Blast From the Past Growing up in Montreal 1960's

    From the grand opening of CFCF 12 to some of our famous faces that you’ve welcomed into your home. Click the video player to the right to watch these short clips from yesteryear.

CFCF went on the air in 1961, with a song and dance, next up was the first of many news magazine shows, Carte Blanche, featuring an interview with Mayor Jean Drapeau.

During the 1960s we brought you lots of live programming geared towards children and young adults with famous hosts like Magic Tom and Johnny Jellybean.

One man who personified CFCF 12 was Don McGowan, who did everything from hosting talk shows and game shows to predicting the weather and travelling around the world.

Bill Haugland was our main news anchor from 1977 to 2006 and he offers a brief retrospective on growing up English in Montreal

 

 

Blast From the Past Growing up in Montreal 1960's

    From the grand opening of CFCF 12 to some of our famous faces that you’ve welcomed into your home. Click the video player to the right to watch these short clips from yesteryear.

CFCF went on the air in 1961, with a song and dance, next up was the first of many news magazine shows, Carte Blanche, featuring an interview with Mayor Jean Drapeau.

During the 1960s we brought you lots of live programming geared towards children and young adults with famous hosts like Magic Tom and Johnny Jellybean.

One man who personified CFCF 12 was Don McGowan, who did everything from hosting talk shows and game shows to predicting the weather and travelling around the world.

Bill Haugland was our main news anchor from 1977 to 2006 and he offers a brief retrospective on growing up English in Montreal

 

 

Corner Gordon & Bannantyne

I am reposting these photos of the Corner of Gordon & Bannantyne as my first post earlier got buried.

Guy

 

 

"Will there be 'Fly's' With That ?"

           How's this for stupidity, Our illustrious leaders in spending $35 BILLION (with a B) an already low estimate of the true cost (our Gov't likes to lie to us----don't they all) ...Now it seems if you want engines in those 'Planes' it will be extra.......hahahahah

The multi-million dollar F-35 stealth fighter that the Conservatives want to purchase comes with all the accoutrements of a high-tech aircraft — everything, that is, except an engine.

The government will be required to provide engines for the 65 planes to be delivered by U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin, according to newly released Defence Department documents.

The proposed F-35 purchase, estimated to cost between $14 billion and $29 billion depending on what figures are used, has been controversial. Opposition parties are calling for a review or cancellation of the program, while the Tories have made it a key part of their defence policy.

The DND documents, which outline answers to questions about the F-35, also note that the stealth fighter could be used in a secondary role for search-and-rescue.

The records, obtained through the Access to Information law by peace activist Tamara Lorincz, are from a series of meetings last fall when defence bureaucrats and military officers toured the country to promote the F-35 deal.

“Engines are provided as gov’t furnished equipment,” noted the documents.

The term “government furnished equipment” signifies that the engines are being provided separately by Canada.

It is unclear how much extra the engines will cost or whether there would be additional costs for installing the power plants into the fighters.

In an e-mail late Friday, DND stated that Canada is purchasing the least costly variant of the F-35.

But DND did not provide an explanation about why the government is required to provide the engines.

It also did not provide any details on the price tag of the engines or the cost to install them.

But the e-mail suggested the cost of the engines is included in the overall price.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has labelled the F-35 as a good deal for Canada and notes that the aircraft will cost around $75 million per plane.

The Conservatives say the entire purchase will cost around $14 billion but a report from Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page puts the number at $29 billion.

The Government Accountability Office, the U.S government’s equivalent of the auditor general, has also warned about serious ongoing problems with the aircraft and rising costs. Mike Sullivan, a senior official with the Government Accountability Office, estimates that the F-35 model that Canada is buying will cost between $110 to $115 million.

U.S. defence specialist Winslow Wheeler, who has also raised concerns about the F-35, has warned that the extra cost of an engine could boost the price of an aircraft for Canada to around $148 million.

“If Canada’s government can get an F-35 for the mid-70 million dollars per airplane, well they should sign a contract right now and get it delivered,” said Wheeler, an analyst with the Center for Defense Information in Washington. “Because I can promise you nobody on this earth will ever get a flying F-35 for $75 million per copy. It’s pure fantasy.”

But former chief of the defence staff, retired Gen. Paul Manson, a strong supporter of the F-35 and a former chairman of Lockheed Martin Canada, has challenged Wheeler’s viewpoints in a letter to the Citizen. According to Manson, the F-35 project is progressing well and the plane is the right one for Canada. He said Wheeler lacks credibility because he is associated with a “left-wing” organization in Washington.

Wheeler, who was asked to testify last year before a Commons committee, has spent the last 30 years working on defence issues for Republican and Democratic politicians. He was an analyst for nine years with the Government Accountability Office, working on studies concerning defence procurement and military aircraft.

The DND records highlight the F-35’s capabilities, pointing out that it will be easy to fly and the purchase will provide contracts for Canadian aerospace companies.

During the tour, the issue of whether the F-35 could contribute to search and rescue (SAR) missions also came up. “Fighter aircraft (are) not a primary SAR asset, but can play a secondary role — and would,” the documents state.

But Steve Staples, a vocal critic of the F-35 purchase, calls that claim ludicrous.

He said the billions of dollars earmarked for the fighter jets have helped delay other more important projects such as the air force’s much-delayed plan to buy fixed wing search and rescue planes.

“The concern here is that the F-35 eats everybody’s else’s lunch and there will be no money left,” said Staples, president of the Rideau Institute. “The search and rescue aircraft are a casualty, so instead we’ll get some supersonic stealth fighter trying to find hikers lost in the woods.”

According to the DND presentations from the documents, the first F-35 will be delivered to Canada in 2016. The final delivery will take place in 2022.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

_________________________________________Cheers !!  HF&RV__________________

  Is it any wonder ,we figure Politicians are full of Crap,everytime they open their mouth  lol

but Hey it's not their money (well until the enveloppes start showing up under their doors) it isn't.      

Growing Up in Verdun / Montreal

A great recollection story of growing up in Montreal by a fellow named 'saddlerider' an ex Montrealer now living somewhere in the prairies. but his retelling of his memory of times gone by are really well done, This story could quite easily be told by any one of us, & that being said is what links us all together with the common thread (denominator) of growing up in Verdun/Montreal.From sitting on the gallery or people watching from our windows ,to playing in the street when the 'water truck came rolling down the avenues'..always an adventure:Read his story if you like>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>HF&RV>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Memories Of montreal from the '50s & '60sHow many of us have similar memories of growing up in our towns and cities? When I was just a boy growing up in Montreal, I lived in some interesting areas of the city. This picture of a boy crossing the street could have been me, this is the exact way the flats and streets looked in my time growing up in Point St Charles. We used to play kick the can, street hockey, hide and seek, buck-buck how many fingers up, throwing a ball against the brick exteriors and bouncing it to see how high we could make it go. The girls would have colored chalk and they would draw hopscotch patterns and skip on the sidewalks.

Then there was the water truck that would come by spraying and using their huge circular electric brushes to clean the dirty streets. We would all run alongside the truck and try to jump over the spray without getting our feet and legs wet. But on hot summer days, that spray felt so good. We played street hockey all year round and the girls would join in as well. Many of us would ask our moms to sew a number 9 on the back of our sweaters so that we could pretend we were the late great Maurice 'the Rocket' Richard.

Another fun thing we did was in the winter, when we had a heavy snowfall, we would build tunnels through the banks and play inside them. It could be dangerous , if we heard the loud rolling noise of the snow truck coming down our street we would run for cover because we didn't want to be sucked into those snow shoots with the sharp blades that choped up the snow and dumped into the truck that was alongside. There were a few horrific stories of kids losing their lives to this monster.

It was fun to watch the street when the sun went down.The people would open their windows, stick a pillow out to rest their elbows on, smoke cigarettes and talk and yell to each other from their flats. Sometimes the conversations would go on for hours. We never locked our doors at night and had no fear of being vandalized. Everyone knew each other and watched each others' backs.

The picture of the back lanes of the Point today are still exactly the way they looked years ago - a mess of telephone and electrical wires crisscrossing the alleyway. Clothes out on the lines. Garbage piled up along the fences waiting for the garbage man to pick up. Apart from cats and dogs running loose, we also had rats the size of some cats darting here and there. Tenants put out poison mixed in strawberry jam on small squares of white bread, hoping to attract the rats and kill them. I had a few encounters with those ugly vermin when I was a boy but never got bitten, thank goodness.

We had to call in the local rat catcher sometimes because once in awhile, when I brought in an empty garbage can, there may have been one hiding at the bottom and would jump out in the flat and scare the daylights out of us. It didn't happen too often, thank goodness. My chores back then were to empty the ashes from our coal burning stove, take out the garbage, shovel the coal into our coal bin when it was poured down a chute by the coalman and to put the ice in our icebox when the iceman dropped it at the top of our stairs. Damn, it was cold! Many a time we would distract the iceman and run to the back of his icetruck and chip off some ice to suck on. I bet not too many of you ever broke off pieces of slightly hardened black tar and chewed on it? I did, they say it helped keep our teeth white.

This photo of Mount Royal was taken from an apartment on Guy Street. My friends and I used to hop on a bus from the Point and take it up Guy Street and get off at the corner of Sherbrooke and Cote des Neiges and walk the rest of the way to the mount. It may have been a half hour walk from the last bus stop. Once we were on Mount Royal, our play commenced. We would pretend to be explorers and mountain climbers. We would try to find a steep side of the mountain and work our way up to the top. The things I did back then I couldn't even imagine today. There were stables of riding horses available and we would pool our money to rent one horse for all of us to ride for half an hour. We would get a share of the ride for ten or 15 minutes each. Afterwards, we would scoot on over to Beaver Lake and walk barefoot in the shallow parts and chase the ducks. Being boys, we would find as much mischief to get into as we could so we could tempt the officials to scold us or chase us off the mount.

Montreal was a great city to grow up in. I had too many experiences and fun to write in one blog, I hope to share more of them with my readers as time goes by.

Read More about my journey's of growing up in Montreal:

This is my life story in my own words. It will be a lasting heritage for my four children.

The ending of part one was a description of the type of flat we lived in.

I left part two with the answer as follows:

"Yes my sisters and I did a lot of crying together with mom.

I had a very fortunate distraction in 67 with the

the excitement building up to the opening day at Expo67

My 57 Chevy was one of my prize possessions

Chrome and leather days riding my 65 Super Flame BSA motorcycle.

Finding my very first job after school in Montreal

My discovery of an angel at the top of the hill and the mentoring from a wise man.

Montreal has the smoked meat sandwich and it's the talk of the town.

I hope you enjoyed the adventures of my growing up in Montreal.The first 23 years of my life were definitely challenges that with help and guidance I managed to survive.and keep my spirit in tact

Found on the Net About Growing Up in Montreal

Memories of Montreal in the 50's & 60's    

 How many of us have similar memories of growing up in our towns and cities? When I was just a boy growing up in Montreal, I lived in some interesting areas of the city. This picture of a boy crossing the street could have been me, this is the exact way the flats and streets looked in my time growing up in Point St Charles. We used to play kick the can, street hockey, hide and seek, buck-buck how many fingers up, throwing a ball against the brick exteriors and bouncing it to see how high we could make it go. The girls would have colored chalk and they would draw hopscotch patterns and skip on the sidewalks.

Then there was the water truck that would come by spraying and using their huge circular electric brushes to clean the dirty streets. We would all run alongside the truck and try to jump over the spray without getting our feet and legs wet. But on hot summer days, that spray felt so good. We played street hockey all year round and the girls would join in as well. Many of us would ask our moms to sew a number 9 on the back of our sweaters so that we could pretend we were the late great Maurice 'the Rocket' Richard.

Another fun thing we did was in the winter, when we had a heavy snowfall, we would build tunnels through the banks and play inside them. It could be dangerous , if we heard the loud rolling noise of the snow truck coming down our street we would run for cover because we didn't want to be sucked into those snow shoots with the sharp blades that choped up the snow and dumped into the truck that was alongside. There were a few horrific stories of kids losing their lives to this monster.

It was fun to watch the street when the sun went down.The people would open their windows, stick a pillow out to rest their elbows on, smoke cigarettes and talk and yell to each other from their flats. Sometimes the conversations would go on for hours. We never locked our doors at night and had no fear of being vandalized. Everyone knew each other and watched each others' backs.

The picture of the back lanes of the Point today are still exactly the way they looked years ago - a mess of telephone and electrical wires crisscrossing the alleyway. Clothes out on the lines. Garbage piled up along the fences waiting for the garbage man to pick up. Apart from cats and dogs running loose, we also had rats the size of some cats darting here and there. Tenants put out poison mixed in strawberry jam on small squares of white bread, hoping to attract the rats and kill them. I had a few encounters with those ugly vermin when I was a boy but never got bitten, thank goodness.

We had to call in the local rat catcher sometimes because once in awhile, when I brought in an empty garbage can, there may have been one hiding at the bottom and would jump out in the flat and scare the daylights out of us. It didn't happen too often, thank goodness. My chores back then were to empty the ashes from our coal burning stove, take out the garbage, shovel the coal into our coal bin when it was poured down a chute by the coalman and to put the ice in our icebox when the iceman dropped it at the top of our stairs. Damn, it was cold! Many a time we would distract the iceman and run to the back of his icetruck and chip off some ice to suck on. I bet not too many of you ever broke off pieces of slightly hardened black tar and chewed on it? I did, they say it helped keep our teeth white.

This photo of Mount Royal was taken from an apartment on Guy Street. My friends and I used to hop on a bus from the Point and take it up Guy Street and get off at the corner of Sherbrooke and Cote des Neiges and walk the rest of the way to the mount. It may have been a half hour walk from the last bus stop. Once we were on Mount Royal, our play commenced. We would pretend to be explorers and mountain climbers. We would try to find a steep side of the mountain and work our way up to the top. The things I did back then I couldn't even imagine today. There were stables of riding horses available and we would pool our money to rent one horse for all of us to ride for half an hour. We would get a share of the ride for ten or 15 minutes each. Afterwards, we would scoot on over to Beaver Lake and walk barefoot in the shallow parts and chase the ducks. Being boys, we would find as much mischief to get into as we could so we could tempt the officials to scold us or chase us off the mount.

Montreal was a great city to grow up in. I had too many experiences and fun to write in one blog, I hope to share more of them with my readers as time goes by.

Read More about my journey's of growing up in Montreal:

This is my life story in my own words. It will be a lasting heritage for my four children.

The ending of part one was a description of the type of flat we lived in.

I left part two with the answer as follows:

"Yes my sisters and I did a lot of crying together with mom.

I had a very fortunate distraction in 67 with the

the excitement building up to the opening day at Expo67

My 57 Chevy was one of my prize possessions

Chrome and leather days riding my 65 Super Flame BSA motorcycle.

Finding my very first job after school in Montreal

My discovery of an angel at the top of the hill and the mentoring from a wise man.

Montreal has the smoked meat sandwich and it's the talk of the town.

I hope you enjoyed the adventures of my growing up in Montreal.The first 23 years of my life were definitely challenges that with help and guidance I managed to survive.and keep my spirit in tact

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Cheers !!  HF&RV<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Found on the Net About Growing Up in Montreal

Memories of Montreal in the 50's & 60's    

 How many of us have similar memories of growing up in our towns and cities? When I was just a boy growing up in Montreal, I lived in some interesting areas of the city. This picture of a boy crossing the street could have been me, this is the exact way the flats and streets looked in my time growing up in Point St Charles. We used to play kick the can, street hockey, hide and seek, buck-buck how many fingers up, throwing a ball against the brick exteriors and bouncing it to see how high we could make it go. The girls would have colored chalk and they would draw hopscotch patterns and skip on the sidewalks.

Then there was the water truck that would come by spraying and using their huge circular electric brushes to clean the dirty streets. We would all run alongside the truck and try to jump over the spray without getting our feet and legs wet. But on hot summer days, that spray felt so good. We played street hockey all year round and the girls would join in as well. Many of us would ask our moms to sew a number 9 on the back of our sweaters so that we could pretend we were the late great Maurice 'the Rocket' Richard.

Another fun thing we did was in the winter, when we had a heavy snowfall, we would build tunnels through the banks and play inside them. It could be dangerous , if we heard the loud rolling noise of the snow truck coming down our street we would run for cover because we didn't want to be sucked into those snow shoots with the sharp blades that choped up the snow and dumped into the truck that was alongside. There were a few horrific stories of kids losing their lives to this monster.

It was fun to watch the street when the sun went down.The people would open their windows, stick a pillow out to rest their elbows on, smoke cigarettes and talk and yell to each other from their flats. Sometimes the conversations would go on for hours. We never locked our doors at night and had no fear of being vandalized. Everyone knew each other and watched each others' backs.

The picture of the back lanes of the Point today are still exactly the way they looked years ago - a mess of telephone and electrical wires crisscrossing the alleyway. Clothes out on the lines. Garbage piled up along the fences waiting for the garbage man to pick up. Apart from cats and dogs running loose, we also had rats the size of some cats darting here and there. Tenants put out poison mixed in strawberry jam on small squares of white bread, hoping to attract the rats and kill them. I had a few encounters with those ugly vermin when I was a boy but never got bitten, thank goodness.

We had to call in the local rat catcher sometimes because once in awhile, when I brought in an empty garbage can, there may have been one hiding at the bottom and would jump out in the flat and scare the daylights out of us. It didn't happen too often, thank goodness. My chores back then were to empty the ashes from our coal burning stove, take out the garbage, shovel the coal into our coal bin when it was poured down a chute by the coalman and to put the ice in our icebox when the iceman dropped it at the top of our stairs. Damn, it was cold! Many a time we would distract the iceman and run to the back of his icetruck and chip off some ice to suck on. I bet not too many of you ever broke off pieces of slightly hardened black tar and chewed on it? I did, they say it helped keep our teeth white.

This photo of Mount Royal was taken from an apartment on Guy Street. My friends and I used to hop on a bus from the Point and take it up Guy Street and get off at the corner of Sherbrooke and Cote des Neiges and walk the rest of the way to the mount. It may have been a half hour walk from the last bus stop. Once we were on Mount Royal, our play commenced. We would pretend to be explorers and mountain climbers. We would try to find a steep side of the mountain and work our way up to the top. The things I did back then I couldn't even imagine today. There were stables of riding horses available and we would pool our money to rent one horse for all of us to ride for half an hour. We would get a share of the ride for ten or 15 minutes each. Afterwards, we would scoot on over to Beaver Lake and walk barefoot in the shallow parts and chase the ducks. Being boys, we would find as much mischief to get into as we could so we could tempt the officials to scold us or chase us off the mount.

Montreal was a great city to grow up in. I had too many experiences and fun to write in one blog, I hope to share more of them with my readers as time goes by.

Read More about my journey's of growing up in Montreal:

This is my life story in my own words. It will be a lasting heritage for my four children.

The ending of part one was a description of the type of flat we lived in.

I left part two with the answer as follows:

"Yes my sisters and I did a lot of crying together with mom.

I had a very fortunate distraction in 67 with the

the excitement building up to the opening day at Expo67

My 57 Chevy was one of my prize possessions

Chrome and leather days riding my 65 Super Flame BSA motorcycle.

Finding my very first job after school in Montreal

My discovery of an angel at the top of the hill and the mentoring from a wise man.

Montreal has the smoked meat sandwich and it's the talk of the town.

I hope you enjoyed the adventures of my growing up in Montreal.The first 23 years of my life were definitely challenges that with help and guidance I managed to survive.and keep my spirit in tact

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Cheers !!  HF&RV<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Memories of summer evenings in Verdun

Verdun and Montreal Photos

A Compilation of Verdun and Montreal photographs,mostly colour,a couple of B&W.

Medical Technique Breakthrough by Quebec Brain Surgeon

      Pretty cool stuff ,when you think about it, I am sure we all know or knew someone who was diagnosed with brain cancer ,rarely do they survive,(almost never)Well maybe this will help in the future:

QUEBEC — In a Canadian first, a Quebec neurosurgeon recently managed to completely remove a brain tumour from a patient using a robotic arm and 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The groundbreaking surgery was performed last fall by Dr. David Fortin at Sherbrooke's University Hospital (CHUS). Fortin said Monday he waited until now to make the surgery public to make sure the patient had fully recovered.

He has operated since on four other patients with the robotic surgical arm, known as Rosa and produced by the French company Medtech.

"This acts as a third arm, a very precise and reliable one, for the neurosurgeon," said Fortin in a telephone interview from Sherbrooke.

The robotic arm helps ensure the safety of prolonged movements during the surgery, thus making it more efficient than a human arm that suffers from fatigue, Fortin noted. He added the robotic arm is easy to use and is also less invasive for the patient.

"Technologies like the robotic arm help improve the quantity of tumour we can extract while preserving the patient's quality of life after the surgery," Fortin said.

Fortin used the robotic arm last fall along with tri-dimensional MRI that generates images showing the detailed circuitry of the brain. This allowed the surgeon to have real-time information about the brain.

Fortin also added the patient was woken up at one point during the surgery to stimulate the brain.

"It's the combination of those three techniques that allowed us to completely remove the tumour and made the surgery unique," he said, noting a "classic" surgery would have only allowed the surgeon to remove half of the tumour for that first patient.

Fortin said this technology is part of a new tailored therapy approach and will allow surgeons to get to tumours that previously were believed to be inoperable.

Sherbrooke is the second hospital in North America to use the Rosa technology, after a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fortin said he is testing the robotic arm, worth $600,000, and will conduct a series of 15 operations with it before next fall. Depending on the results, Fortin and the hospital will decide whether it the facility buys the new technology.

Fortin heads the neuro-oncology clinic at Sherbrooke's CHUS and holds the Canadian Chair for the Treatment of Brain Cancer. His research aims to prolong the lives of people with this type of incurable cancer.

He has developed a unique technique to administer cancer-fighting medications that are able to reach the brain tumour in sufficient quantities to be effective.

Each year, some 2,500 Canadians are diagnosed with brain cancer, a highly aggressive form of cancer.

.....Wild stuff,& any breakthrough in beating cancer is more than welcome,as it claims lots of people each day of the year.Maybe a brighter future is coming in taming the cancer beast in our lifetime ?