Franco in English neighborhood, nightlife in disarray and loss of $50,000

A “Francophonie district” in full anglicization, shocking declarations from Pierre Poilievre, a vigorous debate on immigration, the political future of Valérie Plante and Bruno Marchand… A look back at some hot issues of the week.

Dominique Anglade in the race?

The year 2024 has barely begun when eyes are already turning towards 2025. Municipal elections will be held throughout Quebec next year, in November. The mayors of the two largest cities, Valérie Plante and Bruno Marchand, have already confirmed that they want to seek a new mandate. Who else will be in the running? In Montreal, the name of former Liberal leader Dominique Anglade is starting to circulate. She assured me Friday that she had no interest in a possible race for mayor. Prepare to hear from other potential candidates in the coming months. Some serious, some out of left field. And remember that changes of ideas are common in politics. In reference: Denis Coderre.

Growls in the nightlife

The City of Montreal wants to transform the Latin Quarter into a “24 hour a day” zone, a key element of its downtown recovery plan unveiled Monday. Many in the nightlife scene were startled when they opened their emails a few days later. The reason ? They learned that they will lose their municipal funding in 2024. The MTL 24/24 organization, which organizes the Night Summit, among other things, will have to lay off three employees and dozens of freelancers, in addition to canceling its event. main. At the Society of Technological Arts (SAT), the shortfall will be $200,000 per year, a considerable sum for this NPO weakened by the pandemic. The atmosphere is far from festive among the night owls: a demonstration is planned for Monday evening in front of the town hall, according to my information.

French Quarter… in English

Another announcement from the Plante administration caused a stir: the Latin Quarter of Montreal will be designated a “Francophonie district”. Many saw this as an admission of the accelerated anglicization of the metropolis, which now needs to confine its French-speaking reality to a specific sector. This idea is indeed very strange, even downright bad. But what is even sadder is the reality on the ground. The Latin Quarter is pitiful, with all its boarded-up facades and its large itinerant population. And among the businesses still open, around twenty are displayed in English, noted my colleague Philippe Teisceira-Lessard¹. Very sad.

$50,000 to leave the Village

Montreal’s recovery plan also targets the Village, located east of the city center. Explosion of homelessness, serial closures of businesses, open sale and consumption of hard drugs, insecurity: the problems are getting worse. This week I spoke to a resident, Pascuale*, who has lived in this neighborhood that he loves for around fifteen years. Or rather : loved. He is preparing to put up for sale his condo purchased just a year ago, due to the accelerated deterioration of the sector. Estimated loss: $50,000. “Two weeks ago, we learned of the closure of Passé compound, my favorite restaurant, and it was the last straw. It’s a cumulative effect. We feel abandoned here, by the City. There is no real plan of action, only vague answers. » I have received several similar testimonies recently, unfortunately².

Immigration and housing

A delicate subject if ever there was one, the debate on federal immigration targets spread across all forums this week. Economists, politicians, commentators, business people: everyone had their say on the subject. It must be said that the figures speak for themselves. Canada’s population is growing five times faster than the average of other OECD countries, while housing starts are declining. As a reminder: the island of Montreal welcomed almost 100,000 new residents in the last year, while barely 7,700 housing units were started.³. It seems that the time of reckoning has come for Justin Trudeau’s government, which improvised reception targets without taking into account the capacity of infrastructure such as housing, schools and hospitals.

Poilievre shoots arrows

It wasn’t high-level politics. The leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, called Valérie Plante and Bruno Marchand “incompetent” on Thursday on the social network X, accusing them of blocking housing projects in their respective cities. The scathing replies did not take long. The mayor of Montreal recalled that the majority of federal funds intended for housing pass through the government of Quebec, before ending up in the cities. Oops. This Quebec particularity is not always a guarantee of efficiency, far from it. And large cities could certainly do more to accelerate construction starts, Montreal first and foremost. But the fact remains that Pierre Poilievre lost face with his attack.

And you, your week?

*The resident asked us not to disclose his real name.