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La Ronde: plusieurs nouveautés en 2016 Le Huffington Post Québec | Par Marie-Josée Roy Publication: 03/09/2015 05:59 EDT Mis à jour: il y a 2 heures La saison 2015 de La Ronde s’achève sous peu, mais qu’à cela ne tienne, on annonce déjà des nouveautés pour l’été 2016! Et on peut déjà prédire que les amateurs de sensations fortes en auront pour leur argent l’an prochain… Tout d’abord, le Vampire, cette montagne russe aux allures de chauve-souris, sera allongé et fera faire une vrille arrière aux courageux qui y monteront! La montée d’une hauteur de 32 mètres au début de la «balade» demeure inchangée mais, quelques secondes plus tard, le train effectuera un tonneau et entraînera ses passagers dans cinq inversions hallucinantes, à une vitesse de 80 km/h, à l’envers! De quoi avoir l’estomac en bouillie… Puis, on inaugurera la zone Avenue Aventure, qui sera un lieu d’excitation pour toute la famille. Deux manèges y seront ajoutés : le Phoénix, un scooter volant dont le «conducteur» aura le contrôle et qui devra être maîtrisé à contrevent, et le Gravitor, une structure qui projettera les personnes haut dans les airs et qui tourbillonnera encore et encore, dans une mer de sons et de lumières. Le mouvement créera une danse spectaculaire pour l’œil. En chiffres, le Phoénix sera constitué de 8 scooters volants, qui accueilleront chacun deux passagers en rotation à haute vitesse, tandis que le Gravitor comptera huit nacelles suspendues, qui contiendront deux passagers chacune et une manette permettant une rotation de la nacelle à 360 degrés, et sera décoré de 1500 lumières sur les sièges, les bras et la colonne principale de la nacelle. L’Halloween à La Ronde En attendant ces changements, à compter du samedi 3 octobre prochain, La Ronde revêtira ses habits les plus effrayants pour célébrer l’Halloween. Le District 5-10 – Dans le noir, un sentier de zombies, et l’Empailleur, une nouvelle attraction à faire frissonner, sont les attraits à découvrir d’ici la fermeture officielle de La Ronde en vue de l’hiver. Ceux-ci se greffent à la quarantaine de manèges déjà existants du parc montréalais, dont la Maison rouge, nouvelle maison hantée en hommage aux clowns, qui a ouvert ses portes au printemps 2015. Le passeport-saison 2016 de La Ronde sera mis en vente ce week-end, pendant le congé de la Fête du Travail, du 3 au 7 septembre. Ceux qui se le procureront à ce moment bénéficieront d’un rabais de 70% et d’une multitude d’autres avantages. Consultez le http://www.laronde.com pour plus d’informations. http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/03/nouveautes-la-ronde-2016_n_8081546.html

Serment d'allégeance au syndicat obligatoire pour des étudiants embauchés à La Ronde Le Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal vient de semer la colère parmi des parents d'étudiants qui ont obtenu des emplois à La Ronde cet été. Ils sont outrés et scandalisés parce que leurs enfants doivent notamment prêter serment d'allégeance au syndicat. C'est le chroniqueur Éric Duhaime, qui a révélé cette histoire. Des parents ont récemment communiqué avec ce dernier pour dénoncer le fait qu'on avait remis le serment d'allégeance aux jeunes travailleurs de La Ronde en formation le week-end dernier. On peut y lire : «Je promets solennellement et déclare que j'appuierai et obéirai aux statuts et règlements du syndicat et à ceux du Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique et que, tant que je le pourrai, j'aiderai mes camarades membres et leur famille quand ils (elles) seront dans la détresse, que jamais sciemment ou de propos délibéré je ne causerai de tort à un membre du syndicat ou aiderai à d'autres à lui en causer; que je ne recommanderai jamais, pour devenir membre du Syndicat, une personne que je croirais indigne de le devenir. Je reconnais comme membre du Syndicat, que si je ne me conforme pas, sciemment ou de propos délibéré à cette promesse solennelle, je suis exposé aux sanctions prévues à l'article 22 des statuts et règlements de notre section locale.» En voyant ça, des parents ont jugé anormal que des jeunes de 16 ans soit obligé de porter allégeance à un syndicat. En entrevue à l'émission de Mario Dumont, Éric Duhaime a raconté les discussions qu'il a eues avec les parents des jeunes travailleurs de La Ronde. «Après la formation, les jeunes reviennent à la maison et là, les parents constatent qu'on leur a remis le livre du syndicaliste Jean Lapierre qui a défoncé les portes de l'hôtel de ville à coup de bélier il y a quelques années, a-t-il confié. On leur a aussi remis le serment d'allégeance, une déclaration solennelle où les jeunes doivent mettre la main dans les airs et porter serment d'allégeance au syndicat.» «C'est comme si c'était une religion, on aurait vu des curés faire ça à une époque et on se serait scandalisé, a-t-il ajouté. Aujourd'hui, ce sont des leaders syndicaux qui font ça. On est tellement intoxiqué au syndicalisme qu'on trouve que c'est normal. Or, ce n'est pas normal dans une société démocratique que des jeunes soient obligés de poser un tel geste. Un syndicat, c'est supposé être au service des membres et des travailleurs. Ce n'est pas les travailleurs qui sont supposés être au service du syndicat.» Le président du syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal, Michel Parent, a été invité à réagir à l'émission de Mario Dumont. «Ce serment, ce n'est rien de nouveau, a-t-il dit. Le syndicat existe depuis 70 ans cette année. Ça fait partie des statuts et règlements. C’est pas pire que de faire un serment comme député à la Reine. À La Ronde, la formation à suivre pour les nouveaux employés est négociée dans la convention collective et l'objectif derrière cette formation, c'est d'expliquer quels sont les droits des travailleurs et travailleuses qui pour la plupart sont des jeunes qui commencent sur le marché du travail.» http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/06/11/serment-dallegeance-au-syndicat

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Oooooh, Canada A French entry opened the Montreal international fireworks competition this year. Article Tools Sponsored By By HENRY FOUNTAIN Published: June 27, 2008 LATE last Saturday evening, La Ronde, an amusement park that’s just a stone’s throw from downtown Montreal on an island in the St. Lawrence River, seemed an unlikely venue for a world-class competition. Teenagers with the giggles and other signs of roller-coaster overexposure contemplated yet another ride on the Super Manège or Le Monstre. Younger children, slowed by too much barbe à papa (cotton candy) and poutine (that Québécois concoction of French fries, cheese curds and gravy), were willed along by weary parents. The occasional large Fred Flintstone or Scooby-Doo plush doll appeared among the midway crowd, bounty from booths like Frappez la Taupe (Whack the Mole) and Roulé-Boulé (a form of skeeball). GENERATIONS Some families haven’t missed any of the shows for years. But just a few feet away at La Ronde’s small lake, before a grandstand filled with about 5,000 people, with thousands more waiting in anticipation elsewhere in the park, along the riverbanks and on a nearby highway bridge that had been closed to traffic for the occasion, a tuxedoed master of ceremonies introduced Fabrice Chouillier, a French pyrotechnician, and his team. The 24th International des Feux Loto-Québec, the international fireworks competition that runs for two months every summer in Montreal and draws millions of viewers, was about to begin. Mr. Chouillier, whose company, Prestatech-Artifices, is the first of nine competitors this year, walked through the crowd to a control booth at the top of the grandstand, ready to start his computer-controlled extravaganza, built around the theme of space exploration and synchronized with orchestral passages from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and other works. He’d designed the 30-minute show at his office near Paris, had shipped thousands of shells and other fireworks across the Atlantic, and had been preparing them the last five days at a series of bunkers and platforms in an off-limits section of the park. Across the lake, the lights on the park’s Ferris wheel flickered off. Among the crowd, the hawkers selling beer and blinking devil’s horns grew silent. As the opening strains of “The Blue Danube” waltz filled the air, a series of pyrotechnic strobes went off on the far side of the lake. The Strauss faded out, replaced by the “10...9...8” of an Apollo-era countdown, each number embellished by a comet, a shell that leaves a glittering trail in its wake. At zero, a line of fountains started spewing fire, and a loud rumbling began. It was as if the whole lake was about to lift off. For the public, the competition is a chance to see 10 grand pyromusical displays — including a noncompeting show that closes the festivities — throughout the summer. In a city known for its festivals, the fireworks are exclamation marks that punctuate many Saturday nights, and a few Wednesday nights as well. Officials at La Ronde, which was built for the 1967 World’s Fair and is now owned by Six Flags, estimate that last year more than three million people watched the displays. A jury of 19, chosen from the public, evaluates each performance and at the end awards golden, silver and bronze trophies to the top three. There’s no prize money, but that doesn’t really matter: for Mr. Chouillier and the other pyrotechnicians, just being invited to participate in the competition, generally regarded as the industry’s most prestigious, is an honor. “It’s a sort of consecration in the life of a fireworks artist,” Mr. Chouillier said last Friday as his team, aided by La Ronde’s own crew, loaded aerial shells up to a foot in diameter into firing tubes. Or as Stephen Vitale, president of Pyrotecnico, the American entrant in the event this year, put it, “It’s like the Olympics for us.” It’s also a chance for these companies to design a show just for themselves, rather than carrying out some client’s vision. “What’s great about this competition is you have total freedom,” Mr. Chouillier said. OF the hundreds of thousands of people who see each show, only a fraction are paying customers in the park. Many are like Marcel Gareau, a construction worker who with his family had driven from the suburbs and was installed in a lawn chair on the Montreal side of the St. Lawrence a full five hours before the fireworks began. The Gareaus have hardly missed a show in a dozen years, watching over the trees and listening to the soundtrack on their car radio. They’ve seen the work of some of the best fireworks companies worldwide — from China, Australia, Italy, Portugal and elsewhere — but Mr. Gareau has a clear favorite. “The Americans,” he said. “They make the most noise.” The competitors and the jury like a good racket as much as anyone, but for them the shows are more about conveying emotion through kamuro shells, go-getters, tourbillons, Chinese cakes and other pyrotechnic effects, all intricately synchronized with the music. “You have to have a lot of emotion to think about the soundtrack and the colors and everything,” said Martyne Gagnon, who has directed the competition since 1998 and is herself a licensed pyrotechnician. “It comes from the heart.” VANTAGE POINT Fireworks displays are generally best viewed straight ahead from ground level. The recent French show, above, used a lot of surface effects. Enlarge This Image Yannick Grandmont for The New York Times WAIT UNTIL DARK Part of the pre-fireworks entertainment at La Ronde. Enlarge This Image Yannick Grandmont for The New York Times FAIR PLAY La Ronde, on Île Ste-Hélène, initially part of Expo 67. Ms. Gagnon is in charge of choosing the competitors, and she keeps tabs on possible candidates within the small community of professional fireworks companies. She almost always invites teams from Canada, the United States and Australia, a couple from among Europe’s big three — France, Italy and Spain — and usually another European team or two. She tries for one from Asia, and this year she got two, from South Korea and China. Competitors are given a fixed amount of money for materials, but some pay for extra shells and effects out of their own pockets — which may be one reason the Americans make the most noise. The jurors get a day of training in the science and art of pyrotechnics. Magalie Pilon, a doctoral student in physiology who was among those chosen for the jury from 550 applicants this year, was taking the job seriously. “This is a big party here,” she said as dance music thumped in the grandstands a few hours before the show. “But we have to concentrate because it’s important.” “But if they wanted a professional jury they would have asked for it,” she said. “As a member of the public, I know I’m good.” That confidence comes from having seen almost every display for the last six years. But she used to watch from the bridge, where her family had a special spot each week. As a jury member, she now has a prime seat for every show for herself — and for one guest. “Let’s just say that now I am very popular,” she said. “I could ask for anything. Maybe I’ll ask for somebody to wash my car.” THE grandstands offer certain advantages over the view from the bridge or the riverbanks. Many of the low effects can’t be seen from far off. And the shows are designed to look best from straight on. Mr. Chouillier used plenty of low effects, starting with the fountains that, accompanied by the rumble of a rocket engine, seemed to simulate the launching of a Saturn V. Then it was on to “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” with exploding mines and other effects piercing the sky, choreographed to the piece’s famous kettledrum passages. The “Star Trek” theme followed, with glittering showers of tiny stars looking for all the world like what Captain Kirk disintegrates into when Scotty beams him up. There were brilliant flashes, head-throbbing bangs, huge groups of flares in red and green, chrysanthemums in red, white and yellow and, during passages from “Mars, the Bringer of War” by Gustav Holst, dozens of small green flares that seemed to dance on the water like little green men. More comets crisscrossed the sky in perfect time with the music. And at 30 minutes the whole thing ended in a barrage of pale gold-and-white shells, accompanied by more music from “Star Trek.” As the smoke drifted, the final sounds were heard: the five-tone alien signal from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Afterward the verdict among some of the veterans was that the show was probably not a trophy winner — that the choice of theme and music was a bit clichéd, that the effects weren’t startling enough, that the all-white finale, though elegant, lacked a certain drama. But back at a makeshift beer hall where team members and others relaxed and discussed the show, Mr. Chouillier looked happy and relieved. “My big fear was that something would go wrong, and it didn’t,” he said. And judging from the hoots and hollers in the grandstand, the show was a crowd pleaser. “It’s the best we’ve ever seen,” said Mark Jeffries, a Floridian who with his family had come to Montreal to visit his mother. “There’s some fireworks we’ve never seen before.” His 11-year-old daughter, Carlin, had no problem with the finale. “In Florida they shoot off all of them,” she said. “They kind of overwhelm you. This was different. Just nice and white.” VISITOR INFORMATION L’International des Feux Loto-Quebéc continues every Saturday through Aug. 2 and on three Wednesdays — July 23 and 30 and the closing show, on Aug. 6. The countries represented include Australia, Austria, China, Italy, Portugal and South Korea; the United States entry’s show is on July 30. Fireworks begin at 10 p.m. Grandstand tickets, which include all-day park admission, range from 44.90 to 56 Canadian dollars (about the same amount in American dollars) for people over 4-foot-6; it’s less for those under that height. After 5 p.m. tickets are about half price. La Ronde is best reached by public transportation. The Papineau Métro station, on the Orange Line, connects with the 169 bus, which goes to the park’s front gate. Alternatively, the Yellow Line stops in Parc Jean-Drapeau on the other side of the Île Ste-Hélène; it connects with the 167 bus to La Ronde, or a 15-minute walk will get you there (and you’ll pass the geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller for Expo 67; it now houses an environment museum). After the show, walking to the Yellow Line is the best way off the island. Free places to watch the shows include the Jacques Cartier Bridge, which closes to traffic at 8 p.m.; the Old Port of Montreal; and around Boulevard René-Lévesque north of the bridge. http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/travel/escapes/27fireworks.html?pagewanted=2&hp

La Ronde prend le virage bleu et la tendance «affaires» pour marquer sa 41e saison, tout en poursuivant ses investissements dans les infrastructures. Pour en lire plus...