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| The 1955 2.5 cent bus ticket hike led to mass destruction |
The Bus Ticket Clash of 1955: Dec. 10, 1955 about 100 were arrested after a six hour smashing rampage which led to 40 injuries, 172 streetcars vandalized and 64 buses smashed up on Ontario St. The riot began after about 2,500 went to City Hall to protest a hike in ticket prices from 10 cents to 12.5 cents (3 for 30 cents became 2 for 25). Earlier that year the city had seen people riot over the suspension of hockey player Maurice Richard. Officials blamed youth wearing leather jackets.
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| St. Leonard came under attack in 1969 |
Newspaper riots of 1971: Oct. 28, 1971, about 8,000 protested a lock out of 350 production employees at La Presse newspaper, leading to 155 injuries, evenly split between protesters and cops. The demonstration was planned by union boss Louis Laberge but all measure of Maoists, separatists and other groups showed up. Someone planted a bomb at the Westmount home of a Power Corp executive. CEGEP art student Michele Gauthier, 24, died from an asthma attack during the event. Her husband, Radio Canada employee Michel Gauthier called it murder by Mayor Jean Drapeau. Sixty were arrested, 30 charged and St. Denis St. suffered considerble damage, es
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| La Presse lockout riots of 1971 |
So why do people demonstrate and riot so often in Montreal? People with mortgages never start revolutions. Stats I've seen indicate that Montreal was comprised of around 90% renters in the mid-1900s. That 10 percent ownership number has only gone up to only 30-something percent now.
Far too many Montrealers are geographically and economically alienated, they are not landed, they are not invested. They're stuck in a perpetual smoke-em-if-you-got-em, nothing-to-lose mindset.
We need to find a way to get more Montrealers owning their own property because renting is a form of slavery. The CMHC is neutral on the issue, sadly. The best way to make it happen would be to build, build, build. Loosen restrictions on residential developments. Let's get everybody gaining some wealth and feeling like part of the fabric of what makes things work right, not wrong here.
"...renting is a form of slavery."
ReplyDeleteSo you're a slave-owner then?
Mortgages are a form of slavery too, you know.
ReplyDeleteI taught the Hockey riots of the fifties were the prototype of modern protest in Montreal.
ReplyDeleteSo the riots happen because people aren't "free" enough? And signing a debenture for a few decades salary with your bank will help you to find the freedom you need to NOT protest injustice?
ReplyDeleteUseful idiots and likely communist wannabees. Where is John Galt?
ReplyDeleteAre you seriously equating building restrictions with rioting?
ReplyDeleteI'll chime in with a "left out" riot that had a bit of lasting impact.
ReplyDelete(Working entirely from memory here- this stuff can be looked up on Wikipedia etc.):
In 1849, a good part of the Montreal English community rioted, burned down the parliament buildings which were then in Youville Square, ultimately causing ...Ottawa! The Governor General at the time (Elgin?) was chased through the streets, his carriage pelted with rocks, bricks and so on, until he reached the safety of his barricaded residence at Monklands. (Monklands is still there, it's now known as Villa Maria- the Villa Maria Metro stop sits at the Western edge of the grounds.
From Hugh Kiddin:
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Sir George Williams riots around '69ish ? Montreal has had protests forever,justified or not,it is usually people who don't own a thing,so consequently have nothing to lose.Same as the referendum nonsense & the political crap of the 70's which plunged Montreal (Quebec) into a 30year plus time of no investment from outside the province.The few made the many pay dearly & they lost nothing because that's what they had,Nothing.
FYI:
ReplyDeleteMonklands
In 1795, James Monk, Chief Justice of Lower Canada, purchased an estate in Montreal that had previously belonged to the Décarie family. The first Monk residence, built in 1803, was the central section of the present-day Villa Maria.
Sir James Monk willed the property known as ‘Monklands’ to his niece, Elizabeth Ann Monk. In 1844, the family leased Monklands to the Crown as a residence for the Governors General of Canada. Modifications were made to create a more imposing residence.
Three Governors General, Sir Charles Metcalfe, Lord Cathcart and Lord Elgin, resided at Monklands. After Lord Elgin signed a bill that would help the French population (innocent French people's homes were burnt down and ravaged during British raids and Lord Elgin wanted to grant them money and necessary house objects so they could rebuilt their homes), the British nobility came to burn down Lord Elgin's home, which at the time was what we know today as Villa Maria. However, because this year in 1849 Lady Elgin was bearing a child, the rebels decided to burn down the government building in Montreal instead. Shortly after, Lady Elgin gave birth to a son Victor Bruce, the future Viceroy of India, in a second floor room overlooking the driveway. When the Governor Generals' presence were no longer needed in Montreal, due to the displacement of the Government building, Monklands was sold, and turned into a country hotel for five years.
Monklands is one of the oldest remaining Palladian-style villas in Canada. Because of its excellent state of conservation and the historic importance of its various occupants, it was declared a National Historic Site in 1951.
I don't agree that we would eliminate riots if people owned property. The rioters would just destroy others' property. Also, I doubt any rioters destroyed property where they were tenants. They took their mayhem elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteFinally, we see what happened in the US when we tried to make everybody a home-owner. Banks were told by gov't they had to lend to everybody, even poor people who had lousy credit and no down payment means (mostly minorities). Then, crash!
Probably Montreal's most infamous riot occurred on October 7, 1969 following the police strike.
ReplyDeleteLooking back from today's perspective, it is difficult to imagine such a volatile climate.
Mysteriously, the Montreal Gazette archive is missing for that entire month of October, so researchers must dig elsewhere, such as in--among others--Le Devoir or the Calgary Herald in their October 8 issues.
Furthermore, The Montreal Star archives are STILL not accessible online!
Too often I am discovering "coincidentally" missing newspaper archives which would reveal violent and other controversial events as if to deliberately thwart researchers.
Who is afraid of the truth?