mont royal

The truth is that these lists vary; sometimes Montreal even comes out on top...best student city in the world.e.g. Some people, in fact, many people, like or even love Montreal, I love it and I am grateful to live here. I love the type of people who also love the uniqueness of this city. Others don't like it? Fine, no problem. Let them find a place where they can fit in better and enjoy their life. These lists have a certain marketing value and can be helpful in attracting people to either visit or move here. So, it is interesting and even helpful to debate their merits. But I don't want them to put me on the defensive. I know what I like, I know the city better than any outsider and I know that I am lucky to live here.

We should definitely be thinking 50 years ahead. All of the horrific empty spaces that we are only now starting to fill up are the results of lack of urban vision 50 years ago when Drapeau decided to bulldoze the 'slums'. i loved the response of Mao when he was asked what he thought of the French Revolution. 'Too early to tell.' he replied, and I tend to agree with him.

If Abu Dhubi is number two on a list, then we should be grateful that we don't rank too high on that sort of list. This is not the kind of company we want to keep, nor, by extension, the kind of respondents we want to attract.

It is true that professional organizations are certainly non-profit; but they are a very minor and isolated part of the not for profit community. They are basically private organizations whose aim is to serve the interests of their membership, be it through advocacy or direct services such as professional training. Unlike most not-for-profits they do not have the best interests of the broader community at heart. In my view, they are generally not worthy of charitable status.

They are a vital and dynamic component of the private sector. Having a social Mission brings as much, if not more, to a society, than does a corporation whose prime goal is to enrich a bunch of (already wealthy) corporate shareholders.

It appears that this is well beyond the Proposal stage.

Interesting reflections. In some ways, the real story is not about the incident itself, it is about how viral the image was. So the real context gets lost in the emphasis on the supposed impact on social media. Yes, the visual impact alone was strong and yes, the organizers should have had the vision to foresee this...but, I don`t believe that most reflective people think that this was really about racism. Yes, the mass media will speculate on how it looks bad, but there is no other story there, or as CNN often says, there is no `there` there. It is a non-story, fake news really. The irony is the economic history of Quebec is not about the use of slaves from Africa (although there were a few), it is more about the abusive treatment of les Canadiens, as `hewers of wood and drawers of water`, by the minority anglos.

Glad to hear it.

I tend to agree that this was not unconscious racism. However, the image is horrible and a defensive attitude by the organizers will not help. Best that they admit that they were not sensitive to the image that they were projecting. Even better if some of the kids from the school themselves spoke to the issue; that it not be defended only by a bunch of white leaders, who are already perceived as traditional nationalists. I feel sorry for the kids and how this opportunity has been spoilt for them.

I am completely in support of this idea. I do not practice any religion but I do treasure our architectural heritage in Quebec. I loved seeing the Pyramids in Egypt even though I have no affinity for their religious importance. In the same way, I take visitors with pride to see Notre Dame Cathedral and other important religious historical sites. Outside of Montreal, the sight of a splendid church in the midst of a modest village is a powerful testimony to the strength of community and fellowship that supported the construction of such magnificent buildings. The fact that the Church became too powerful and influential and corrupt is simply another example of the human condition. Occasionally though, I refuse to see historical sites around the world, irrespective of their physical beauty, if they were the result of excessively cruel oppression and/ or an evil accumulation of wealth.

I apologize for my testiness.

Maybe next time you could yawn in private, instead of inciting us to open up what is a totally irrelevant message,

I have visited most of the world's metropolitan giants in Asia, South America, Africa, Europe and NA. In my view, the most beautiful and livable cities are in Europe...and the most ugly part of them is their skyscrapers. They are wealthy cities; there is absolutely no correlation between economic power and the height of buildings. New York works; but only because they have always paid attention to the street level. DC is a treat, because it's monuments overshadow its buildings. miles of high rises surrounding Moscow and São Paulo..ugly as sin. Prague and Barcelona; no highrisesand two of the world's loveliest and liveliest cities. LA; few highrisesand and one of the world's most boring cities. i could go on and on but this I know: a skyline does not a great city make.

It would be nice to see some intelligent reasoning behind those who simply state their preference for more height. The only recurrent argument I have seen so far is the importance of a symmetric skyline. Personally, other than for long-distance photographs, I don`t understand the obsession for a symmetric skyline. We live our lives here on the street; not on a bridge taking pictures. As for height, I agree that is unfair to simplify this obsession as some kind of masculine penis envy, but I certainly don`t reject that analysis either. Other than that, how does a grouping of big, tall erections improve the quality of our life?

One more reason for Anglos to turn to the francophone media. The English media here is increasingly Toronto-centric, and, as a result, gives us a consistently poor coverage of our city and province. As others have pointed out, the abondent good news coming out of Quebec is either totally ignored by the Toronto-owned media or, trivialized.

Any city can have tall towers if they want. Few have the beauty of a mountain next to downtown. We must keep it visible!!

I see that they ate still perpetuating the myth that Calgary is 2nd after Toronto in the number of Canadian Head Offices. Every analysis I have seen has Montreal well ahead of Calgary. Makes you wonder about their level of fear. .

The Head Office will be in Montreal. There will be subsidiaries in some major Asian and European cities as well as in the outlying village of Toronto. I have occasionally seen the reverse happen when a company with a head office in Toronto has offices in Montreal (say Molson`s maybe??) at which point Mark gleefully points out the real action takes place in Toronto. That is what Head Offices do. They expand and ensure that that the final and operational control stays with them. So, somehow Mark tries to turn this example into proof that, this time, the Head Office, presumably cannot function without investing in Toronto. This is really tortured logic in an effort to undermine this very exciting demonstration that Montreal is becoming a global capital for AI.

Last June I shared my home-made list of Montreal Island buildings of a minimum of 15 floors that were either: a) under construction (crane in place) or b) in excavation or in the demolishment phase or c) approved or on sale A couple of explanations on this update: I have kept Victoire on the approved list as originally presented (26 floors) only because we can be reasonably hopeful of concrete news in the near future. Also, I have included the 6 buildings proposed for the former Children’s hospital site, since for me, it is virtually certain to be approved, albeit possibly with some modifications, which I will then take into account. Compared with last year at the same time, we have 2 more buildings under construction, 4 more building in the excavation or demolition phase, and 15 more buildings in the approved stage. This adds up to a total of 75 buildings compared to 54 at the same time last year. Also, this does obviously not include the 6 buildings that I have defined as having been completed during the past 12 months. There is bound to be some buildings overlooked, or mistakenly categorized, or even duplicated, and any corrections on your part will be appreciated. Montreal Construction, June 2016-June 2017 Under construction 1. TDC 2 (49) 2. TOM (42) 3. Rockabella 2 (41) 4. Icone 1 (40) 5. YUL 1 (38) 6. AC Hotel (37) 7. Holiday Inn (37) 8. ManuVie (28) 9. Evolo S (27) 10. Le Smith, Canvar (25) 11. Drummond 1 (24) 12. Myriad (22) 13. 20 de Maisonneuve (20) 14. Lowney sur Ville 1 (20) 15. Hotel Monville, 16. Maison hauntée, hotel (20) 17. CHUM (20) 18. O`Nessy (20) 19. Yoo (20) 20. Condo St M (19) 21. Solano 6 (19) 22. Wellington, Murray 3 (19) 23. Ogilvy (18) 24. CHUM (17) 25. Exalto (17) 26. St Maurice (16) 27. O`Nessy (15) 28. 21ieme Arrondissement (15) 29. Gallery sur le canal (15) 30. La Catherine (15) Demolition/Excavation phase 1. Metro Lucien Allier (50) 2. Humaniti, Place Riopelle (39) 3. YUL 2 (38) 4. Tour QdS (30) 5. Université, St Jacques (30) 6. Icone 2 (27) 7. Victoire (26) 8. Metro Lucien Allier 2 (25) 9. Laurent and Clark (25) 10. Condos McKay (24) 11. Myriade (22) 12. Bassin du Havre, Quai 4 (21) 13. Lowney sur ville 4 (20) 14. Laurent et Clark (20) 15. Stanhope (19 ) 16. Université St-Jacques (19) 17. Six88 (16) 18. Brix (Dowd), (16) Approved and/or on sale 1. TDC 3 (51) 2. Maritime Plaza (37) 3. Evolo X (36) 4. Children`s Hospital 1 (32) 5. Symphonia 2 (31) 6. Children`s Hospital 2 (28) 7. Children`s Hospital 3 (27) 8. Children`s Hospital 4 (27) 9. Hotel MacKay (26) 10. Children`s Hospital 5 (24) 11. Drummond 2 (22) 12. Hexagon 2 (22) 13. Children`s Hospital 6 (20) 14. Gare Viger (20) 15. Tour Peel (20) 16. Lowney sur ville 2 (20) 17. Lowney sur ville 3 (20) 18. Children`s Hospital 7 (20) 19. 1190 Drummond (19) 20. Franciscan (18) 21. Franciscan 2 (18) 22. CentraMackay (16) 23. Carrefour de la Création (15) 24. Murray 4 (15) 25. Murray 5 (15) 26. Carré St-Laurent (15) 27. 1437 RL (15) Total: 75 Completed since June 2016 1. Rockabella 1 (40) 2. Tour des Canadiens (52) 3. District Griffen 3 (17) 4. District Griffen 4 (17) 5. Avenue (52) 6. Peterson (34)

Ridiculous! Every true Montrealer knows that, while on the island, no matter what direction the St Lawrence river is from you, it is east. Simple! Why confuse it with maps, direction finders, compasses, tree moss, sun position, etc?

These are very helpful clarifications and I would agree that the context of these statistics should be presented more clearly. I am not sure though that the figures should be defined as `alternate facts`, which, let’s face it, is just a euphemism for a `lie`. Yes, it may be intentional misleading to not clarify the context, but if it really means that we have the most international conferences (not delegates) in Montreal, that is still a significant accomplishment in and of itself. It should be a source of civic pride, rather than disdain

There has never been any ambiguity about these stats. It has always been made clear that they are talking about international conventions; not domestic or North American. In my view, the fact that Montreal remains the most popular North American city for international gatherings tells an important story. Nor is it the least surprising that domestic (i.e. American conferences) don`t leave the USA. I cannot imagine a conference for a Canadian association of some kind being held outside of Canada; it would be a offence to the constituency and there would be no local hosting partner.

The recent consultants report basically recommended against the need for an independent or arms length Infrastructure bank. So, maybe this will be a coquille vide, or a stillborn bank, and the real decision-making action will stay within the Ottawa bureaucracy.

This appears to have now been approved.

Thanks ACPNC. It is very helpful for us all to contextualize what lies behind our choices and your inspiring vision captures beautifully what many of us aspire to. In reading the Toronto press, I often feel that they are bragging about how expensive their real-estate market has become; as if this is an important hallmark of a world-class city (their eternal dream). In reality, it means depriving the vast majority of citizens to live within an exciting urban environment. Vancouver housing is even more out of the reach of the average citizen. Good governance is needed to minimize this problem... in Montreal as well. Rampant capitalism will only worsen it. But in today’s world much of our governance is covertly controlled by the extremely wealthy and, of course, expensive real-estate is to their advantage. Already in large parts of the island of Montreal, it has become impossible for a young family to afford housing. They are forced to move off the island, buy a second car, and commute up to 3-4 hours a day. Obviously, some people prefer the suburban life style and that is fine for them; but for those who thrive in the diversity and cultural richness of the urban environment, too many are already being forced into a kind of exile.