Notice the engine on the turntable has the name "Montreal?" These are engines in Sri Lanka given by Canada in the 50's as part of the Colombo plan exchanges. They've kept them going strong for quite a while! The one named after my home province was involved in the boxing day tsunami.


They got that one running again.

http://www.kodikara.net/blog/2011/07/24/m2-%E2%80%93-the-legendary-workhorse-of-the-sri-lankan-railway/

It makes me want to plan a trip to Montreal next summer to see the international fireworks competition.
http://montreal.about.com/od/montrealevents/a/fireworks_mtl.htm

Also needs a *Canada tag for Toronto FC and Montreal Impact.

Montreal seriously needs something like this, especially during the god awful, harsh as fuck winters

http://antfarm.yuku.com/topic/18200/Queen-ID-Near-Montreal-Sept-5th-2014

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/33756/-x-men-apocalypse-to-film-in-montreal

Love just for laughs gags. Montreal, *Canada has a great sense of humour.

My girlfriend and I just love us some Nick Offerman. We went to see his Talk of the Fest at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival. We were very near the stage, not 10 feet away from the man as he exuded the essence of pure masculinity to all around him

Oh my god, I would kill for a Hungry Jacks (what Burger King's called in Australia) Whopper. There's like 2 Burger Kings here in Montreal and they're both filthy, run down shit holes.

I'm an equal opportunities burger consumer... I may have to stop by Five Guys tonight...

Saw him live last year in Montreal. Absolutely hilarious. Seemed like he really enjoyed his work too; he took an extra ~20 minutes at the end of the show just chatting with the audience. Got the feeling back then that he was in some financial difficulties. From this interview too, it seems like a large part of him regrets not sticking with his show for the money.

montreal standing wave surfing (habitat) has been added as a related post - related requested by kulpims on that post.

Here is a longer 18 minute video of more of Senator Burr's questions to the witnesses. I wish I could find the full hearing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1m0Gxtsz1A

It includes this little gem from Senator Burr, "The American system HAS access to healthcare for everybody, it's called the Emergency Room. Now we don't admit that because clearly we are lobbying for a particular angle, but every American can access healthcare."

Nice slight of hand there Senator, only difference is whenever I go to the emergency room (I live in Canada), I don't get a bill in the mail a few weeks later that I have to pay.

The average American ER visit costs $600 dollars in 2009, today it's probably well more than that, and that's just for simple problems. Anything more serious than a urinary tract infection and you are going to be paying thousands of dollars.

I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll give my 2 cents on my experiences with the Healthcare system in Quebec.

I use the public system and private system and constantly dabble between the two. Wait times can be long for sure. I've had a long running ankle problem since my teens, and to get my first appointment with an ankle specialist here took 1 year and 3 months!

My MRI was covered by private insurance, so it only took a couple days to have the scan done. I was put on a surgery waiting list for just over 2 years. The Dr let me know that he operated at a private clinic in Montreal. I could have had the surgery in only 2 weeks, at a cost of around $5000, but because my pain was minimal and I could still walk, I opted to wait.

Post surgery access to follow up appointments was swift. I could easily see the Dr in a week or two, with very little advanced notice. Follow up MRI's weren't covered by my new private insurance, so I had to wait for an MRI scan, which took around 2 months. I was supposed to have an MRI arthrogram, but the waiting list for that procedure is about twice as long, so the Dr just opted for a regular MRI. Cost for an MRI arthrogram is $875 in private. Again I just waited it out.

I've only needed to go to the emergency room twice, since I've been here, both times I was in and out in under an hour and a half.

I've been to many walk-in clinic's. These are a crapshoot, sometimes they're incredibly fast, sometimes incredibly slow.

I don't have a family Dr, so I opt to go to a Dr at a private clinic for my annual checkups. Even private clinics are a grey zone sometimes, as some services are covered by the provincial plans, so visits to the GP cost out of pocket, but visits to specialists within the same clinic are free.

Finding a family Dr is definitely plausible, it just involves phoning around every clinic and/or Dr in Montreal asking if they have space, but I just haven't invested the time yet. Some people get lucky this way, but even then, getting an appointment with your family Dr can take many weeks, appointment times can be inconvenient (mid afternoon, etc), so I'd rather make the investment of seeing someone at a private clinic, where I can have an appointment at 8:30am within a couple days.

I contrast all this with the fact that I was born and lived in South Africa well into my mid 20's. South Africa has abysmal public healthcare, and being born into a white middle class family, thanks to my parents I had access to private healthcare.

Private insurance in South Africa is less exploitative than in the U.S. Much less fighting with insurers to pay for coverage etc. Access to most Dr's is swift, and most procedure's are well covered. Obviously the overall experience compared to Canadian healthcare was much better, but the S.A private system only barely covers 20% of the population's needs and even with the disparity in wait times for service, the Canadian healthcare system at 100% coverage feels like an undeniable success, and a model that needs to be improved and iterated upon.

The debate around healthcare is tough here. Health issues and frustration with waiting can easily escalate the egocentric side of our human nature, but even with my negative experiences I would never denounce this system, because the broader social contract that has been written is valiant, and the price paid for this is worth it.

Nobody should be financially ruined because of health issues.

For interest's sake: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bombardier-lays-off-1-700-workers-in-canada-u-s-1.2505013

I'd much rather Starbucks because when you ask for a latte, they make you a latte. They don't put a cup under a machine and it dispenses powdered milk and a tiny drip of instant coffee.

I miss the coffee in Melbourne. The best I've had here is from a popular cafe down the road from work called Olimpico. They're latte's are small, but damn good. If you're in the Mile End area of Montreal, check it out.