!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Last September on this site, we mentioned the City of Montreal’s advertising efforts to stem the tide of people fleeing the island for the fool’s gold of the suburbs. It’s been eight months since then, and the city’s ads are still found all over Montreal.  But have they been effective? The idea itself if a good one: sell Montrealers on the virtues of living on the island and counter the overwhelming pressure on young people to find cheap property in far-flung places around the metropolis.  The City of Montreal’s goals seem to include increasing the density of the downtown core for the benefit of sustainable transport, accommodations, and commerce, as well as, less altruistically, to regain some of its tax revenue lost to the suburbs.

When I saw "La Guerre des Tuques" ("The Dog Who Stopped the War") as a kid, I always dreamt of building a huge snow fort and engaging in a massive snowball battle.  In classic Montreal fashion, someone had the brilliant idea this weekend of recreating such a battle on Mount Royal, a kind of winter version of Tam Tam's medieval-fighting.  This two day event consisted of building two separate forts facing each other, on Saturday, and wave after wave of battles, on Sunday.  The turn-out was great, and, happily, was dominated by ...

Every morning, as I walk to the metro, I pass by a garage door next to my apartment. Like much of this section of the Plateau, this door is covered in graffiti, but one lyrical expression seems to stick out, written in giant letters: “Nique ta mere, par l’avant comme par l’arriere”. Poetry, to be sure, but one gets the sense that the neighbourhood is not exactly better off for it. Yet how do we decide what is good graffiti? Why does some graffiti cause anger in the general, non-tagging public, while other graffiti is tolerated and even appreciated? And why, sometimes, does a street artist like Montreal’s Roadsworth have such a groundswell of public support that municipal authorities are swayed to overlook the law? I sat down this week with Roadsworth and Alan Kohl, the director of the new NFB documentary, “Roadsworth: Crossing the Line”, to talk about public art in Montreal.

Remember how annoyed you would get when your Mom would take pictures at family events? That is, until you grew up and realized how lucky you were to have someone documenting your experiences. In "Memoires des Anges", the NFB is like your Mom, and your childhood is like Montreal of 50 years ago. Watching this film, a loving re-mix of dozens of documentary and live-action films from Montreal in the 50's and 60's, one realizes how lucky we are to have an institution like the NFB contibute to ...

This week, Spacing Montreal takes a look at what each federal party has in store for cities. For an overview of the issues, see Monday’s post. The Liberals are a largely urban party. Their willingness to partner with cities is clear from their platform, and from the positive reaction this platform has received from city leaders. Jean Perrault, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), says: “The Liberal plan would provide critical tools for turning the tide on the municipal infrastructure deficit. It is the most significant, longest-term, national infrastructure funding plan released to date.” The Liberals can also pride themselves on introducing the Gas Tax transfer to cities back when Paul Martin was in power, a transfer they would maintain in addition to the following promises: