This blog has made third place in the Mirror's perennial Best of Montreal poll, behind Drunken Stepfather (watch out for NSFW banners and graphics – that guy is smoove) and the hard-working team at Midnight Poutine.

Thanks to everyone who voted for this blog. Next year let's go for #1 again!
posted at 19:20

 
The University of Montreal is looking at a record deficit, this coming days after UQÀM's brush with bankruptcy made the news.

Overextended? Or is this news being played up at least partly to soften us up for imminent tuition increases?

In tangentially related news, Montreal police were strongly censured by a judge this week for overly harsh measures against tuition protesters in November 2004.
posted at 11:30

 
Yet again, the bustling metropolis of London, Ontario is making a bid to grab the new Shriners' hospital away from Montreal. The vapourware MUHC superhospital site appears to be a sore point.
posted at 11:25

 
The city ombudsman has her hands full with complaints from Old Montreal residents about bar and resto noise.

I just don't get it. People move into downtown condos presumably at least partly to be where the action is. How can they reasonably expect the silence of the suburbs when they get tired of the action?
posted at 11:18

 
Local media are as bubbly with excitement as a teenage girl over the presence of Brad Pitt making a movie on Montreal streets. (Except that the 43-year-old Pitt probably looks old and busted to teenage girls by now.)
posted at 11:30

 
A woman who was ejected from the bar Le Stud in the Gay Village – an establishment which claims up front that it's for men only – is bringing a complaint to the human rights commission. I understand the point of the complaint, but why a young woman would want to have a drink with her father at a Village pickup bar remains a mystery.
posted at 11:25

 
The city vérificateur général says the city's falling behind in its plans to update its water infrastructure, and there are other shortcomings in its management.
posted at 11:03

 
The beer festival opens today and runs till June 3; notes on the 21st annual Nuits d'Afrique fest, held later in July; the Jewish film festival, which continued for several years but held its last event in 2005, is officially defunct.
posted at 10:58

 
The Grey Nuns have struck a deal with Concordia University to transfer to them their mother house at the corner of Guy and René-Lévesque. They're also having a sale this weekend of stuff they don't need – no idea if it'll be interesting or not.
posted at 16:38

 
Two Mile End artists are questioning Ubisoft's methods and motives in sponsoring this Friday's street fair on Saint-Viateur (this last link comes with a warning: heavy Flash download and music).
posted at 16:33

 
The city is refusing to back down on parking meter hours that shopkeepers say will drive shoppers to suburban malls instead. The city's also putting in more meters especially downtown.
posted at 13:09

 
Details on how Old Montreal in May can become Moscow in winter for a big-budget film.
posted at 12:37

 
The OFF Festival de Jazz at the end of June unveils its program; Toronto writer slams the opening week of the Festival TransAmériques; participation in the weekend's Museums Day was down, probably because of the rain.
posted at 12:33

 
Ville-Marie is continuing its quest for tidy streets with four solar-powered litter bins at $5K each, and stiff fines for not cleaning the surroundings of your house or business.
posted at 11:25

 
Sunday is Museums Day and the STM navette service will now be part of the scene. Official site, although I think they should've done something with the website besides handing out the program as a PDF file.

This is also the weekend of the Rendez-vous horticole at the Botanical Garden.
posted at 13:39

 
The STM maintenance strike is over and the transit system is running normally again although the union is not happy and nothing has been settled.
posted at 13:15

 
Fascinating photos showing views at Expo 67 versus how the same views look today.
posted at 12:09

 
The transit maintenance union and the STM have come to an agreement allowing the strike to end, although the details of the new contract are not yet settled and the fat lady has not yet sung.
posted at 15:43

 
The New York Times looks at poutine: variations of the "Quebequois" dish are being launched there. It's entertaining to know that a Brooklyn resto with an Australian theme has a Québécois chef putting poutine on the menu.

(I wonder if George Bush, having been pranked by "Prime Minister Poutine", has ever been made aware that in French, the leader of Russia is actually called Poutine. Recent news headlines talking about "Poutine and Rice" had me doing a double-take, too.)
posted at 14:32

 
The transit maintenance union and the STM are said to be still talking via a conciliator, but the union has asked that the deadline ultimatum (due this afternoon) be withdrawn to allow time to arrive at a fair resolution. Meantime, air quality continues to worsen.
posted at 12:03

 
City news today is relatively quiet beside the big story that the PQ and ADQ may so strongly oppose the Charest government's new budget that the short-lived minority government could fall and trigger a snap election, and all the weary campaigning to do over again. Budget dossiers here and here and amusing commentary here.
posted at 11:03

 
If anyone still has any doubts that public transit benefits the environment and our health, they should go outside and see the sun gradually setting in the yellowy-gray haze of the first smog alert of the summer as the third day of the transit strike continues. I've been out cycling in this and man, it's nasty.
posted at 19:50

 
A look at the street corner and back alley dealers who make a living selling used and scavenged goods.
posted at 11:29

 
Organizers of big events, notably the Grand Prix, which takes place two weeks from now, and Museums Day, this Sunday, are already making contingency plans should the transit strike continue, although – as already mentioned yesterday – the STM and the union have been given a deadline to settle their differences before the weekend.
posted at 11:18

 
It's almost inevitable we'd be facing an increase in smog with the heat wave building this week, and more people driving because of the transit strike.
posted at 23:00

 
Detailed and glowing review of the Montreal Biennale here, found via Zeke's – who critiques the critique and assesses his own grades.
posted at 22:56

 
Chef Normand Laprise of Toqué waxes poetic about morels, asparagus and other spring vegetables. I just like saying "sauce gribiche".
posted at 22:04

 
The Quebec Labour Minister has drawn a line in the sand: the STM and its maintenance union have 48 hours to bring the strike to a conclusion.
posted at 16:07

 
Now that summer's looming and a lot of us are looking at vacation time, this airfare deals page might suggest ideas.
posted at 13:10

 
The Fête Nationale this year is going to celebrate 40 years since Expo 67 and, oh joy, 30 years since the coming into force of Bill 101.
posted at 11:39

 
A major five-year project is to restore the Plateau's Carmelite monastery and keep the walls and structures from crumbling away.
posted at 11:33

 
Mont-Royal Avenue shopkeepers are into a campaign to keep shopping local, which can only be given a helpful nudge by the transit strike.
posted at 11:25

 
Mayor Tremblay is holding a hard line – for now – against the transit mechanics' union, as their strike enters its second day. Mario Dumont is demanding back-to-work legislation already (shut up, Mario, you've never lived in Montreal* and you won't have to live with the fallout).

People are having the expected difficulties getting around outside the windows of essentiality and even within them. But think of it this way: the union could've struck in February. It's been known to happen.

Here's a bit of positive transit news on another front. Bombardier gets to build the new metro cars and the issue won't be held up in a lengthy legal wrangle with Alstom after all.

*An attentive reader tells me that Dumont did a degree at Concordia so presumably lived in Montreal at some point. But not for long!
posted at 11:19

 
This How Stuff Works Montreal City Guide may be useful to somebody; if you've graduated from the basics, this other piece explains where to find romance in Montreal, although how you're supposed to get romantic at Notre-Dame is beyond me. The language of love, mon tabarnak?
posted at 11:39

 
This morning's transit services window apparently went off well. The Journal de Montréal suggests alternate means of travel for those who need to travel at other times, including possibly useful links to ride-sharing sites. Official STM page with schedule of operating hours during the strike.
posted at 11:32

 
A brief look at 25 new road repair sites about to start up around town.
posted at 11:19

 
This is no time to get nabbed for a felony: Montreal's prisons are bursting at the seams with more prisoners than they have proper room for.
posted at 11:08

 
The magnificent piles of shipping containers visible from Highway 20 in Lachine may go away if CP gets its way and builds a new terminal off the island. But this article talks as if they're an eyesore.
posted at 11:05

 

Now you see it, now you don't.

The STM has turned down its maintenance union's final offer, so the strike will start at midnight. It's the 15th strike to afflict the STM in 40 years, although it hasn't always been the maintenance workers who have walked out first.

Silly question: the late window of essential services runs theoretically from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Does this mean that, even though the strike starts at midnight, the union must provide an hour of essential services immediately after beginning its strike?
posted at 23:23

 
Mayor Tremblay talks up his transit plans and discusses the urban environment, and addresses the issue of real estate developers flouting the city and building without permits.
posted at 23:12

 
A glimpse of the history of the Chinese in Montreal from a hundred years ago.
posted at 22:39

 
Unashamed self-pimp here: I've posted a piece on gas stations as urban blight to Urbanphoto.net.
posted at 15:09

 
No resolution has been reached between the STM and its maintenance union, so it looks like midnight's transit strike is poised to begin. Both these articles contain info about the hours the system will operate under Essential Services rules. The STM's own site hasn't anything yet about the strike, in either language.
posted at 15:03

 
Pump up your bike tires and dust off your walking shoes. The transit strike still looks likely to begin as the long weekend ends, Monday at midnight. This piece lists the hours the system will still be running; if you have to get around outside those windows of essentiality, you're on your own.
posted at 13:01

 
La Ronde has opened for the season, and has also restored the 1885 carousel they've had since Expo 67. This blog has posted the story that the carousel was to be sold off and then that it wasn't, so it's nice to know it's still there (even if we never go to La Ronde).
posted at 12:55

 
It's the Anarchist book fair today in Saint-Henri; portraits of one thousand Montreal women at a gallery, then to go on show at the Old Port all summer; lots about Robert Lepage, whose new show Lipsynch plays during the Festival Transamériques; next week sees the 8th poetry festival at Mont-Royal metro; five years of the Piknic Électronique (beware sound on the Piknic's own site); there will be a Gay Pride Parade this summer, sometime in July maybe (this after announcements that the parade was off).
posted at 11:11

 
A nice piece on the new public market in Lachine and hopes that it will revitalize a moribund neighbourhood.
posted at 15:03

 
Montreal is castigated as a "paradise for pedophiles" in this Maclean's article which we'll be hearing more of. Although the word paradise is an odd choice, as I doubt life offers much in the way of paradisiacal experience to men driven by such socially invidious urges.
posted at 14:53

 
Petrowski on Streamlined Design at the MMFA (free admission!); the new Festival Transamériques theatre and dance fest starts next week; Saint-Viateur Bagel is turning 50 this weekend with a party this Sunday and today is Montreal's 365th birthday, yay!
posted at 14:14

 
The looming transit maintenance strike, which could be a long one, will include metro hours on weekends this time, and quite generous commuting hours for buses and metro during the week. Question: if the strike wasn't to be eked out and softened with essential-services provisions, wouldn't there be more motivation to settle it faster?

Transit is the inescapable story today, with more details of the mayor's 20-year, multi-billion-dollar transit plan, and angry responses to the proposed bridge tolls for access to the island. The mayor of Laval is particularly miffed, saying Montreal clearly thinks it's the navel of the world; sorry M. Vaillancourt, but in Quebec, it's Montreal that's la métropole, not Laval.
posted at 12:19

 
The STM maintenance union and the transit commission are still at an impasse over what will be considered essential services once the strike begins next Tuesday.
posted at 11:14

 
Montreal is on the verge of a new transit plan that includes the possible return of bridge tolls, more reserved bus lanes, and four tram lines including one to the top of Mount Royal, but not the full return of a tramway network, at least not at first.

I'd like to feel more enthusiasm for the tram thing, but I can't help a suspicion that, as Montreal jumped aboard the tram-demolition bandwagon in the 1950s without thinking ahead, because it was the fashion, it's now leaping onto another fashion bandwagon – trams as the cool urban solution – largely because many European cities have done so over the last decade. I can't help but foresee tram construction sites blocking up our streets for years (as happened in Dublin with the Luas) and cost overruns like those that plagued the Laval metro extension.

There's not much these trams will do that you couldn't do instantly by putting more buses on the 11, 80 and 165 routes, and creating a navette route for Old Montreal. But buses are so unglamorous.
posted at 10:58

 
The mayor is not keen on the Expo 2017 idea mentioned yesterday, saying he's more into building better public transit and the CHUM project.
posted at 11:24

 
Defining essential services has arisen again as the STM demands weekend metro service in the event of a strike, something that wasn't included in the last transit strike in 2003.

New metro cops will be armed with tasers as the city police begin to take over patrolling the system. Typically, law enforcement presents tasers as less dangerous than guns, but numerous deaths have been ascribed to them anyway.

The Gazette takes this moment to whinge about the state of the metro system, particularly Guy station and its trickling waters and cave-like ambiance.
posted at 11:17

 
More trees and an end to development on the mountain is what the city wants for Mount Royal, but nothing is said about holding back the Sulpicians' mausoleum-building frenzy in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges.
posted at 10:55

 
Not surprisingly, Ben's Deli is to be demolished by the real estate promoter who bought the property; meanwhile Wilensky's Light Lunch on Fairmount marks 75 years of operation.
posted at 10:43

 
A new independent group wants to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary by staging Expo 2017 here, using the old Expo 67 site and adjoining shores as the setting.

I'd like to feel more enthusiasm, but I have a feeling it won't come off, not least because security issues have so dampened the openness of international travel and cooperation.

Also, cheap jet travel and the internet have made the world much more accessible to us, so that exhibiting bits and pieces from exotic lands now has a kind of quaint 19th-century Crystal Palace Exhibition feel to it. There will be events and celebrations for the 150th, but I doubt we'll see a revival of Expo.
posted at 11:15

 
Pointe-à-Callière history museum is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month with special events and plans to extend its archaeological reach further underground; Mile End will have a new Saint-Viateur street festival on June 1, sponsored by neighbours Ubisoft.
posted at 10:55

 
With the fine weather also comes a surge in criminal activity as everything moves outside. At least the Carré Saint-Louis fountain is back in place after restoration by the city.
posted at 10:12

 
Workers at the city's biggest cemetery went on strike yesterday, interrupting the burial of the dead. And the transit maintenance strike – still on for next Tuesday – is seen as the first in a series of union struggles with Quebec municipalities over contract details.
posted at 10:08

 
Some very nice photos here on the Love Letter to Montreal pages; Montreal-based Wikitravel has won the Webby award for best travel website of 2007; new site Metro Boulot Resto is reviewing restaurants, and usefully listing them by proximity to metro stations – and their content is in both languages.
posted at 11:23

 
It's a slow news day when the fact that Montreal pedestrians cross on red lights gets into the news again.
posted at 10:58

 
Montreal police successfully nabbed Richard Goldberg, a man on the FBI "Ten Most Wanted" list on charges of child molestation in California. He'd been holed up in an apartment in Dorval under an assumed name.
posted at 22:32

 
Two students have made the 55 bus a thread on which to hang an audio tour of the various communities that cluster around the Main.
posted at 12:26

 
The Sedna IV returned triumphantly from the Antarctic yesterday, where it was welcomed by a crowd. Nice photo of the ship here by Eric Baillargeon.
posted at 12:09

 
Writer suggests other Quebec universities should not be spooked by UQÀM's Îlot Voyageur problems, and should continue to expand.
posted at 12:06

 
The city, seeing young families flee to the suburbs, has launched a policy to make urban life more attractive to them, although how you reverse a trend like that, in which peer and family pressure as much as anything makes it the norm to bring small children to remote, sterile suburban subdivisions, I do not know.
posted at 13:56

 
A preview of Museums Day, coming in two weeks' time.
posted at 13:50

 
This wire story about Montreal's vibrant rock scene is cropping up all over, although news about the city's "sudden success" as a cradle of talent isn't exactly novel. Another tale finding its way to the wires is that Montreal has to pay damages of $20,000 after a city-employed janitor's japes wrecked a bar mitzvah in a Pierrefonds hall.
posted at 21:45

 
Lucien Bouchard's going to represent UQÀM through their financial crisis, specifically over the Îlot Voyageur mess; meanwhile, the U of M is selling off an old convent it bought to renovate, but found to be too much of a money pit.
posted at 20:13

 
Midnight is the deadline! Vote for Montreal City Weblog as Best Blog in the Mirror's Best of Montreal 2007 readers' poll.

You need to have 25 entries on the form for it to count; here's last year's results for ideas.
posted at 16:25

 
Lobbying by the Bureau du cinéma et télévision du Québec has resulted in Hollywood productions returning to Montreal this summer.
posted at 12:56

 
More upcoming treats are being promised for a summer that already seems to be upon us. The Old Port (now being marketed as "The Quays of the Old Port") has a series of events, including things we've gotten accustomed to like the flower show and the book stalls, and various art exhibits and the arrival of the Sedna IV to a summer berth in the Old Port tomorrow morning.

Plans for the Fête nationale haven't completely been unveiled yet, but seem to involve a giant suitcase and Luc Picard.
posted at 11:23

 
A police assessment shows that 10,000 crimes were committed in the STM over two years, 15% of which were physical attacks of one sort or another. City police are to take over patrolling the systems starting next month, replacing the STM's longtime security guard system.
posted at 10:59

 
Eight city gardens have been found to be contaminated with post-industrial toxins, and users are told to grow flowers instead of vegetables, which may be OK for some, but the premise of these plots is so people can raise some of their own summer produce. Other gardens have simply not been tested yet, or their results are not yet in.
posted at 11:25

 
Gunther von Hagens once again defends the cadaver preservation work on display in Body Worlds 2.
posted at 11:20

 
The city is amassing land to be able to construct the very exciting glass box shown in that picture as the anchor project to the Quartier des spectacles project. Various players in the project are staking out their pieces of the action.
posted at 10:38

 
A new study says Montreal women are the prettiest in Quebec. A little hot weather and the silly season starts early.
posted at 10:32

 
Homicide. attempted homicide and burglary stats were up in 2006, but keep in mind this means we had 43 homicides in Montreal last year, up by 22% over the year before. Burglary is obviously a much bigger problem, with 14,000 residential break-ins, up by 8%.
posted at 19:35

 
Brief interview with Gunther von Hagens, mastermind of the somewhat notorious show Body World (Le monde du corps 2), opening tomorrow at the Centre des sciences on the Old Port; the Montreal Biennale, which also opens tomorrow; the Elektra fest also runs this weekend (we must be getting into festival season!); the new season of the Cité des arts du cirque, which only starts up in September.
posted at 10:49

 
Nicely done bit on Notre Dame de Bonsecours and its history.
posted at 10:41

 
La Presse has a bulletin that André Boisclair has quit as PQ honcho.
posted at 11:12

 
More memories of Gilles Villeneuve today, on the actual anniversary of his death 25 years ago.
posted at 10:59

 
The city is embarking on its first major residential development with a massive project in the east end, involving 1800 units to house 5000 people on 380,000 square metres of land in Maisonneuve. ... It's also choosing between three consortia for the construction of that new symphony hall we apparently need so badly. ... Can the metropolis support a third airport? Good question. ... Laval doesn't want Loto-Quebec's new racecourse any more than the Point wanted its new casino – gamble anywhere you like, just not in my back yard.
posted at 10:47

 
The Gay Village is to plant four palm trees at Ste-Catherine and Amherst as a sort of gateway to the neighbourhood. How they'll cope with winter is still an unknown.
posted at 23:20

 
A new gadget at the Port of Montreal will scan cargo for contraband radiation, in an effort to block terrorist activity.
posted at 21:12

 
After no end of hassle and strife, the Quebec government has called off the sale and privatization of Mont Orford provincial park.
posted at 20:29

 
Hundreds of people helped clean up Mount Royal on Sunday morning, while others piled into garden centres to buy stuff for their own plots or helped themselves to free city compost; the city's six-week post-winter cleaning binge is over, with mixed reviews. Once again, spring suddenly strikes, and everything's different.
posted at 03:01

 
Nice little piece on new guidebooks to Montreal for those who need them.
posted at 02:56

 
The Journal de Montréal has a big spread on the 25th anniversary of the decease of Gilles Villeneuve, with more articles promised later in the week.
posted at 14:01

 
STM maintenance workers met today and voted to strike on May 22 as a pressure tactic over stalled contract talks. This action doesn't involve the drivers and operators – not yet.
posted at 13:38

 
A new international airport is opening next month in Plattsburgh, New York, just over the border, with obvious intentions to compete directly with Pierre-Trudeau in Dorval by offering Montrealers cheap U.S. flights. Their logo includes the tagline l'aéroport américain de Montréal – yes, the site's in both languages.

Not only that, the little-used Saint-Hubert airport now wants federal money to expand so that Pratt & Whitney, one of the South Shore's bigger firms, doesn't move south of the border too.
posted at 17:21

 
Alleged Montreal godfather cops a plea in a Brooklyn courtoom and gets a ten-year sentence of which he's already deemed to have served a part, in connection with a hit in 1981.
posted at 16:07

 
A critique of the art in the metro for not being more daring and interesting; finally a French translation of Beautiful Losers; another rave for Cirque du Soleil's Kooza.
posted at 14:40

 

The Logo Cities conference is on this weekend, with various symposia and a show at Concordia's old VAV Gallery on René-Lévesque, which includes Simcha's old sign (shown above), letters from the old Warshaw's sign, part of the old Monkland Tavern sign and photos of commercial signage from various places.

It's a design weekend as people in related jobs answer questions about Montreal's status as a UNESCO City of Design.

Of a part with the preservationist tendency of this theme is this piece about the rescue of P. Gillman's storefront on Duluth (and illustrated with one of my photos of the place showing how it looked a year ago) and a brief timeline of Montreal architectural history.
posted at 13:51

 
It's horn-tootin' time! Vote for Montreal City Weblog as Best Blog in the Mirror's Best of Montreal 2007 readers' poll.

You have till May 11 and need to have 25 entries on the form for it to count; here's last year's results for ideas.

(The Mirror ought to change the page title for their current BOM form, because it still says 2006. Look how kind a freelance proofreader I am.)
posted at 14:37

 

New street signs at the corner of René-Lévesque and "University", the biggest lettering yet that I've seen on our signs.
posted at 14:30

 
The Biennale de Montréal is opening next week; interesting look at an art show on Saint-Hubert; various looks at the new Cirque du Soleil show, Kooza; this Sunday is Portes Ouvertes Design Montréal during which people can have a peek at various kinds of designers' projects and studios; if all this culture is too much for you, Sunday is also the day of the Corvée du Mont-Royal general spring cleaning of the mountain: sign up at 9 at the Chalet.
posted at 13:19

 
A nice piece on why rows of duplexes and triplexes are so typical of Montreal housing.
posted at 12:55

 
Despite 133 extra policemen covering road safety, we had more dead pedestrians and more serious accidents last year than the year before. And it remains to be seen whether police cameras on the lower Main will change the character of the area; police make statistical claims for the benefits of their cameras along Saint-Denis. And Radio-Canada says there's not much security at the Palais de Justice. But I thought the whole point of courtrooms was that the public could freely enter and see justice done?
posted at 11:02

 
The Grande Bibliothèque has to pay half a million dollars to Ville-Marie every year for the security perimeter distancing people from falling glass panels. Clearly some more permanent solution has to be found. Also, some boroughs want to get hold of the taxes paid by the Grande Bibliothèque to finance their own libraries, although the city says it has other ideas.

This is purely bizarre. The big library, one of the major treasures of this city, is being treated like a cash cow. That's ridiculous and pitiable. Also: why should churches be spared paying taxes, yet the library not? If anything ought to be given special treatment it's the cultural repository of a people, and that's found at the Grande Bibliothèque now, not at the cathedral.
posted at 10:52

 
The lineup for the 28th annual Jazz Festival has been announced and found good.
posted at 10:49

 
The Globe and Mail gleefully outlines the political reasons why Montreal sucks. Big surprise there.
posted at 10:40

 
The city is pondering closing seven police stations so they can put more coppers on the beat in areas where gang activity has been hot. Not clear why it's an either/or, although the answer is probably money.
posted at 11:33

 
The Monde du corps/Body worlds show at the science centre; acts coming to the 25th Just for Laughs fest (n.b. official site plays music) in July.
posted at 11:30

 
Montreal is a graffiti superpower despite our cold winters. The authorities are not amused.
posted at 11:08

 
The new education minister is getting involved in UQÀM's affairs as the Îlot Voyageur project drifts deeper into debt.
posted at 10:54

 
A standing wave near Habitat brings surfers here to challenge the chilly waters of the St. Lawrence.
posted at 10:33