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Affichage des résultats pour les étiquettes 'lakes'.
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When did the decline of Montreal really start?
un sujet a posté ouaouaron dans Discussions générales
http://westislandgazette.com/bluenotes/23052 Blue Notes Thursday, May 26, 2011 When did the decline of Montreal really start? posted by BOFarrell at 7h15 I spent some of my early childhood in the beaches area of Toronto. My father was in the marine insurance business. He, like many of his colleagues, would have to go up to Montreal once a month to meet with "head office." That was when Montreal was the largest inland ocean port in the world. That was when Montreal was in charge of the country. He used to bring me back Tintin books in French, thinking that it was a way to inculcate me with culture. Luckily, there were pictures. But I did learn the phrase: "Tonnerre de Brest." I am still waiting for an opportunity to use it in conversation. Captain Haddock was my favourite character. He was crusty and drank too much. Even then I had an inkling of my own future. Those of us who can see clearly know full well the impact of Quebec nationalism and the subsequent language laws on the decline of Montreal. Those of us not protected from reality by the spin of the Quebec political class. But is it not probable that Montreal's economic decline began even before that, with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959? That was when trans-oceanic shipping no longer had to stop here. And trade could bypass Montreal and go directly into the great lakes. That was when the ascendancy of Toronto began in earnest. I wonder if the architects of the seaway foresaw the coming political crises in Quebec. If they understood that Montreal would end up being on the wrong side of the Quebec border and, therefore, they had to make a preemptive strike. The seaway had a large effect on the ecology of the great lakes. Ocean-going vessels brought various species into the water that had never been there before, Zebra mussels to name one. These consequences are well documented in books. But there is not much to be found on the political motives of the major players in this engineering feat, which was built between 1954 and 1959 as a federal government project by Louis St. Laurent's Liberal government. Most of the literature I could find only talks about the politics between Canada and the U.S., the rocky road to how it eventually became a bilateral project. Because it happened before the rise of Quebec nationalism, there is no discussion about that as a motive for its creation. But in retrospect it has had so many detrimental effects to the economy of Montreal that one would figure that some of its more astute architects must have foreseen them. Before it ships had to be unloaded in Montreal and the goods put on trains. Wheat and other commodities were trained from the interior to Montreal and put on ships here. That diminished after the seaway. And the national railroads that once had their head offices here have moved out. So was there a "Bay Street conspircy" of some kind? Montreal did experience its zenith in the late '60s, when it hosted Expo 67. But perhaps this is what sociologists call a "sunset effect" - just before a society is about to collapse, it goes through a colourful cultural explosion. Right after that Montreal began to lose its position as the economic metropolis of Canada. And ever since, it seems that it has been losing out to Toronto. Rick Blue is a resident of Beaconsfield and is half of the musical comedy duo of Bowser and Blue. -
Quebec could make $9.5B a year selling water to U.S.: report
un sujet a posté ErickMontreal dans L'actualité
Quebec could make $9.5B a year selling water to U.S.: report By NINA LEX, ReutersJuly 16, 2009 3:50 PM Quebec could raise as much as $9.5 billion a year by reversing the flow of three northern rivers to generate power and export water to the United States, according to a report made public yesterday. The Montreal Economic Institute said Quebec could divert floodwaters from the three rivers in the spring, pumping the excess water higher, and then letting it flow south through the Ottawa River to the St. Lawrence. The rivers - the Broadback, Waswanipi and Bell - currently flow into James Bay and then into Hudson Bay. The report said that diverting the floodwater from north to south would boost levels on the St. Lawrence River and let U.S. and Canadian authorities increase their use of freshwater from the Great Lakes without any risk to St. Lawrence - a major international seaway. "The revenue generated by exporting freshwater would be the result of complex negotiations between state, provincial and federal governments," said the report, compiled by former hydroelectric power engineer Pierre Gingras. "Whatever the outcome of negotiations, and given the probable increase in the value of water in the coming years, this revenue from the sale of water would contribute significantly to the financial health of the Quebec government and the general prosperity of Quebecers." The idea of bulk water exports from Canada has always been controversial, for political, environmental and security reasons. But Gingras said the scheme could net the province about $7.5 billion a year - assuming that the extra water supplied some 150 million people who paid a "very reasonable" $50 a year for the water. The project, which Gingras calls Northern Waters, would also build 25 hydroelectric plants and dams along the Ottawa River, generating electricity worth $2 billion a year. He put the cost of the project at $15 billion and said it could be completed by 2022. "It should be a very profitable project for Quebec," he said. But environmental group Great Lakes United said a project like Northern Waters could be devastating to the environment. "The seasonal runoff is not surplus water. The rising and lowering of the rivers and lakes is critical to protecting the marsh which is home to so much wildlife," program director John Jackson said. He said the project was contrary to legislation that forbids the bulk export of Canadian water from any of the five major basins, including the Hudson Bay Basin. "There would be huge legal fights. There is no way you could win those battles," Jackson said. The report - available at http://www.iedm.org - said the environmental impact would be relatively small because the project would only capture "seasonal surplus waters." © Copyright © The Montreal Gazette -
Ces résultats «très vigoureux» s'expliquent par des apports d'eau encore supérieurs à la moyenne au Québec, en Ontario et en Nouvelle-Angleterre. Pour en lire plus...
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Toronto Star: Montreal musicians dominate Polaris shortlist
un sujet a posté mtlurb dans L'actualité
Montreal musicians dominate Polaris shortlist Jul 11, 2007 07:44 PM Ben Rayner Pop Music Critic The votes are in and, apparently, Toronto is no longer quite the centre of the Canadian musical universe. Only expat-Torontonian Leslie Feist - who actually hails originally from Calgary - muscled her way onto the shortlist for the second annual Polaris Music Prize, unveiled yesterday afternoon during a reception on the Drake Hotel's rooftop patio attended by such homegrown rockers as Joel Plaskett and Olga Goreas of the Besnard Lakes. The tres au courant indie scene in Montreal, represented by five acts including rising stars Arcade Fire and Patrick Watson, dominated the final voting. More than 170 music writers and broadcasters from across the country who were polled last month on their favourite Canadian albums released between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007. The rest came from points as varied as Hamilton, Halifax, Calgary and Sackville, N.B. "It was an arduous process," said Polaris founder Steve Jordan. "We saw some records move up and down in the balloting as time went on, and I think people really gave serious consideration to their choices. It's going to be a real challenge to pick a winner ... All of these records are 'epics' in some way." The Polaris shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows: Arcade Fire, Neon Bible. The Besnard Lakes, Are the Dark Horse. The Dears, Gang of Losers. Julie Doiron, Woke Myself Up. Feist, The Reminder. Junior Boys, So This is Goodbye. Miracle Fortress, Five Roses. Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock. Chad VanGaalen, Skelliconnection. Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise. The winner will be determined after a day of hard-fought argument between a small group of final jurors on Sept. 24 and announced that same night during a gala concert. The prize - taken last year by Toronto's Final Fantasy for his album He Poos Clouds - is $20,000 cash. A Polaris compilation album featuring tracks by each of the nominees will also be released on Aug. 28.
