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http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/keywords-to-expand-its-montreal-studio-creating-100-jobs-577614131.html MONTRÉAL, Canada and DUBLIN, Ireland, April 29, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Keywords Studios, an international technical service provider to the global video game industry, announced today that it intends to expand further in Montréal, creating 100 new jobs within the next three years. This announcement was made during a visit of The Honourable Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montréal and President of the Montréal Metropolitan Community, at Keywords headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and after his discussions with Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer of Keywords Studios. We love the city and we love the quality of the talent we can find in Montréal", commented Mr Day. "Since coming to Montréal in 2010, we've had great results there and we want to continue this success." Keywords offers technical services to the gaming industry. Functional testing and localization testing are the main tasks accomplished in Montréal. Keywords' clients includes the world's best-known developers, among which, to name a few, Ubisoft, WB Games, Zynga, King and Sony. They have worked on thousands of different titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Halo 5: Guardians, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Candy Crush, Clash Royale and Mobile Strike. "Keywords' decision to continue to invest in our metropolis illustrates once again Montréal's strength in the video game industry", said The Honourable Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montréal and President of the Montréal Metropolitan Community, during his visit of Keywords' headquarters, part of his European trip. "What's more, it does highlight the fact that the whole gaming cluster plays a vital role in our economy and that Montréal is the place to be." Montréal International, Greater Montréal's investment promotion agency, has provided support to Keywords Studios over the years. "Along with our government partners, we've been working with Keywords since their arrival in Montréal, stated Stéphane Paquet, Vice President - Investment Greater Montréal at Montréal International. Their reinvestment is most welcome and the whole team at MI look forward to continuing working with Keywords on other projects." "I hope that this most recent announcement is only a first step, added Mr Day, since we are currently studying further more ambitious possibilities for our Montréal studio." Keywords' Montréal studio currently employs around 350 employees.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/23/sane-way-run-megalopolis-urban-governance?utm_source=SFFB Protesters march through the streets of Ferguson in August. Aaron M Renn Thursday 23 April 2015 15.39 BST Last modified on Thursday 23 April 2015 16.57 BST The death of Michael Brown, shot by a police officer last year in Ferguson, Missouri, triggered civil unrest and protests that have yet to subside, with two police officers recently shot in the city. The media has blamed lots of things for the chaos that has engulfed Ferguson, from racism to inequality, but one factor might raise an eyebrow: municipal fragmentation in the St Louis area. There are 90 separate cities and towns in St Louis County alone, which has created a landscape of small, cash-strapped cities pulling on tiny tax bases to finance their governments. The US Justice Department has specifically accused Ferguson of using its police department as a revenue-raising arm, with a racial bias and as such it could be argued that municipal fragmentation played a role in creating the conditions that produced police-community tensions in Ferguson. A few year earlier, in 2010 and 800 miles to the north-east, Toronto elected the suburban politician Rob Ford from Etobicoke as mayor. Ford swept into office pledging to “stop the gravy train” and cut spending, cancelling bike infrastructure and streetcars. His sensibilities appalled urban Torontonians. The urban studies theorist Richard Florida called him “the worst and most anti-urban mayor in the history of any major city”. His mayoralty ultimately collapsed in a wave of scandals, including when he got caught on video smoking crack. People in ​​living in cities and those in their suburbs often have different values, priorities and cultures One of the factors blamed for the Rob Ford phenomenon? Amalgamation, or the consolidation of the city of Toronto with several formerly independent municipalities, including Etobicoke. It is amalgamation that allowed suburbanites to take control of governance over the inner city by electing one of their own as mayor. Welcome to the wonderful world of governing urban regions, where between fragmentation and amalgamation no one actually knows what the right-sized box for local government is or how to change it – but everyone can see the problems of most of the existing governance models. An election on 7 April was seen as a critical step toward ending racially discriminatory practices that thrust the St. Louis suburb into the national spotlight last year. An election on 7 April was seen as a critical step toward ending racially discriminatory practices that thrust the St Louis suburb into the national spotlight last year. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters Municipal fragmentation has been criticised for decades. In Cities Without Suburbs, his influential 1993 book, former Albuquerque mayor David Rusk argued that Rust Belt cities in the US failed to succeed in part because they were unable to expand, and found themselves hemmed in by a jigsaw puzzle of independent suburbs. Advertisement But with cities having become central to national governance in the 21st century, institutions like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank are weighing in, too. Both recently sounded the alarm about the risks of urban fragmentation on a global level, for the developed and the developing world. “Often, administrative boundaries between municipalities are based on centuries-old borders that do not correspond to contemporary patterns of human settlement and economic activity,” the OECD observed in a recent report. The thinktank argued that governance structures failed to reflect modern realities of metropolitan life into account. Behind the report’s dry prose lies a real problem. Fragmentation affects a whole range of things, including the economy. The OECD estimates that for regions of equal population, doubling the number of governments reduces productivity by 6%. It recommends reducing this effect with a regional coordinating body, which can also reduce sprawl, increase public transport satisfaction (by 14 percentage points, apparently) and improve air quality. The World Bank, meanwhile, is worried about the way rapid growth in developing cities has created fragmentation there, too. Metropolises often sprawl well beyond government boundaries: Jakarta, for example, has spread into three separate provinces. The World Bank calls fragmentation “a significant challenge in the East Asia region”. Urban fragmentation in Jakarta Urban fragmentation in Jakarta. The urban area covers 1,600 sq km and 12 jurisdictions. Photograph: World Bank/University of Wisconsin-Madison “It’s quite a surprise how much fragmentation there is,” says Judy Baker, one of the authors of the World Bank’s recent report titled East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape. “It’s a challenge for almost every city.” Among the surprising findings of the report is that 135 of the nearly 350 urban regions they surveyed in East Asia had no dominant local jurisdiction. The glaring example here is of course the largest urban area in the world, the Pearl River Delta region in China, a megapolitan region that includes many major cities, including Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and others. In Manila in the Philippines, no less than 85 municipalities are involved in the megacity’s governance. Advertisement Planners love efficiency, but even on a piece of paper it can be hard to know what size box to draw. As the OECD put it: “Even if policymakers try to reorganise local governments according to functional relations within urban agglomerations, it is often difficult to identify boundaries between functionally integrated areas.” In plain English: nobody really knows where to draw the lines. And as the Toronto example shows, amalgamation – bringing fragmented government regions together – comes with downsides of its own. Of course, you can put people in the same governmental box, but that won’t necessarily create common ground – instead, it can create a zero-sum, winner-takes-all dynamic. People in living in cities and those in their suburbs often have different values, priorities and even a different culture. They can be, as was famously said of English and French Canada, “two solitudes”. Urbanites who support regional governance frequently assume that means more power, money and resources for the central city. But as Rob Ford so richly illustrated, that’s not always the case. Among those who stand to lose from regional government are minorities. In Ferguson, black residents were already under-represented in government relative to their population. But as a voting block they would find their strength heavily diluted in a merged government: Ferguson is more than two-thirds African-American, while St Louis County plus the city of St Louis together are about 70% white. Unsurprisingly, central cities tend to prefer regional revenue-sharing without giving up political control. Detroit, despite serious financial problems, has viciously fought sharing control over city assets, even where they serve a broader region. Detroit’s convention centre is a good example of the tensions that can arise: it took years to agree renovations to the building, as despite arguing the suburbs should help pay for the building they partly enjoy, the city did not want to cede any control over it. Part of the city’s bankruptcy “grand bargain” involved raising regional water rates to funnel money back into the city while retaining city ownership over a regional water utility. But simply creating revenue streams, via regional cash sharing or consolidation, doesn’t guarantee better governance, as Detroit proves. Putting people in the same governmental box doesn’t necessarily create common ground, as the example of Toronto shows. Putting people in the same governmental box doesn’t necessarily create common ground, as the example of Toronto shows. Photograph: Alamy Indianapolis is also an instructive case. The city established a consolidated regional government in 1970 called Unigov (which Rusk hailed as a model). Unigov expanded the city’s tax base by amalgamating most of its new, fast-growing suburbs into the city. But the urban region continued to sprawl, eventually going beyond even the newly consolidated boundaries. Today’s growth in Indianapolis is all happening outside Unigov’s borders, and the city now finds itself supporting ageing suburban areas – just like Ferguson in St Louis – that it can’t afford. Consolidated government arguably gave Indianapolis four decades of financial breathing room, but that simply let it put off reform. Similarly, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was originally a well-functioning regional governance body, but is now a quagmire of dysfunction. The soaring costs of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s $4.2bn PATH subway station at the World Trade Centre – and a proposal to spend $10bn to replace a bus station – are examples of an agency that has lost its grip on fiscal reality. No perfect solution exists, some cities have got it more right than others If no perfect solution exists, some cities have got it more right than others. The Greater London Authority (GLA) – because of its limited scope mostly focused on transport, public safety and economic development – has focused on doing a few things well. Its focus on transportation is targeted at an area where regional coordination really is crucial. Clearly, transport has to be designed and implemented on a regional basis, at least for major infrastructure. New York’s Port Authority arguably went off the rails in the late 1960s when it expanded beyond transportation and got into the real estate business by building the World Trade Centre. So the best way to start charting a middle ground between fragmentation and amalgamation might be for cities to look for ways to better regionalise transport governance. It won’t be easy, not least because of the common fighting over territory, both geographical and bureaucratic. London’s success with the GLA, compared with how amalgamation set Toronto’s transport planning back a decade or more, shows that creating a regional entity is only half the battle. The real drive is to create regional agreement and consensus . As cities mushroom and fragmentation increases, that consensus is becoming more crucial – and harder to achieve – than ever. sent via Tapatalk

'Iconic' park will rise from former St-Michel dump Kevin Mio, Montreal Gazette More from Kevin Mio, Montreal Gazette Published on: August 28, 2015 | Last Updated: August 28, 2015 3:32 PM EDT What was once a quarry and garbage dump that has marred the city’s St-Michel district for decades will soon become one of Montreal’s — if not the world’s — most iconic parks, Mayor Denis Coderre said on Friday. The St-Michel Environmental Complex will be transformed into the city’s second-largest park, behind Mount Royal, beginning with several new sections that are to be opened to the public for the first time in 2017, in time for the city’s 375th birthday. The whole project is slated to be completed by 2023, Coderre said. “New York has its Central Park, Paris has its Luxembourg Gardens, London has its Hyde Park. If it is true that the major cities of the world can be recognized by their legendary green spaces, Montreal has certainly not been left out,” the mayor said as he made the announcement standing in front of what will become a 12.5 hectare wooded area and lookout in a few years. “We already have Mount Royal Park, our largest park, and in a few years we will soon have another equally iconic (park) right here,” he said. “This transformation represents one of the most ambitious environmental rehabilitation projects ever undertaken in an urban environment in North America,” Coderre said. “We are building a park out of a site that contains 40 million tonnes of garbage.” The cost of this phase of the project is $33.7 million, which the city is paying for from its capital works budget. The final price tag for the remainder of the work is not known. However, Coderre said whatever money is needed will be made available to complete the project. Once finished, the park will include thousands of trees, a lake, wooded areas, pathways, rest spots, an outdoor theatre and more. Anie Samson, the mayor of the Villeray — Saint-Michel — Park Extension borough and member of the executive committee, said the transformation shows that the impossible is possible. “Today is a big day for us and it is one more step forward toward the realization of our dreams (for St-Michel),” she said. “For the past 20 or 30 years, (residents) had a dump over there. Now it is going to be one of the biggest and nicest parks in the world,” Samson said. By 2017, just over 17 hectares of park space will be open to the public. In all, the park will occupy 153 hectares of the 192-hectare site. “A lot of people are talking about sustainable development, but what does it mean? I think we have a living proof here,” Coderre said. “We are providing today a new definition of how to revitalize an area. Frankly, at the end of the day … a lot of people are inspired by other cities. Trust me, this one will be an inspiration for the rest of the world.” Journalists were given a bus tour of the site Friday morning, which included a drive into the lowest point of the former quarry, which will eventually become the lake. It will be five times as big as Beaver Lake on Mount Royal. The lake will be filled with run-off water from the park and will be treated to make it safe to be used for boating and kayaking, but not for swimming. The second major project is a new entrance way to the park along Papineau Ave. that will include, among other things, a sliding area for winter activities, public spaces and areas where people can rest or play outdoor games such as Frisbee or flying kites. Two other sections already opened to the public will be reconfigured and new entrances constructed. There is already a pathway that rings the entire complex, but this is the first time the public will be allowed onto the landfill site. But how they will get to the park, near the corner of Papineau Ave. and Jarry St., is another question since public transit to the area is far from ideal. Coderre said they are working on a plan to address that issue. “We can have the nicest park, but it has to be accessible,” Coderre said. “We want Montrealers to be able to take advantage of the park so there will be an action plan for public transit, a mobility plan.” One challenge city officials face is how to camouflage the more than 500 wells that dot the site. They serve as monitoring stations for the biogas which is emitted by the buried garbage and the city must find a way to hide them while still allowing them to be accessible to workers for repairs. At the same time, they must prevent vandalism. The biogas is recovered and used as fuel on site by Gazmont, producing enough electricity for 2,000 homes. The company signed a new deal this year to recuperate the gas for 25 years once renovations are completed in 2016. The electricity is sold to Hydro-Québec, with the city getting 11.4 per cent of total sales per year. kmio@montrealgazette.com http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/iconic-park-will-rise-from-former-st-michel-dump

Ohoh!! Quelques points très intéressant :

Via Global News : Plans for Pointe-Claire eyesore in Valois Village By Amanda Kelly Global News MONTREAL – Pointe-Claire could soon be getting a long-awaited economic shot in the arm in the Valois district. Global News has learned there are three to four interested parities to buy an abandoned building on Donegani Avenue next to the Sources Boulevard overpass. RELATED: Residents want new mayor to initiate change in Pointe-Claire The restructuring company Richter has confirmed that both residential and commercial developers are involved in purchasing negotiations. No amounts are being released but Raymond Massi of Richter has confirmed that the numbers were significantly higher than the assessed value of more than $1.6 million. Richter has been appointed by the commercial division of the Quebec Superior Court to sell the property by the end of November. But Massi thinks a sale could occur within the next several months. POLL: Should Pointe-Claire’s Valois Village get a facelift? The building has been boarded up and abandoned for years. The mayor of Pointe-Claire wasn’t aware serious buyers had stepped forward but he’s thrilled with the news. “If somebody is interested in purchasing that property and they want to develop it we’re very happy,” Morris Trudeau said. “It would obviously help the area because it’s a depressed corner and it’s the window to Pointe-Claire when you arrive from the Montreal airport. To run into a building like that is just unacceptable.” © Shaw Media, 2014

The jury members are: - Melvin Charney, architect; - Odile Decq, architect and Director of the École Spéciale d'Architecture, Paris; - Jacques Des Rochers, Curator of Canadian Art, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts; - Michel Dionne, architect, Cooper, Robertson & Partners, New York; - Raphaël Fischler, urban planner and professor at the School of Urban Planning, McGill University; - Mario Masson, landscape architect and Division Manager, Service du développement culturel, de la qualité du milieu de vie et de la diversité ethnoculturelle, Ville de Montréal; - Alessandra Ponte, associate professor, School of Architecture, Université de Montréal; - Philippe Poullaouec-Gonidec, landscape architect and holder of the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design at Université de Montréal. Instructions for prospective entrants (Courtesy of CNW Telbec)

http://www.westislandgazette.com/news/28915 Dorval considering options for major facelift City wants public input on its draft of master urban plan Albert Kramberger The Gazette Wednesday, March 14, 2012 The city of Dorval is looking to make a few changes in how it looks - everything from revitalizing its waterfront to giving Dorval Ave. a facelift. The next step in preparing a new sustainable master urban plan is a public consultation set for March 26. The city has prepared a draft of its master plan, a general statement of the direction the city should follow over the next two decades regarding development, zoning and quality of life concerns as well as promoting and encouraging "greener" options. It now hopes to gauge input from citizens before adopting the formal version later this fall, said Mayor Edgar Rouleau. Among its proposals, the city aims to make its waterfront along Lake St. Louis more user-friendly and animated, possibly installing outdoor exercise equipment at Millennium Park. As well, it will consider purchasing select private lands near existing cityowned sites, like the Forest and Stream Club, should they ever come on the market, the mayor said. "There are sites along Lakeshore that may, in five or 10 years, become available and the council should at that time evaluate if it's worthwhile to acquire," Rouleau said of potentially adding to publicly owned space along the lake. "Is it going to expensive? As you know, yes." While the city is also looking at encouraging highdensity residential develop-ment, especially around the Pine Beach and Dorval train stations and along Bouchard Blvd., it will have to be measured in light of respecting the single-family home residential character in much of the city. There is also a goal to reverse an aging demographic trend by attracting young families and immigrants, the latter of which are expected to account for more than 30 per cent of Dorval's population by 2024. As of 2011, Dorval had about 18,615 residents and approximately 8,000 households, with an additional 2,000 housing units envisioned by the city within a decade, including more affordable housing. "Residents want the population to increase, but they don't want to lose that residential sector that we have," Rouleau said. "We're not going to change that, except those few big lots we have, like the one at the corner of De la Presentation and Lakeshore, which will soon be developed," he said. The city also aims to revitalize the commercial area on Dorval Ave. and make it more attractive. For example, by allowing outdoor terraces, and making it safer for both pedestrians and cyclists. A study has already been commissioned to prepare some proposals, the mayor said. "We want it more friendly, but the challenge is that we cannot widen the road," Rouleau said of Dorval Ave. "Whatever we extend, we have to take it from somewhere else. Right now it's two lanes each way with an island in the middle and sidewalks on both sides," he said, adding that perhaps the avenue could be reduced to one lane in each direction with a narrow median strip to allow for something like a bike path.

(Courtesy of The Montreal Gazette)

The whole blogosphere and media in Canada has said a lot of things about two mayoral elections in two of Canada's major cities the past month. Both of them had the guy expected to come in 3rd place, win the elections with a majority of votes, with high voter turnouts as well. Everyone was surprised because a "progressive", brown, unmarried and Muslim guy won the mayoralty in Calgary (of all places) and a "hyper-conservative" fat white guy won the mayoralty in Toronto, which just shatters everyone's stereotypes of both cities. Some say they should have happened the other way around But it seems that the "progressive" Mr. Nenshi is also quite respectful of the taxpayers, which is always very nice to hear of and would be most welcome in Montreal or any city. He has said he has "a lot in common" with Mr. Ford, and has been trying to find ways to cut spending in his city to reduce a planned property tax hike. So I liked this article: As for Rob Ford, I don't think he has actually become Mayor of Toronto yet or at least has done anything, except meet with all the elected councillors to get to know them. Who said things about "angry politics", he seems like he is actually trying to make the council work An interesting, contemporary TO article: This article about spending by TO city councillors is also illuminating: http://www.nationalpost.com/high+costs+council/3780393/story.html Some highlights: I don't think I even want to know what the books look like for Montreal's city council

NEARLY $630 MILLION IN FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND TWO NEW INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ATTRACTED; HELP TO OVER 1,000 SKILLED FOREIGN WORKERS TO ESTABLISH IN GREATER MONTRÉAL MONTREAL, April 15 /CNW Telbec/ - On the occasion of its 14th Annual Meeting held today with 200 members and partners attending, Montréal International (MI) presented its results for the year 2009. Among the highlights were the metropolitan economic development organization's success in contributing to attract nearly $630 million in foreign investment, two new international organizations and over 1,000 skilled foreign workers into Greater Montréal. On the innovation front, MI supported five promising projects in high-tech industries in Metropolitan Montréal. As for promoting the region's advantages on the international stage, some 40 activities were undertaken in foreign markets. At the event - which welcomed Mr. André Lauzon, Executive Producer and Head of Electronic Arts Mobile Montréal as guest speaker - the Acting President and CEO of Montréal International, Mr. Luc Lacharité, emphasized: "The competence and dedication of MI's staff, combined with the support and collaboration of the organization's members and partners, once again has generated further substantial benefits for the metropolitan region's economic competitiveness and international status, in spite of difficult world economic conditions." Foreign investment In 2009, MI helped attract $626.3 million in foreign investment into Greater Montréal. This investment, nearly three-quarters of which is in high-technology sectors and will create or maintain over 2,900 jobs in the metropolitan region, comes 56% from North America, 32% from Europe and 12% from Asia. A further indicator of the added value of MI's results is that over half (55.3%) of the projects were new set-ups. International organizations In terms of attracting international organizations (IOs), the MI 2009 Activity Report mentions the decision of two IOs to set up in Montréal, as well as the official opening of the secretariats of two other IOs in the metropolis. Various international promotional and networking activities were also organized among the IOs community during the year. Skilled foreign workers In 2009, the International Mobility team handled 1,025 files of skilled foreign workers on behalf of 262 businesses, institutions and international organizations in Greater Montréal. In total, 1,784 individuals benefited from MI help and career counselling to settle in the region. The impact of this specialized foreign workforce is very positive for Greater Montréal, as their combined earnings will represent more than $155 million over three years. This qualified workforce also boosts the region's expertise in key sectors. Innovation Last year, MI supported five promising projects in innovation development in Greater Montréal: - Research and innovation initiative in computer-generated images, a Québec Film and Television Council project; - Mobility Alliance, a TechnoMontréal project in cooperation with Alliance numérique to develop and market new applications and new content for mobile platforms; - ScienceAffaires meetings, in cooperation with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), a pilot project to maximize sharing among scientists, artists, economic development players and the business world; - A market intelligence study in the medical drug sector, in cooperation with the Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CDQM); - The 2009 Aerospace Innovation Forum, organized by Aéro Montréal. International promotion of Greater Montréal At the top of the list of MI's key promotional achievements in 2009 is its upgraded website. The 2009-2010 edition of "Greater Montréal's Attractiveness Indicators" has also drawn keen interest. This annual MI publication also won an APDEQ (Québec Association of Economic Development Professionals) award in the best information tool category. Lastly, numerous promotional events were organized last year, including a mission to New York in which MI partners participated. MI Board of Directors The 2010-2011 Board of Directors of Montréal International is made up of the following members (N=new member, R=renewal): Private Sector Members: - Mr. Luc Benoît, President, AECOM Tecsult; - Mr. André Boulanger, President, Hydro-Québec Distribution ®; - Mr. Jean-Jacques Bourgeault, Vice Chairman of the Board, Montréal International, and Corporate Director; - Mr. Pierre Brunet, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Montréal International, and Corporate Director; - Mr. Renaud Caron, Principal Vice President, Strategic Development, CGI Group; - Me C. Stephen Cheasley, Treasurer, Montréal International, and Partner, Fasken Martineau ®; - Mr. James C. Cherry, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aéroports de Montréal ®; - Mr. Richard Filion, Director General, Dawson College, and President, Regroupement des collèges du Montréal métropolitain (Metropolitan Montréal College Alliance); - Mr. Michel Guay, Chairman of the Board, TechnoMontréal ®; - Mr. Luc Lacharité, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer, Montréal International; - Mr. Guy LeBlanc, Managing Partner, Montréal Office, PricewaterhouseCoopers (N); - Me David McAusland, Partner, McCarthy Tétrault ®; - Mr. Andrew T. Molson, Vice Chairman, Molson Coors Brewing Company ®; - Mr. Marc Parent, President of the Board of Directors, Aéro Montréal, and President and Chief Executive Officer, CAE; - Ms. Louise Roy, Chancellor, Université de Montréal, Chair of the Board, Conseil des arts de Montréal, and Cirano invited Fellow ®; - Mr. Jean-Pierre Sauriol, President and CEO, Dessau; - Mr. Hubert Thibault, Vice President - Institutional Affairs, Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec ®; - Ms. Sylvie Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Montréal Port Authority ®; - Dr. Judith Woodsworth, President, Concordia University. Public sector Representatives: - Mr. Michael Applebaum, Mayor of the Borough of Côte-des-Neiges - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of the City of Montréal, responsible for Services to citizens, Relations with the Boroughs and Housing, Member of the Agglomeration Council and the Board of Directors of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) (N); - Mr. Richard Deschamps, Member of the Executive Committee, responsible for Major Projects 2025, Economic development, Infrastructures and Roads, City Councillor, LaSalle Borough, City of Montréal ®; - Mr. Claude Haineault, Mayor of the City of Beauharnois ®; - Mr. Luis Miranda, Mayor of the Anjou Borough, City of Montréal ®; - Ms. Sylvie Parent, Member of the Executive Committee, City of Longueuil ®; - Mr. Jean-Marc Robitaille, Mayor of the City of Terrebonne and Warden of MRC Des Moulins ®; - Mr. Jean Séguin, Sous-ministre adjoint à la Métropole, Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire (MAMROT); - Mr. Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of the City of Montréal and President of the Board, Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) ®; - Ms. Rita Tremblay, Vice President, Policy and Planning, Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions; - Mr. Gilles Vaillancourt, Mayor of the City of Laval and Vice President of the Board, Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) ®. A full report of Montréal International's 2009 activities is available on its website: http://www.montrealinternational.com. About Montréal International Montréal International (MI) was created in 1996 as a result of a private/public partnership. Its mission is to contribute to the economic development of metropolitan Montréal and to enhance its international status. Its mandates include attracting foreign investment, international organizations and qualified workers, supporting the development of innovation and metropolitan clusters, and promoting the competitive and international environment of Greater Montréal. Montréal International is funded by the private sector, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (Montréal Metropolitan Community), the City of Montréal and the Governments of Canada and Québec. Since its creation, Montréal International has helped to attract more than $7.5 billion in foreign investment to Greater Montréal. From these investments, more than 43 000 jobs have been created or maintained. To date, MI's activities have also allowed more than 25 international organizations to establish themselves in the city and attract more than 4 000 qualified foreign workers. To learn more, please visit MI Web site at: http://www.montrealinternational.com. For further information: Benoît Lefèvre, Communications Advisor, Montréal International, (514) 987-9323, benoit.lefevre@montrealinternational.com http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2010/15/c2834.html

I haven't seen this article posted anywhere. Given the challenges presented with putting up the Mackay project I suspect this doesn't bode well for future tall development. Megaproject proposals put Montreal at 'major crossroads': founder Lambert http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/think+tank+will+conscience+mayor/2104533/story.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Lambert+mayor+Sean+Finn+follows+tradition+stepping+down/1977123/story.html I was really hoping that he would seekk re-election. In that case, I hope Finn's ally, councillor Philippe Brunet wins the election. Or former local Conservative candidate Patrick Clune, who is rumoured to be running. As long as its not a "No" side committee member.

New York City fears return to 1970s Tue Jan 27, 2009 By Joan Gralla http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...50Q6IH20090127

By Anne Sutherland, The Gazette Benoit Labonté, borough mayor of Ville Marie, will be tabling a motion tonight that will provide for eight days of free parking downtown in an effort to help merchants in these tough economic times. He will propose that city parking meters will be free from 9 a.m. on Dec. 20 to 5 p.m. on Dec. 28. The gross loss of revenue from those metered spots will be $800,000, but Labonté said the net loss to the Ville Marie borough will be between $100,000 and $150,000. “We’re talking about one week in the year to help our tax-paying merchants, a kind of subsidy,” Labonté said. “The message we’re giving to citizens is come downtown to shop and don’t go to the suburbs.” Labonté and his Vision Montreal councillors have a three to two advantage on the borough council, so the motion is expected to pass. --

Mayor wants answers on city issues The Gazette Published: 6 hours ago Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay has written a letter to Jean Charest to find out where the Liberal leader stands on issues that are important to Montreal. Tremblay said he would like Charest to outline his government's plan for the city. He said improving the economy of Montreal will yield economic spinoffs in the rest of the province as well. In the letter, dated Nov. 12, Tremblay said he is anxious to hear Charest's proposals on how to "give Montreal the tools to properly assume its role as the economic motor of the province." Tremblay outlined several key areas his administration is working on that need government support: - A 20-year $8.1-billion transportation plan, which outlines major projects to renovate roads, improve public transit, and add bicycle paths. He said Charest needs to commit major public funds to help this project along. - Tremblay said the province must work to accelerate several infrastructure projects that have been stalled for many years, including the modernization of Notre Dame St. in Montreal's east end, the English and French superhospitals, and the revitalization of the harbourfront, which includes moving the Bonaventure Expressway away from the shoreline. - Tremblay also asked Charest to invest in urban renewal projects and to commit money for new social housing units. - He asked the province to help finance a new waste management plan, and to invest in the city's universities, research centres and museums. Tremblay also said Charest needs to work with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to free up Montreal's share of an $8.8 billion infrastructure program pledged in the federal government's 2007 budget. The funds have not yet been passed on to Canadian cities because of a complex application process for project approval and other delays in negotiations between the federal and provincial governments. Tremblay said it's imperative Montreal get access to that money now, to offset the effects of an economic downturn. He added Quebec also needs to change some of the rules governing cities to to give them access to new sources of revenue. Tremblay has been asking for a share of the Quebec sales tax or the ability to implement an entertainment tax on the island of Montreal. His administration has also mulled the idea of imposing tolls to drivers coming onto the island of Montreal. The city would need the permission of the Quebec government before imposing a new tax.

Big Apple starting to crumble Janet Whitman, Financial Post Published: Thursday, November 06, 2008 NEW YORK -- The Big Apple is losing its shine. After years of benefiting from consumer bingeing on everything from luxury lofts to US$99 hamburgers, New York is seeing a dramatic turn in its fortunes as Wall Street stumbles. Investment banks and other financial-services firms here have cut tens of thousands of high-wage jobs and many more pink slips still could be on the way as they grapple with the deepening credit crisis. This year's Wall Street bonus pool, which makes up the bulk of the pay for high-flying financial executives, is forecast to be chopped in half to US$16-billion. Businesses are already feeling the pinch. Revenue at some high-end Manhattan restaurants are down an estimated 20% this year and the once sizzling real-estate market is cooling fast. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this week that the big drop in tax revenue collected from financial firms is forcing him to renege on planned US$400 property tax rebates for homeowners and to mull a 15% income tax hike. Economists said yesterday that the downturn could resemble New York's financial crisis in the early 1970s, when the city nearly went bankrupt and crime rates skyrocketed. "Compensation is going to be way down and that's going to weigh on restaurants and retailers and the housing market as well," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Charlotte, N.C.-based bank Wachovia Corp. "We're going to have a very difficult climb back out of this. The recovery might begin in the middle of next year, but that just means things will stop getting worse." Mr. Vitner said it could take at least three years before New York starts to see strong growth and five years before the city gets back to normal. After the dot-com bust in 1999 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, New York soon roared back, fueled by Wall Street's recovery. But the city can't depend on Wall Street this time around. "The flavour is different," said James Brown, a New York state Department of Labor regional analyst who focuses on New York City. "It's not clear how much growth we can expect from our financial sector in the next upturn. We don't know to what degree they may not be as profitable and able to lavish the same high salaries in the next boom as they have in the past booms." With the U.S. government looking to avoid sowing the seeds for a future financial crisis by cracking down on executive bonuses and limiting how much financial firms can wager, Wall Street's recovery could be slow. That's bad news for New York State, which depends on the financial sector for 20% of its revenue. The state already is facing its biggest budget gap in history, at US$47-billion over the next four years. The crisis last week prompted New York State Gov. David Paterson to ask U.S. Congress for billions of dollars in federal assistance. New York City has been particularly hard hit. For every Wall Street job another three or four will be lost in the city. Despite the doom and gloom, Mr. Bloomberg assured New Yorkers at a press briefing this week that the city wouldn't return "to the dark days of the 1970s when service cuts all but destroyed our quality of life." The mayor, who is seeking a third term to guide the city through the crisis, said New York is in much better fiscal shape than it was then and won't make the same mistakes. Still, he warned, it could be as many as five years before financial companies have to start paying city or state taxes again because of the half a trillion dollars in write-downs they have taken, which will offset future profits.

Voici ma vision pour le secteur du bord de l'eau. The situation is simple. We have a high-density area surrounding a transit hub, a good example of transit oriented development... but it is locked in by highways. Furthermore, the "Old Longueuil" area, the real cultural, historical and recreational area of Longueuil is blocked off from this downtown area as a result. Finally, the waterfront is also isolated by autoroute 20. This isn't just some random waterfront either.. this is PRIME space. Just across from Sainte-Helene island and Montreal. There's a reason throngs of people come here to watch the fireworks in the summer! The view is exceptional! Solution : Mettre l'autoroute 20 sous terre ainsi qu'une portion du boulevard Taschereau et réunir le bord de l'eau avec Place Charles-Lemoyne (le "centre ville" de Longueuil) et le secteur du Vieux-Longueuil historique (l'autre "centre ville", et selon moi, le vrai) - Faire de cette région un vrai pole économique, culturel, récréotouristique, etc. Optimistic? Ambitious? Naive? Perhaps... i know this project would be hilariously expensive, but damn, imagine the cohesive and dynamic, livable and exciting Longueuil city center that would emerge! Please give me your feedback... i'm very interseted in hearing what you have to say! Merci beaucoup tout le monde! (Metro Charland named after the Montreal South mayor - Montreal South being the small town originally located on that land, eventually merged into Longueuil. Boul Isidore Hurteau named after the first mayor of Longueuil) AVANT APRES

Montreal eyeing new tax on personal vehicles Under bill 22. Private swimming pools could also provide sources of revenue DAVID JOHNSTON, The Gazette Published: 7 hours ago City of Montreal residents probably will have to pay a new municipal tax on personal vehicles of about $75 annually under new tax powers the Charest government wants to give to the city. Senior government officials who spoke to journalists this week said a new "PVT" is the most likely new municipal revenue source to arise from the menu of options that Bill 22 would give Montreal. Bill 22 is the draft legislation tabled last fall to give Montreal new tax powers and make governance changes in the Montreal agglomeration. Email to a friendEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyPrinter friendly Amendments unveiled Thursday at city hall scrapped the idea of a new food and beverage tax or a return of the old Montreal amusement tax. But the amendments are now calling for open-ended, royalty-type levies in their place. Although Mayor Gérald Tremblay has refused to be specific about the new taxes he has in mind, bureaucrats did bring up the possibility of a new tax on backyard swimming pools. And Tremblay conceded that many of the new taxes he is considering are inspired by some of the new taxing powers the city of Toronto won from the Ontario government in 2006. Royalties are traditionally applied to the use of a natural resource, like oil or water, but Toronto has taken the idea one step further and is considering a new tax on billboards, for the use of public space. The Bill 22 amendments are said to have sufficient opposition-party support to be approved before the legislature recesses next Friday. If that happens, Montreal will get the power to tax movables and immovables, but sales and inheritance taxes won't be allowed. Neither will taxes on gasoline, income, payrolls or energy. The new tax powers would be given only to the city of Mont- real, not to the 15 demerged island suburbs. Any new personal vehicle tax in Montreal would apply only to residents of city of Montreal boroughs. The most notable difference between Bill 22 and the city of Toronto Act is that Bill 22 stops short of allowing Montreal to tax alcohol and tobacco. "We're going to take time to look at our options," said Renée Sauriol, an aide to Tremblay. No new taxes would be introduced before 2010, Sauriol said. djohnston@ thegazette.canwest.com - - - New municipal taxes Mayor Gérald Tremblay says the new tax powers that the provincial government is proposing to give Montreal are inspired by the new powers accorded in 2006 by the Ontario government to Toronto. Some highlights: In September, residents of the city of Toronto will begin paying a $60 annual municipal personal-vehicle tax. Only one car per household will be subject to the tax. A $75 tax for Montreal residents was mentioned this week by senior provincial and municipal bureaucrats as a possibility. Toronto hasn't yet determined what kind of new parking-lot tax it wants to introduce. The Tremblay administration is said to be leaning toward a new property surtax tied to the number of parking spots on a property. In February, Toronto approved new tax brackets for land-transfer taxes. The new regime has resulted in higher "welcome taxes" on properties worth $400,000 or more. The Quebec government has said it is prepared to let Montreal set its own new welcome-tax rates on properties worth more than $500,000. Below this value, provincially set rates would continue to apply. Toronto is still considering a new tax on billboards, justified as a royalty on the use of public space. This idea of expanding the notion of royalties to the municipal level is something that Montreal finds intriguing. Quebec is proposing to give Montreal a lot of leeway to come up with inventive new royalty schemes. In February, Toronto Mayor David Miller proposed a new toll on all provincial highways within the Greater Toronto area. The proposal hasn't been received well by suburbanites and nothing has happened yet. In Montreal, the Tremblay administration has similarly begun to regionalize its own original proposal for new island bridge tolls. Tremblay is now saying he wants to share any new toll revenues with off-island suburbs to help expand public transit. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=508d2256-8e5d-4700-8815-fac8e5f43c1f&p=2

Push for tidier city starting to pay off But more work to do, mayor says. 'If the streets look clean today, it's because of the rain we had Tuesday,' merchant maintains JAMES MENNIE, The Gazette Published: 4 hours ago As far as Raffi Kotchounian is concerned, if the streets aren't paved with cigarette butts it isn't so much because of an act of city council as an act of God. "I was walking down Ste. Catherine St. the Wednesday before the Grand Prix. The street was a mess - papers everywhere, garbage everywhere. ... It was filthy," Kotchounian said. "If the streets look clean today, it's because of the rain we had on Tuesday," he added. Kotchounian is the owner of the Vasco cigar store on Ste. Catherine east of Crescent St. He has been doing business on the street for 30 years. When it comes to assessing how clean - or not - the neighbourhood has become since Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay and Ville Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté declared separate wars on downtown litter, he gives credit where credit is due. "I have to tell you, the cigarette butts weren't as bad as the flyers," he said, referring to the handbills handed out by various nightclubs and businesses to downtown pedestrians. "They were a real problem. But with the police cracking down, it made a big difference." But Kotchounian's take on the big picture of downtown cleanliness is one that perceives the trash can as half empty rather than half full, presuming, of course, the trash can was even there to begin with. "There was a trash can at the corner of Ste. Catherine and Crescent that was taken away during the riot after the Canadiens-Bruins game (on April 21). "It still hasn't been replaced." Last Tuesday, the city of Mont-real kicked off its annual cleanliness campaign with Marcel Tremblay, the executive committee member in charge of the operation, meeting members of the media on a street cleaning vehicle as he explained how 200 cleaning crew members would be deployed in the city's 19 boroughs. That announcement was made a week after the downtown Ville Marie borough announced its own cleanliness crackdown, noting that more than $1 million in tickets were handed out last year. They were issued for infractions ranging from improperly recycling garbage to the lack of an ashtray outside a commercial establishment. The cleanliness campaigns have been going on for three years. While their effectiveness remains a matter of dispute, a stroll through the quadrilateral formed by Ste. Catherine St., de Maisonneuve Blvd., Atwater Ave. and St. Laurent Blvd. suggests that something has changed. Cigarette butts that could once be found by the score, piled at street corners or along sidewalks, were noticeable by their scarcity, popping up in ones or twos at the sidewalk's edge. City trash cans, once overflowing, had been cleaned and emptied, while the drifting paper, plastic bags and other lunchtime junk that seemed to be part of every summer breeze were absent. Tremblay, who once berated a passerby who was littering while the mayor was in the middle of a cleanliness photo op, acknowledged yesterday there was still work to be done. "Sometimes when I go up St. Laurent or St. Urbain, I'll see trash cans that are full. Perhaps we have to improve the logistics of emptying them," he said. "And when I drive around the city, I have these portable ashtrays in my car, and when I see a citizen throw their cigarette butt out of their car window or on the sidewalk, I'll stop, and I hand them an ashtray. "We're calling upon the civic duty of citizens, and it's starting to have a major impact. Mont-realers are proud. And they weren't proud to see that the city wasn't up to their standard. "But we still have a lot of improvement to do," the mayor said. jmennie@thegazette.canwest.com http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=fade8e50-eebb-4878-a41a-eecc8d1c4181

City, 'burbs broker pact 'A win-win scenario' Montreal gets more autonomy and new powers of taxation; island suburbs spared millions in shared costs; property owners to get single tax bill Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay leads Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau (left) and Westmount Mayor Karin Marks to a news conference at city hall. Two deals signed yesterday amend Bill 22, a bid to resolve a power feud between Montreal and the suburbs. LINDA GYULAI AND DAVID JOHNSTON, The Gazette Published: 6 hours ago Peace was declared yesterday by the municipalities of Montreal Island, and with it comes new tax powers, greater autonomy and special status for the city of Montreal. Mayor Gérald Tremblay, the mayors of the 15 island suburbs and prominent Quebec cabinet ministers announced they had brokered an accord to revamp the agglomeration council that manages island-wide services and has been a source of acrimony since the suburbs demerged from Montreal in 2006. Taxpayers in the suburbs would now receive one tax bill instead of two, while their cities and towns would regain control over maintenance of major roads in their areas and be spared millions of dollars in shared costs with Montreal. And, under a separate deal with Montreal, Quebec agrees to grant a long-standing wish of Tremblay and previous Montreal mayors for more clout and for the power to raise revenue through new forms of taxation. Both deals, signed at Montreal city hall yesterday, provide a package of amendments to Bill 22, legislation that was tabled in the National Assembly last year to resolve a power feud between Montreal and the suburbs. The amendments will be submitted to the National Assembly for a vote before the current session ends late next week. "In every step of this negotiation, we were looking for a win-win scenario," Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau said of the deals. "Today, we can say, 'Mission accomplished.' " Montreal acquires new power to tax assets and property in its territory and to claim royalties for use of resources. The deal also allows Montreal to walk away with $25 million a year in aid from the province starting in 2009, the power to unilaterally set the rate it charges for the "welcome tax" on property sales above $500,000 and a cheque of $9 million a year from the province to cover property tax on the Palais des congrès. The new, potentially sweeping tax power was inspired by the City of Toronto Act, Normandeau said. Using that legislation, Toronto is now creating a personal vehicle tax that it will begin charging car owners this fall. The Montreal deal would overhaul the governance of the downtown Ville Marie borough. It would also bestow status on the city as the metropolis of Quebec, which would be written into the city charter. As well, the deal would allow city council to centralize any borough responsibility in case of danger to health or safety by a majority vote for up to two years. And in response to criticism of the way the city bypassed its independent public-consultation office to approve the redevelopment of Griffintown this spring, the deal would extend the boroughs' power to initiate changes to the city's urban plan to the city council and require such changes to be sent to hearings by the public-consultation office. Tremblay refused to say what new taxes he would create. "We're not going to identify an additional source of taxation today," he said, adding that Toronto spent a year consulting businesses and groups before deciding what new taxes to create. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/index.html

New broom sweeping Montreal clean INGRID PERITZ June 8, 2007 MONTREAL -- In Montreal this spring, a new army of enforcers is taking command of the streets and spreading fear in back alleys. They're tough, eagle-eyed - and armed with big brooms. The city in Canada best known for its insouciance and laissez-faire ways is suddenly aspiring to be Singapore on the St. Lawrence. This year, Montreal has declared war on trash. Besieged by criticism that downtown had become an open-air dump of litter and bulging trash bins, city hall made a clean sweep of it by adopting a bylaw on "civility, respect and cleanliness." Since last Friday, property owners downtown have become responsible for cleaning up in front of their homes and businesses. Fines start at $125 and reach $4,000 for repeat offenders. "This is probably the toughest bylaw of its kind in Canada, if not North America," said Benoît Labonté, mayor of Montreal's downtown borough. "There are no warnings, just tickets for violations. We mean business." Mr. Labonté has scheduled a news conference this morning to reveal the fruits of the new crackdown: In just seven days, the city's "trash troopers" issued about $70,000 in fines. Montreal was inspired by cities like New York and Paris, which turned around their notoriously unkempt appearance in a few years, Mr. Labonté said in an interview yesterday. "If it's good enough for New York and Paris, it's good enough for Montreal." Montreal has always had anti-trash rules on the books, but it put muscle this year into applying them: Ten more trash inspectors downtown, 189 young "cleanliness brigadiers," as well as 1,400 new garbage bins, 700 ashtrays and four solar-powered trash compactors valued at $4,700 apiece. Some people worry Montreal will get so clean it will be antiseptic. And the more cynical wonder if Mayor Gérald Tremblay isn't picking an easy target because it's a lot tougher to solve intractable problems like his woeful revenue sources. Still, many agree the city had let cleanliness slide in recent years, and civic pride with it. Complaints mounted about overflowing garbage cans, oozing back-alley dumpsters, and cigarette butts outside office buildings after no-smoking rules went into effect. "We'd let things go in the last few years, and it was visible," said Claude Rainville, head of a business development group in Montreal's Latin Quarter. "The industrial quantities of butts. The trash containers. It just wasn't welcoming." And the tough anti-litter talk isn't the only effort aimed at making Montrealers less unruly. Montreal police last year added 133 officers to its traffic squad to curb the notoriously bad habits of city drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. In the first four months of this year, police issued nearly 3,500 tickets for jaywalking, and plan to crack down on the habit through the summer, said Chief Inspector Réjean Toutant. "I understand that this is part of Montreal's culture. But that's no reason to let things go," he said. No smoking, no jaywalking, no littering - is Montreal losing its joie de vivre? Éric Montpetit, a political scientist at the University of Montreal, studied the city's litter problems and said the new efforts are long overdue. But the trash crackdown does appear to fit into a larger pattern. "Montrealers have long been the exception in Canada. We've been less disciplined and maybe a little less polite. But that wild side is also part of the city's charm," said Prof. Montpetit, who has lived in Ontario and Saskatchewan. Now, the efforts at behaviour reform may signal a shift. "Maybe," he said, "we're starting to Canadianize Montrealers."