreal’s botany by reading her various posts and interviews over the years.