CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal has narrowly voted to continue the student strike. Concordia’s Link summarizes the CEGEP situation so far.
Updates from August, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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GQ picks two of Montreal’s tougher-looking chefs as guides to Montreal eating (click the map for capsules on various restos).
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Three of the four CEGEPs voting today have chosen to end their strike.
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Mayor Tremblay ran down his shopping list to the parties hoping to form the government on September 5: something for Montreal infrastructure and economic development, new money for public transit, revivification of the east end – especially Notre-Dame East – and money for more Quartier des Spectacles stuff. (Putting the Quartier des Spectacles on this list suggests to me Gilbert Rozon is pulling Tremblay’s strings.)
CAQ’s plans for building up commuter train service at the expense of the metro were unpopular with Projet and Vision, Vision mayor Anie Samson pointing out that the party is playing to the 450, where its voters are. Mayor Tremblay also called the CAQ’s ideas “electioneering”.
The CAQ’s plan to cut down the size of Montreal’s municipal structure was dissed by Tremblay too.
Pauline Marois emphasized that it was the Liberal party that undid the PQ’s forced merger of the island of Montreal, but that she wouldn’t try that again.
Montreal remains Quebec’s biggest problem, I think. If only we were Joliette writ large.
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Ian
“If only we were Joliette writ large.” QFT & G-LOL. Money and the ethnic vote, a city of students and immigrants. WA WA WA-A-A-A
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qatzelok
Foreign capital writ large.
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Ian
Ah yes, why don’t you tell us about the international Zionist conspiracy again, qatzi, it’s been at least a week since you trotted out that charming little racist pony.
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A new group of interested parties is putting up a challenge to the planned conversion of a massive convent to condos. The building had been sold to the Université de Montréal by the nuns, but the university flipped it into the hands of a developer.
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Ian
I can see the point, but I’m of two minds about this – let’s say it was to be developed as something other than condos – to what use can these religious spaces be put? There’s a bunch of old synagogues in my hood that are variously schools, other churches, and rental halls. Only the rental halls preserve the original architecture and they are quite literally falling apart. while religious spaces are part of “notre patrimoine” since nobody tithes any more it’s hard to imagine a) how these spaces can be maintained and b) how relevant they actually are. Europe has spaces much older than Quebec (of course) and it’s not uncommon to see (for instance) a nightclub in an old convent or monastery. Spaces evolve organically according to the relevant uses of the day.
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Marc R.
I think such a structure would be well suited to educational purposes, preferably as an open, multi-use facility comprising classes in old offices, and library/workspace in chapels and other large spaces. I don’t know too much about it, but I wonder whether the Nuns may have intended the space as a donation to a respected educational institution, and if so, whether they would be put off by their donation flipped for cash (which, granted, is all the same a donation).
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Kate
Marc R., I recall reading at various stages of this epic that the nuns had intended for the building to continue having an educational purpose, but once it was out of their hands they had no control (or moral force) over the UdeM’s decision to sell it off to another party.
Ian, at Christmastime I was brought to a bar in a building that had once been a Roman Catholic church in Utrecht. Apparently the authorities frowned on Catholics at some stage of the Reformation, so this church/bar had to be reached by going under an archway in an apparently ordinary residential block – the church had been built on the sly inside it. It was a merry scene in there like something out of Brueghel. I somehow think we’re not quite ready here to see a church become a bar – people felt sheepish enough about the condo conversion of the church at St-Zotique and St-Laurent.
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Ian
One of the big problems with repurposing older buildings is the retrofitting – ventilation, networking, plumbing, heating, and even electricity often have to be redone completely and to do so without compromising the architectural qualities of the space is extremely expensive as you essentially have to gut the place then put the walls and ceilings back in but further away from the shell than they originally were. That’s not even taking floorspace modifications into consideration. Take a look a the Mile-End library, for instance. It looks fantastic, but that costs a lot of money. Seeing as the universities apparently can’t even make do without raising tuitions….
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Kate
It’s true. Standards have changed so much for buildings we consider fit for public use, and churches pose a particular challenge because there aren’t too many uses for huge halls of that kind. But I hadn’t realized the scope of the thing before you mentioned moving the walls, Ian.
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walkerp
There are compromises that can be made. Heritage buildings don’t have to follow the norms of a brand-new building. These are also great opportunities for implementing sustainable techniques. A lot of these big institutions are perfect for geothermal for instance, because you have enough space nearby to dig the deep hole and then you aren’t paying to heat up the huge rooms.
Unfortunately, long-term thinking is what is needed here and scumbag developers don’t give a shit about anything but their short-term profit. Thus we have shoddily-constructed buildings while good wood gets thrown into the dump.
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Ian
That is definitely an element, too. It’s a real dilemma that the people most likely to repurpose an older building are often those least likely to have any interest in its inherent cultural context.
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Gaetan Barrette’s belly is old news. The current health minister, Yves Bolduc, is the owner of a 24-hour fast food restaurant called Chez Goofy in Saguenay – which mostly serves poutine.
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John B
How that this has hit the news, how long do we think he has before Disney requires him to change the name of the restaurant?
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Two brokers have been fined and suspended and RBC Dominion Securities has been fined over how they handled the Earl Jones account while he was carrying out the scams that defrauded clients of $40 million.
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steph
While I do feel a little sorry for the victims, they must have been as greedy to have blindly accepted Earl Jone’s fake promises of high profits. I wonder how many of them have refiled their past taxes without the fake gains — should be a fat refund from the government.
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Kate
There were some stories about the tax issues, back when the Jones debacle was hot news. Here is one.
Some may have been greedy, but so many of his clients were old folks, typically widows who didn’t have a realistic clue how to manage money, that I don’t think his customers’ greed was the driving force. In fact, Jones was likely relying on most of his clients making modest financial requests while he dipped into their funds for his own expenses and to pay other customers off as he went along.
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Bill Binns
An elderly woman in my neighborhood is one of the victims. I don’t know her personally but know many people who do. The story goes that she had invested all of her savings with Jones for a number of years and received checks from him on a monthly basis without problems. Not long before the whole thing unravled, he convinced her to take out a mortgage on the home she owned free and clear and had lived in for decades. His whole pitch was “don’t you want to leave something behind for your grandchildren?”
The checks she had been receiving from Jones were her only income. She lost her life savings and her home. Luckily, the mortgage wasn’t for the full value of the home. She was left with enough to maintain herself in a small rented apartment (as long as she doesn’t live too long).
Not exactly greedy on her part. Gullible maybe but she trusted someone who had been sending her money for years.
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Ian
It’s a true and poignant observation that often it’s the elderly that fall victim to these kinds of grifters.
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CÉGEPs that were on strike last term are meant to go back to class this week, but many students still have to vote on continuing the strike. Police are deployed at André-Laurendeau, whose students voted to return to class.
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A farmer who sells at Jean-Talon market is in a fight with market management who are fining him $200 daily because his truck is 60 cm too long. Seems to suggest a pattern of harassment confirming that the market favours dealers over real farmers, a story we’ve heard on this blog before.
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walkerp
When one oversees administrative affairs, it is a constant struggle not to become a dick. Most lose. I speak from experience. This is a case where someone in charge could easily have said “well this guy has been with us for decades, let’s cut him a little slack.” Instead, weak men fall back on regulations because it’s the safest choice.
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William Raillant-Clark
This is what happens when you bloat public agencies with make-work schemes. People look for useless things to do in order to combat the boredom.
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Bill Binns
@walkerp – “When one oversees administrative affairs, it is a constant struggle not to become a dick.”
I am going to find a way to incorporate that statement into the training materials I use for new employees. This discussion about “let’s cut him a little slack” is something I argue about every day at work. Everybody who is the subject of any kind of inspection process expects that “they should be cut a little slack” or “inspectors should be reasonable” or “almost is good enough” but it is next to impossible to design such a program.
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jeather
I understand that 60cm isn’t that much (it isn’t tiny, either), but at what point do we cut off slack? If we say, well, 60cm is okay, why not change the rules? Do we allow 70cm? 100cm? How do we decide who deserves slack?
I’m not commenting on this particular story: I’d like to know why they started cracking down this year, whether there were warnings about this, why he couldn’t be given leeway until the fall. There’s a huge lack of information here.
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Jack
They cracked down on this farmer because he blew the whistle on the fact that so many “farmers” are actually grossistes who claim that status. It initially came up in a Rad Can and Le Devoir story in which he had the courage to be quoted.
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Jack
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jeather
Well, that would explain it. I don’t think that this counts as “obsessively rule-bound bureaucrats”, then.
So as a customer of Jean-Talon and Atwater markets (I work near the former and live near the latter), how can I know which are the dealers and which the real farmers?
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Kate
Jack, I’m curious on that question too.
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Jack
The market now has posters identifying “producteurs”, however some claim that status because they have 3 apple trees. After 15 years of asking questions and just following the seasons you find out who really is who they say they are.The sad thing is the grossistes know they are not popular with the larger public, but they hold the hammer with administration.Lets face it if your confronted by a smiling tomato 12 months a year,thats a grossiste. People like Jacques and Diane need our support go talk them and buy something.
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walkerp
So once again the big guys are using pressure tactics to drive the little guys out of business. Same thing as the local butcher shops all being forced to retrofit their displays in order to follow norms that are set for huge producers like Maple Leaf (the ones who actually do kill people).
“it is next to impossible to design such a program.” Bill, that is why it is so important to have well-trained employees who are treated with confidence and given leeway to use their own best judgement when applicable. A good organization has a strong large-scale framework with space for flexibility built around that.
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jeather
“Wait 15 years and you’ll figure it out” isn’t particularly helpful.
Walkerp, the problem is that, if you can use your own judgement, you can judge that one group gets leeway while another doesn’t, even though the rules say everyone should be treated the same way. What is needed is reasonable and well-publicised rules which do not cover an excessive range (eg, no rule that is meant to cover both Tylenol and heroin) which some special group of people are not excluded from. (Note that rules can have flexibility built in.)
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Jack
@jeather, your totally right, its not very helpful. My experience has told me that many times the ‘grossistes’ are dishonest when you approach them and ask if they produce their products. That’s what got Jacques into trouble.The market is now trying to silence him.I wish I could tell you flat out that what is advertised at the Market is true and who is who ,but I can not,because I don’t believe what I’m told.
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Kate
jeather, I will now trust Jacques – I’ve bought herb plants from them in the past – and there are one or two folks other friends have attested to being real, but it does actually seem like the only way you can ascertain their bona fides is to ask around. I will see what I can find out.
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jeather
Oh, I’ll certainly go to Jacques also. But I generally go other days of the week — he said he came in end of week and weekends — and I do often go to Atwater, so any further suggestions/advice would be great.
I have no problem believing that everyone claims to be a small farmer, whether or not it is true.
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Kate
I know the market layout well, although I haven’t focused on individual dealers. The thing is this: the market’s open all winter, but for pretty much half the year most of the produce can’t possibly be local. There are exceptions – hothouse tomatoes, a few things like apples that can be stored and sold gradually – but even in the summertime there are a lot of things that can’t have grown in Quebec fields. So you keep an eye open for that. Someone selling citrus fruit and avocadoes is not a local farmer, q.e.d.
I know that the organic folks at the southern end of the arcade are real farmers – they must be, because they only sell what’s in season at any moment. Jacques et Diane are real. Most of the folks selling two or three things that happen to be in season are likely to be real. But the big fruit stalls – notably the two at the western end of the long alley – that sell a wide range of produce year-round can’t possibly be local farmers. They’re dealers, they get their stuff at the Marché du Nord wholesale like any grocery store.
That leaves quite a few stalls that are ambiguous. I’ll do a bit more research (which means asking friends, including a few who cook for a living and keep an eye on this stuff).
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Besides campaign stuff, Monday morning’s news is mostly details on the weekend’s shootings, two of which appear now to be connected: the man shot at Galeries d’Anjou was allegedly chief of the Bo-Gars, part of the Rouges (Bloods) faction, and the man killed in Laval, Lamartine Paul Sévère, was also a Rouge. The Journal extends the story, suggesting that since this gang is allied to the Mafia, the killings are connected to the impending return of Vito Rizzuto, but can’t quite put the third killing into the picture. Yet. La Presse says the police think more blood may flow and give more and different details about the men killed on the weekend.
Kevin 14:15 on 2012/08/15 Permalink
Apparently another vote will be held on Friday.