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Re-naming Avenue du Parc


Bacchus

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There is a movement about to change the name of Avenue du Parc to Avenue Robert-Bourassa.

There is a petition going around to stop the name from being changed. If you would like to sign the petition it can be found here:

http://causes.ca/signatures/list/1?page=1

Everybody note: this is not a PTG thread

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Everybody note: this is not a PTG thread

What relevance does this have to the actual thread? Do you not even have an opinion on this? Or are you just bumping up post counts?

If you are going to just drop a off the cuff comment please at least take two secounds out to actually comment on the topic. Otherwise real discussion is watered down by snickering and commenting, which not everyone likes to read.

Now, if someone would like to weigh in on their thoughts about the name change, positive or negative, I'd like to hear them. I purposefully didn't post my thoughts so as not to influence people. Although, since I did post a link to a petition against the name change you can guess where I stand.

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calm down there, Bacchus!

if you took two seconds to try to understand what JLP was saying maybe you would get what it means.

Maybe JLP was telling people to note that this thread was not the product of automatic contrarianism.

Maybe JLP was telling people to note that other people can find problematic issues in the news aside from PTG.

Maybe you shouldn't blow up at someone for an innocent one line post. Maybe you should attempt to show some civility when you respond to people's posts. Maybe you shouldnt try to score cheap points by overreacting.

Or maybe you should just calm down!

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calm down there, Bacchus!

if you took two seconds to try to understand what JLP was saying maybe you would get what it means.

Maybe JLP was telling people to note that this thread was not the product of automatic contrarianism.

Maybe JLP was telling people to note that other people can find problematic issues in the news aside from PTG.

Maybe you shouldn't blow up at someone for an innocent one line post. Maybe you should attempt to show some civility when you respond to people's posts. Maybe you shouldnt try to score cheap points by overreacting.

Or maybe you should just calm down!

You got something to say, PM me. I am in the midst of PMing you about your post.

Now, if anyone has anything to say, I'd like to hear it. If not, consider making your voice heard if you would like to see Parc ave remain Parc ave.

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I have something to say but I doubt nobody wants to hear it.

Renaming streets after people is silly, imo. Heck even renaming airports after people are silly. (Pierre Trudeau, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Ted Stevens, and so on) its just dumb. If you want to name something after someone just find a square and put a statue there. Thats the normal thing to do honestly.

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Hmmm... I think this topic only concerns Montrealers or those living on that street. They're the ones that'll have to pay for the adress change. They're also the ones that think its a landmark...

It also doesn't has the symbolic weight of Dorchester being renamed Rene-Levesque. I think renaming one of the Bay James hydroelectric power stations would be more fitting than a street in Montreal.

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I have something to say but I doubt nobody wants to hear it.

Renaming streets after people is silly, imo. Heck even renaming airports after people are silly. (Pierre Trudeau, Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Ted Stevens, and so on) its just dumb. If you want to name something after someone just find a square and put a statue there. Thats the normal thing to do honestly.

It depends. Sometimes the name will get used and get easily in the vocabulary, but sometimes it won't stick at all. The stretch of the 40 that runs through Quebec City is named after Felix-Leclerc, a well-loved icon. But nobody calls it by that name. Its just the 40. But Autoroute Duplessis is just known as Duplessis.

Speaking of which, I live by a well-used highway in Quebec City named Henri IV. Why the Hell name a highway Henri IV? They should renamed that one Robert-Bourassa... because that highway leads straight to the Pont Pierre-Laporte! :P

BTW, is Jos-Louis the only arena in the NHL named after someone? I can't recall any other. When I was a kid I thought that name was hilarious. An arena named Jos-Louis! Those living in Quebec and familiar with the Jos-Louis cakes will understand...

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LOL. I just find it kinda sleezy when politicians name streets after politicians. What I don't mind is naming streets after people like Terry Fox and such.

Sporting arenas are different if they are named after a local sports person. Or if the street next to the arena is renamed in honour of a local sports icon.

Truely though what gives politicians anywhere the right to name streets after themselves or someone? If the want to be immortalized they can have a bust or something outside there capitol building. Heck they already get a portrait of themselves.

Then its even worse down here in the US with a group wanting to put Ronald Reagan on everything including the 10 dollar bill. They said Alexander Hamilton doesn't deserve to be on there since he didn't do anything? Excuse me he didn't do anything? He developed the treasury and signed the constitution and declaration of independence, yeah he didn't do anything. please.

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Thanks for the honest replies guys.

My thoughts are that we should keep continuity as well, but also that if we continually rename things after polititians and other celebrities that it will adversly affect the fabric of our society. I like that we have names that can be traced back to the original creators of Canada. Parc street has its history in British society.

Also, I know that a lot of literature and art has been created around Parc avenue. M. Richler's texts deal with it, as do G. Roys. If we change the name of Parc we remove it somewhat from this history. It does Montreal and its many communities a diservice.

I believe that they can build something new and dedicate it to Bourassa.

And another reason that I think that it is prima facia stupid is that to avoid having the intersection of Bourassa and Bourasse the government has decided to change the name of Parc avenue only up until Jean-Talon street. So now Park avenue will have the names: Beaver Hall, Mc Gill, Blurry, Robert Bourassa, and then Par Avenue. And so therefore, Parc will only be called Parc away from the parc past Jean-Talon.

I can't help that this is politically motivated, and I really donit think that a bunch of politians should make all the decisions on the fabrique of our society.

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Oh of course its politically motivated remember those statues commerating Churchill, FDR and King meeting in Quebec Confrence. But when it was built under a PQ government they basically have erased King from ever attending that confrence in 1943 because he "wasn't important" um okay yeah sure whatever floats your boat.

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My thoughts are that we should keep continuity as well, but also that if we continually rename things after polititians and other celebrities that it will adversly affect the fabric of our society. I like that we have names that can be traced back to the original creators of Canada. Parc street has its history in British society.

Well dont kid yourself, naming streets was political back then too. Montreal is Montreal. You'll get things named after someone that pisses off half the population and please the other half.

There was actually an entire historical show about that that was shown on Tele-Quebec or Historia a couple of years ago. They took two historians (a francophone and and anglophone) and they explored the cities and explained who were the people behind the names of this or that street. So many are historicaly controversial. Was a damn good show. I dont recall the specifics, but there's some really funny things, like a street named after some anti-catholic and anti-francophone British statesman crossing a street named after some anti-anglophone and anti-protestant French clergy man... absurd stuff like that...

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Well dont kid yourself, naming streets was political back then too. Montreal is Montreal. You'll get things named after someone that pisses off half the population and please the other half.

There was actually an entire historical show about that that was shown on Tele-Quebec or Historia a couple of years ago. They took two historians (a francophone and and anglophone) and they explored the cities and explained who were the people behind the names of this or that street. So many are historicaly controversial. Was a damn good show. I dont recall the specifics, but there's some really funny things, like a street named after some anti-catholic and anti-francophone British statesman crossing a street named after some anti-anglophone and anti-protestant French clergy man... absurd stuff like that...

I'd like to see the show. It sounds interesting.

However, my point wasn't that it wasn't politically motivated ... my point is that it is a historical connection which is being severed. Montreal is multi-cultured, and has many "original people" (I use quotes because I know this is a sensetive statement, but I mean many founders as in those who led to where we are now). I like that we have a Pell street and a Jaques-Cartier bridge. But I also like that we have names that refer back to other locations that aren't people, but are places, and represent our heritige on a non-persona level. Parc is a good example, as is Champs Mars.

This naming game is fine, but as long as it doesn't destroy something which is already culturaly rich. The reason they are doing this is perfuntory at best.

I like the idea of changing the Henry IV street to Bourassa ... since Henry IV has very little relation to our city, and it is already named after someone ... so it isn't adding to the "person name only craze".

Also, when it comes right down to it, I am set in my ways and I really like the name "Avenue du Parc" which runs through one of the most beautiful PARCs that I know.

I could care less because I don't even know where Park is, I'm so lost downtown.

You must be from the sub-urbs ;)

It runs right by that giant statue where they have the tam-tams every Sunday in the summer. Just think of the largest parc in montreal with a large avenue going down the middle of it that is partly on Mt-Royal and you will know which street we are talking about.

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hehehe relax Bacchus & touché

Anyway are we all aware that Blvd Rene Levesque is still called Dorchester in the part where it passes through Westmount?

Quotidian politics in Qc

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LOL. In saint louis they renamed I-70 going through the slums of north saint louis "Mark McGwire Memorial Highway" LOL!!! (They can't offically rename the highway since its an interstate they just put a sign up. LOL)

But Stan Musial I think has a name here. There's Laclede's Landing but he's a founding father of the city. Heck, the city is named after a King. lol. Half the people in the town do not even know that the city has french origins.

People are like what that corn looking thingy plastered everywhere (coeur de lis)

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LOL. In saint louis they renamed I-70 going through the slums of north saint louis "Mark McGwire Memorial Highway" LOL!!! (They can't offically rename the highway since its an interstate they just put a sign up. LOL)

But Stan Musial I think has a name here. There's Laclede's Landing but he's a founding father of the city. Heck, the city is named after a King. lol. Half the people in the town do not even know that the city has french origins.

People are like what that corn looking thingy plastered everywhere (coeur de lis)

LOL :lol::clap:

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hehehe relax Bacchus & touché

Anyway are we all aware that Blvd Rene Levesque is still called Dorchester in the part where it passes through Westmount?

Quotidian politics in Qc

Hey JLP, glad you weighed in with an on topic responce. :)

I call Rene Levesque street by its new name, but I think they should have left it as Dorchester. Dorchester actually had a historical connection to the city, and they could have found something else to name after Rene Levesque (However, the fact that they picked an English name to replacec, instead of Changing it from the Jaque Cartier bridge to the Rene Levesque bridge, is not lost on most people). From Wikipedia:

From the time of its formal naming in 1844, the street was known as "Dorchester Boulevard" in honor of Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (1724-1808), Governor of Quebec and Governor General of Canada. The name was changed in 1987 after the death of Quebec premier René Lévesque.

and

Sir Guy Carleton, was a British soldier who twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768–1778 (concurrently serving as Governor General of Canada), and from 1785–1795.

However, regardless of your politics (the general you, of course), names have a historical connection, and changing them for political reasons destroys certain properties of our history.

However, all English/French politics aside, at least they took a street named after a person and changed it. My real problem is I don't want to live in a place where every friggin' street is named after some politically connected person. If they leave the name parc, parc will go on forever, but Bourassa just may go out of favour as Dorchester did ...

If they do ever change Champ Mars to something like Mayor Bourque, or Charest street, or Jan wong square I will seriously break down and cry ... because that is a name that I really dig. (Especially since it is named after a part of Paris, like our Metro system, which is the same name they use in Paris, and which draws a connection to our shared history with France)!

Edited by Bacchus
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I'd like to see the show. It sounds interesting.

However, my point wasn't that it wasn't politically motivated ... my point is that it is a historical connection which is being severed. Montreal is multi-cultured, and has many "original people" (I use quotes because I know this is a sensetive statement, but I mean many founders as in those who led to where we are now). I like that we have a Pell street and a Jaques-Cartier bridge. But I also like that we have names that refer back to other locations that aren't people, but are places, and represent our heritige on a non-persona level. Parc is a good example, as is Champs Mars.

Ditto. I like streets named after things or events (Playa Cinqo de Mayo for example), not persons. As long as it's somewhat original (they had a problem here in Quebec City when they fusionned cities, since there was like 7 different Route de l'Eglise... that's original). I also like the keeping of names that relate to founders of the city (whichever city that is). That's how you learn about the history of the city. The main highway in Rimouski is named after a founding father (René Lepage). That's one of the only things that keep the memory of the man alive. I'd be super pissed if they'd change it.

Like I said, Bourassa deserves something in his name, than let it be what he helped develop: the Bay James complex. At least there's a connection there.

Speaking of which, that's probably something that isn't a problem on the Montreal Island itself, but there's been a trend in some cities to call neighborhood of new developments with "theme" streets. I recall a neighborhood in my hometown where all streets were named after birds. So confusing, we'd just say "I live on of the Birds"...

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Thats stupid, i like the simple name "parc"

I hope you signed the petition then. Petitioning the government, like voting, is a way to make your voice heard. If the petition is signed over 5000 times there is a very good chance of stopping the planned change.

Edited by Bacchus
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This is an interesting topic for me since I used to live on Ave. du Parc, but I feel weird signing the petition because I don't live in Montreal any more.

http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2006/10/18/...ling-my-street/

Interesting take on it.

I think that if you feel a connection with Montreal that that is enough. I don't presently live there, but it is my home, and I will be back. One can't stay in the same place forever.

I read that blog, and I agree, St-Joseph would be an equally horrible choice. Renaming is a quick and easy fix. Build something new, and then name it after him ... or get something that doesn't have a name yet!

Or how about they put up a new statue somewhere. Politicians, mphhhh!

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Nice insight in that blog. Someone in the comments suggested changing Grande Allée in Quebec City instead.

That's funny when you consider that Grande Allée is one street with 3 different names: Boulevard Laurier in Ste-Foy, Chemin St-Louis in Sillery and Grande Allée in Quebec City. Besides, Grande Allée is more than just a name, its a synonym. People use it more in the sense of "Great Alley" than as a name.

All of this is so ironic, in a sense. Bourassa was known as an indecisive Premier and while he was skating people would argue what he should do... Hehehe...

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