Latest News

Commentary, Opinion

Converting office buildings is worth the gamble

by Priscilla Perfetti on

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If you’re a student in Montreal, you know how difficult it is to find affordable housing. According to the Association des Professionnels de la Construction et de l’Habitation du Québec (APCHQ), the vacancy rate has fallen below the three per cent equilibrium threshold, where supply and demand are equally matched. In Montreal, this means a shortage of 100,000 housing units. The housing shortage has caused soaring rent prices and interest rates, disproportionately harming the city’s most economically precarious groups. 

On the other hand, 16 per cent of the office buildings in downtown Montreal sit vacant, partially due to an uptick in remote work. Turning these offices into residential units alongside multi-level governmental intervention, though a difficult and expensive undertaking, ultimately holds great potential to alleviate the housing crisis.

Montreal is in desperate need of affordable housing. According to a 2022 survey, 86 per cent of Montrealers feel that the homes in their neighbourhood are unaffordable. Meanwhile, rental costs have increased everywhere due to high demand and insufficient supply. High interest rates are preventing young people from buying property and encouraging real estate developers to charge sky-high rents. These higher rents contribute to housing insecurity, as research shows that a $100 USD increase in median rent directly correlates to an increase in housing insecurity. 

The biggest advantage of converting office buildings into residential spaces is the quickness of implementation. Demolition is time-consuming; converting offices into apartments is much faster. In parallel, construction costs are also rising due to inflation, and restructuring a building is often cheaper than completely re-building it. According to the architecture and design firm Gensler, around 25 per cent of the downtown offices in major North American cities could be converted into housing units. Adaptive reuse of buildings can also drastically cut construction’s contribution to global carbon emissions.

This would not be the first time cities have converted office buildings into residential units. In New York City, for example, 13 per cent of Lower Manhattan’s office buildings were converted into residential apartments between 1995 and 2006. In Philadelphia, 5.5 per cent of all apartment units were previously office buildings, resulting in a 55 percent increase in the number of people living downtown.

But the creation of apartment complexes out of office spaces has been historically unaffordable. The conversion of office buildings in Manhattan, for example, led to the creation of primarily expensive, luxury apartments that only worsened gentrification. That certainly would not serve Montreal or low-income and racialized renters most affected by the housing crisis. 

Converting offices into residential spaces may eventually end up costing more than building new apartment buildings, particularly when taking into consideration space layout, structural features, and the anticipated cost. Developers like Altus Groups in Toronto, therefore, feel discouraged from converting office buildings into housing, instead preferring to demolish and start from scratch. But why might this change be worth it?

Just as the Quebec government should complete its promise of building 14,000 affordable units, our municipal, provincial, and federal governments should not only coordinate with each other, but also create incentives for architecture firms to create such apartments at lower costs. Physical conversions are difficult for several reasons: The shape of office buildings, their lack of extensive plumbing, and the absence of openable windows would all need to be reassessed in order to create liveable apartments. This is particularly troubling given the lack of affordable housing. If developers encounter high costs during construction, they will likely want to offset them by charging higher prices for the units. Taking a two-pronged approach of re-investment and incentivization will ensure they get made and include affordable units.

Ultimately, converting downtown buildings into housing may prove to be a sustainable solution to Montreal’s housing crisis. In the short term, however, the government should step in through measures like rent control or a rent registry. In 2019, Canada declared that affordable housing was a human right; amid the housing crisis, our governments must set an example by subsidizing affordable housing for everyone.

Student Life

By the light of a brother’s smile

by Matthew Molinaro on

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In a now-viral, nine-minute introduction speech in praise of Michael B. Jordan’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, actor Jonathan Majors expressed his love for his friend, Creed III co-star, and brother. Embracing one another, the pair displayed an intimacy and affection uncommon in an era that has proclaimed a decline in men’s friendships. In industries and public economies that pit and structure Black performers against others, particularly their fellow workers of colour, mutual recognition and support not only uplifts us, but wills us to change. 

When you think of your friends—the drinking buddies, the hiking pals, the running bros, the Scrabble mates, the lacrosse lads, or even the trivia tyrants—you just know they have to be different than women’s friendships. You know it’s not as simple as it might seem. You might think: Even if I don’t say I love Cyrus or Donovan or Stephen, they’re always around and we’ve got a great rapport. We can and must do better than passive presence for our shared survival. Why do studies alone receive the mantle of “work hard”? How do we prevent social alienation for men and promote love, community, and growth instead? To demonstrate the advice-giving your good friend should offer, The McGill Tribune came together to rethink the possibility and potential of men’s kinship.

The Bluest Times

Friendship grows from intentional reciprocity. We play a game of give and take: You scratch my back, I scratch yours. For men who grew up told to suppress their emotions and were demanded or encouraged to turn to anger, fury, or silent discontent at the world and themselves, intention feels vulnerable. Naturalized, yet unrealistic, masculinity strips you of your ability to express yourself and articulate what you need and why you need it. Displacing care as a “feminine” action not only continuously genders existing labours, emotional and intimate, but creates a wall for any kind of relationship across the differences you leave uncritical. Thick skin doesn’t grow without original harm—to overcome it, you need an antidote.

You seek your friend out because you cannot control your own isolation and you cannot move forward alone. Your turn to self-care (even if you don’t call it that) in the things that bring you pleasure: That comfort show, that beer, that sport, shouldn’t close the door. You can bring each other up. When we struggle to share the part of us that hurts to touch, we close off the care of another. Stoicism or body-building might make you strong, but pushing past internal struggles makes you stronger collectively. 

None to Accompany Me

Sure, we enter university to grasp our fantasies: Your parents’ approval, your upward mobility, your eventual autonomy. But actively committing to and working on your friendships destabilizes what we see as male individual talent. Moving beyond the self and the “fruitful” friendships of convenience, we enter into a form of unproud, radical dependence. Are you weaker because you communicate clearly? Are you less of a man because you ask for help when you need it? Consider whether friends who judge you on your manliness or weakness should be the ones you keep.

Friendship suffers when we treat it as an alliance. You’ve sold out a connection when you forget about his soul. Using each other’s resources to get into medical school, to find that finance internship, to talk to his mom’s hyperpop violinist circle will leave you unsatisfied. Think about what connecting friendship to these goals does. Finding value only in the end result, you assimilate into a lonely system that will sever you from the good of others. That greed and that wanting will be reproduced by your group, a pyrrhic reciprocity that won’t actually hold you accountable, uplift you, and push you to be the person you can be. 

Gathering Together in our Names

Take a mental picture of your friends. You affirm one another, see them for who they are and where they’re at, talk candidly, joke around, and leave these spaces warm. This doesn’t have to be some distant dream. The simple gestures, the fistbump, the wave, the meme or tweet shared, the reassuring comment, the shared laughter, the meaningful time makes leaps. Don’t maledict yourself by not getting real. The light of a smile can push you out of the dark.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Where do I begin: Beyoncé

by Aimee DeLong on

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On Feb. 5, 2023, history was made at the 65th annual Grammy awards. However, one accomplishment in particular stole the show—legendary singer Beyoncé won her 32nd Grammy, earning her the title of artist with the most Grammy wins of all time. At present, it’s rare to find someone who doesn’t know her name. But how exactly did Queen Bey rise to the level of acclaim she holds today?

Long before the days of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)”, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles started her career at nine years old by forming the group Destiny’s Child along with LaTavia Roberson, LeToya Luckett, and Kelly Rowland in Houston, Texas. While they initially formed the group in 1990, it wasn’t until their release of the single “No, No, No” in 1997 that they became a prominent name in the R&B scene. Destiny’s Child’s unique sound was influential in the genre—their sound incorporated the double-time vocal style, something scarcely seen in the music industry before they brought it into the limelight. The women in the group became a mainstream inspiration for young Black women and women of colour everywhere. As role models for younger women, Destiny’s Child also were the backing vocals for the iconic theme song of The Proud Family, performed by Solange Knowles, Beyoncé’s sister. While the group’s success had the Oxford Dictionary adding “bootylicious” to its vocabulary, nothing compared to the release of Knowles’ debut solo album in 2003, Dangerously In Love. This album boasted collaborations with famous artists, namely Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, and her now-husband, Jay-Z.

Although her musical contributions are nothing if not impressive, her raw talent is not the only thing that has captured the hearts of the masses. Beyoncé uses her enormous platform to stand up for what she believes in. For instance, her song “Flawless” has become a feminist anthem, all the while sampling Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk on gender equality. All the more clear, Knowles has empowered women through her hit song “Run the World (Girls).” Not only this, but she has spoken out against racism by vocalizing her support for and donating $1.6 million to the Black Lives Matter movement. As a Black woman herself, Beyoncé has persistently faced obstacles due to systemic racism and sexism, motivating her to use her platform to promote social justice and better opportunities for underrepresented artists. 

Even if she does hold the record for most Grammys won, the awards ceremony has repeatedly snubbed her from one category—Album of the Year. The singer has been nominated many times for albums like I am… Sasha Fierce and, perhaps most notably, Lemonade. Only three Black women have won the award: Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston, and Lauryn Hill. Lemonade, which was simultaneously released as an album and film produced by Knowles herself, could have and should have easily won if not for the Grammys’ racist bias and history.

Despite the majority of her fame coming from her career as a singer-songwriter, Knowles has dipped her toe into Hollywood as well. Her first major acting role came in 2002 when she co-starred with Mike Myers in Austin Powers in Goldmember. Since then, she has taken part in The Fighting Temptations in 2003, The Pink Panther and Dreamgirls in 2006, and the live-action adaptation of The Lion King in 2019 as well. Admittedly, her abilities as a singer are far more noteworthy than her theatrical performance. Even if her movie roles have not been groundbreaking, she does make up for it in pure showmanship. There’s no denying that Beyoncé is famous for good reason: Her singles and albums have been topping the Billboard music charts for over two decades, and even with the calibre of her recorded music aside, her live performances exhilarate her audiences. After all, tickets for her upcoming world tour for her most recent album RENAISSANCE are going for an average of $500. With her laundry list of achievements, she has surely earned her title—all hail Queen Bey.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Ball python pigmentation research is coloured in by crowdsourced data

by Gillian Cameron on

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When you think of genetics research, what animals first come to mind? Fruit flies? Mice? Our understanding of genetics is defined by a small number of model organisms—the ones used to study a particular biological phenomenon because of how similar their genes are to humans. 

Mice are the most common model animal, while reptile species have been largely ignored in genetics research. . Because our slithery friends have been left by the wayside, researchers needed to get creative with their data collection. In a recent study, McGill scientists turned to hobby breeders to help fill the knowledge gaps in understanding the genetic basis for the distinctive colour patterns in ball pythons.

In the field of genetics, the ultimate goal is to connect a genetic profile, a genotype, to a specific physical characteristic, a phenotype. The genetics of colouration, the variation in colour and pattern between animals, are a popular target for genetic studies because of how easy it is to observe changes caused by mutations.

“[Colour variance is a] trait of ecological evolutionary relevance, and one that’s relatively easy to study,” said professor Rowan Barrett, interim director of McGill’s Redpath Museum and one of the authors on the paper, in an interview with The McGill Tribune. 

Barrett, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity Science, and his team were specifically interested in the genetic origins of piebaldism in ball pythons, a colour pattern where snakes have large blotches of white scales offset by brown-green hue. 

In animals, colour is determined by a cell type called a chromatophore. Mammals and birds have one type of chromatophore called melanocytes, which produce the brown and black pigment melanin. Reptiles, however, have multiple types of chromatophores: Melanocytes, xanthophores, which make yellow to orange pigments, and iridophores, which have crystals that determine colour via structural correlation—when the microscopic structure of a crystal changes how light reflects off a surface to determine its colour. 

However, studying pythons presented a problem: There just isn’t as much data on snakes as there is on mice. So the researchers turned to a group that did collect that kind of data: Private breeders of ball pythons. 

Commercial ball python breeders keep extensive records of the lineages of their snakes to breed for rarer, more valuable colour patterns.

“The colour morphs the pet hobbyists have created are an amazing catalogue of variation,” Barrett said. “[It] would have taken decades [for us] to develop all the different morphs used in the study.”

Python breeders provided samples of snakeskin, which were sequenced and analyzed by the Barrett lab. By analyzing the sequences and the data from the breeders, the researchers found that piebaldism was correlated with a mutation that renders the TFEC gene, a transcription factor involved in gene expression, non-functional.

Determining whether the TFEC mutation directly caused piebaldism would require the deletion of TFEC from pythons to see what effect its knock-out would have. Unfortunately, the technology required to edit genes in snakes does not yet exist. Instead, the researchers used brown anole lizards, the only reptiles to be successfully modified using the CRISPR system. 

The modified lizards showed reduced pigmentation in their skin and black eyes, suggesting they lacked iridophores but retained melanophores. Meanwhile, the eyes of unmodified lizards had iridophores but not melanophores, indicating that TFEC could be required for iridophore development. 

Because of the huge potential for variation in non-traditional model animals, working with breeders and enthusiasts could be key to filling the gap between genotype and phenotype and unlocking the genetic secrets of nature.

Features

To strike a chord

by Drea Garcia Avila on

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As far back as I can recall, music has been capable of evoking incredible emotion and overwhelming comfort unlike anything else. It has protected me from tough-to-swallow, unnamable feelings, and even made me aware of ones I didn’t know were possible to experience.

My parents were my earliest introduction to music. I would watch my mother dance and clean while she played salsa and Mexican baladas on the speaker, and catch my father falling asleep at the end of a long workday to nueva trova cubana and the occasional alternative rock seeping through his headphones. As I progressed through my early childhood, my taste diverged from their individual influences. I gravitated to bubbly pop and electronic dance music (EDM), always noting how starkly its electric, neon brightness contrasted with my mother’s warm, swaying, romantic melodies, and my father’s soft, political folk favourites.

During my adolescence, I found solace in vastly different genres. The emotional edge of 2000s emo and late 20th-century rock helped soothe the flurry of anger and distress I felt during this period. As I grew older, I wished to step out of the narrow genre I had enclosed myself in to determine which style of music felt most authentic to me. It would turn out that I still loved the early 2000s’ head-banging hits, but I discovered many more of its different flavours and families: Midwest emo, pop-punk, new wave, experimental, and so many others. 

All these different genres, despite their diverse array of affect, pacing, and melody, shared something else in common: They allowed me to close my eyes, tune out to the melodies, each with a different vibe, and envision I could be somewhere else, past or future. Across beats, music revealed sentiments that couldn’t be surfaced by anything else. Whether it reminded me of years gone by and people I would never see again, or held the promise of memories to come and experiences not yet lived, I found music to be a tether to the nostalgic past, ever-moving present, and dreamy future. Music could articulate what words were unable to, process experiences and move forward, whilst simultaneously being an anchor to return to the past through different lenses.

Jess Rosa, lead singer and ukulele player for their New York-based punk band, JessX, can relate to the complex affective response that music evokes. 

“Even without lyrics […] being able to express a feeling through […] a chord and even just strumming is so beautiful,” Jess told me. “You hear a song, and even without lyrics you can already feel things […] and I think that’s […] the beautiful thing about music.”

During the most difficult days, I found that the experiences most worth living for were simple, mundane even, but always involved music in one way or another: A sunset walk with headphones on, a sunrise car ride with music on the AUX, or even the drunk walks home from friends’ places, during which I would hear a different rhythm emanating from each passing nightlife venue.

While language attempts to reduce emotions to singular notes, music can capture their full nuance and complexity. I have tried to identify obscure synonyms for the feelings that arise when listening to certain songs. Sonder, melancholy, nostalgia? But no matter how much I search in any language, I can never seem to find the right word to describe what I’m experiencing.

It’s the feeling under your left rib and in the middle of your sternum when you hear road trip music, the stereo playing songs that feel like fleece and firewood smoke with campfire warmth against your blankets. Akin to taking photos of your friends, you click the shutter button and come to recognize that good things are finite. Like a fleeting memory or a photograph, a song engulfs you wholly and completely for an instant in an enigma of potent, bursting emotion. But, unlike viewing a photograph from a distance, listening to music is more of an embodied means of reaching through to the past. I’d venture that music is perhaps the nearest embodiment of memory that exists. 

My experience in Montreal mirrors the feeling of listening to music. These years coming of age in university feel both eternal yet transient, like both an era and an instant. The endless Canadian winter and the monotonous daily ritual of university encapsulate the majority of the time I’ve had, but I realize I’ll see this time differently upon reflection. The scattered, sparkling moments of seeing magic in mundanity, the ephemeral hours spent with friends, and the exhilarating headrush of running past loud venues: These are the moments that will prevail in my recollection. 

I found I was not alone in being drawn to the city. I felt a tug to the art, the culture, self-discovery, along with the promise of new experiences. I yearned to acquaint myself with my own individuality, while making space to discover my own community.


Drawn by the siren song of open door bar concerts and music-lovers moshing, alt-indie rock band, NERiMA from Toronto, also followed this creative calling to Montreal. Last year in July, they played a show at Blue Dog, a bar on St. Laurent that frequently hosts local musicians.

“[It’s] the type of scene where people just walk in to listen to live music,” said Vee Nicole, drummer for NERiMA.

They found the process of booking venues and playing shows to be more accessible here than in Toronto, where the music scene can be next to impenetrable for newer artists. 

“It’s hard to break your way in,” NERiMA’s singer and guitarist Lexi Oriaf said. “The Toronto music scene is already so established and has so many expectations. But Montreal is very welcoming to emerging acts.”

Iconic Montreal-born acts like Arcade Fire, The 222s, and The Normals have seen their lineage continue in the city’s bustling punk scene.  Last April, Jess drove in on tour from New York along with Television Overdose, another heavy punk rock band, to perform at Bar L’Escogriffe. They too felt called upon by Montreal’s creative spirit and enthusiastic crowds. 

“Montreal [was] the best show out of the whole tour because those fucking kids […] don’t fuck around,” Jess said.  “They came for fucking punk music. The crowds they pulled [were] insane.”

Montreal’s music-lovers’ enthusiastic energy has inspired them to return to tour their future music, which follows a more mature, but still “baby-faced” petty sound authentic to the band. 

“That one show we had in Montreal […]  made me immediately want to go back,” Jess said.

The art, community, history, and spirit that are at the heart of Montreal’s creative presence allows emerging artists and independent creatives to flourish. Indie concert venues such as Turbo Häus, Bar L’Escogriffe, and L’Hémisphère Gauche nourish the city’s artistic scene by offering musicians and creatives their own, individual spaces to build and captivate an audience. In recent years, though, such venues have struggled to survive under pandemic losses and forced closures. Even as the pandemic individualized our practices of consuming music, we can’t forget the necessity of the collective and community music scenes we forge and share in together. But as I’ve learned, nothing in life is permanent, and as we did with the pandemic, the collective music scene will continue to change and evolve as time progresses.

The universal lyric 

Though my time in Montreal is fleeting, I know that I’ll always be able to return to these transient moments by using music as a tool to map out the city. Various artists bring different seasons to mind. Hearing Sløtface’s punk-rock, political sound in my headphones transports me back to spring-time walks in the Plateau, the smell of sidewalk cherry blossoms and cool spring breeze encompassing my senses. Playing Willow Smith in Mont-Royal reminds me of the precarious time it took to find myself during my first semester at McGill. Lorde brings flashbacks of B.C. mountains and ancient trees that have witnessed (and will continue to witness) more life than I will ever experience.

But music brings more than reminders—it makes tangible the inexplicable complexities of our emotions. I feel the sharp stab of hurt when I listen to heavy metal, and find euphoric excitement in EDM. Laying in bed, I draw my heart out to alternative-indie, and dwell in the dull ache of midwest emo nostalgia. I love words, but they so often fail me when it comes to naming emotions: Where I fall short, music rises to the occasion.

As a songwriter, Jess relates to using music as a timeless, personal language. They are continually inspired by songs they’ve written about the past, and how their perspective on it evolves over time. 

“When I listen to that song, it still brings me a present feeling,” Jess said. “It might not necessarily be about the person I wrote it about, but it’s definitely a recurring feeling and I think that’s the beautiful part of it, too. You write for what it is at that time but you hear it a year or two later and you’re like, ‘Whoa, I resonate this to [my] present self.’” 

“Music has made me so much more comfortable with who I am becoming…[it] changed everything [….] Music is so infinite.” 

Lexi from NERiMA shared how music has shaped her, not only as an individual, but as an active creative in sonic communities. “I would not be the same person, and I already know who I would be,” Lexi said. “[I] would be so lame without music.”

In the end, there is no definitive conclusion to the argument I make, nor can there be. Music itself is and will always be bigger than any words I have, and the collective emotions it draws from a crowd are greater than my individual feelings. 

But my hope is that you, the reader, walk away from this piece looking at seemingly quotidian things a little differently, knowing that music can bring ordinary moments, such as chores or homework, to life. And perhaps you might discover music to be more than what you originally thought it to be, or find comfort in knowing that others share in this feeling—the pleasure of hearing music as more than mere sound, but as a compendium of emotion and the embodiment of experience. Maybe the only language we might ever have in common is the feeling of music.

Recipes, Student Life

No more wasted groceries

by Margo Berthier on

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As college students, we have a lot on our plates. When we’re balancing attending classes and completing assignments to working part-time jobs and managing our social lives, we can’t always prioritize grocery shopping. As a result, you might tend to make quick grocery runs once or twice a week, only buying enough ingredients to make a couple of meals. However, this habit hurts our wallets and often lets unused ingredients go to waste. Here are some innovative ways to minimize food waste, use leftover food, and maximize your meal-prepping potential.

In the aisles

A well-balanced diet includes fruits and vegetables, fibre-rich carbohydrates, proteins, and fats; we must include all of these in our groceries. When going food shopping, think ahead and select versatile ingredients that will fit into many different recipes. Start by stocking up on staple carbs with a longer shelf life, such as rice, pasta, and potatoes. These ingredients can be used in many different meals, making them a great choice for any student on a budget. 

When it comes to vegetables, consider buying frozen. Vegetables tend to spoil quickly, and frozen veggies can last much longer, ensuring that you always have your dose of greens on hand. For proteins and fats, such as meat, dairy, and fish, don’t buy them too far in advance, as they don’t last very long. If you do end up buying them ahead of time, store meat or fish in the freezer. 

Some commonly leftover ingredients that hide at the back of our fridges include fresh vegetables like onions or tomatoes, as well as herbs like basil or parsley, eggs, meat, and pasta sauce. If any of these are left over and you’re thinking of throwing them down the chute, don’t! Instead, consider using them in some of these quick and easy recipes. 

Veggie Omelet

Grab two leftover eggs, a tomato, an onion, basil, and a cup of frozen spinach, or any veggies kicking around. Dice up your onion and mix all your ingredients in a large bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle some oil or a teaspoon of butter in a pan, and set on very low heat. Add your egg mixture to the pan, and let it cook any way you prefer—Western, French, or American! And there you have it, the perfect well-rounded omelet you can eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Remember that minced meat you bought and never ended up using? Now is your chance to recreate your favourite childhood meal, in just under 20 minutes. Start by bringing a pot of water to boil and cook about a handful of spaghetti. Then grab your minced meat, a leftover egg, fresh parsley, ½ an onion (diced), some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Montreal steak spice. My secret ingredient is a dollop of ketchup, and some bread crumbs if you have them. Mix everything in a large bowl and form meatballs. In a large pan, add some butter or oil, and set the heat on low. Pan-fry your meatballs for 7-10 minutes (or until they brown), add the cooked spaghetti and canned tomato sauce (as desired), and voilà: Dinner is served! 

Gnocchi & Vegetable Tomato Soup

Try getting rid of your tomato sauce with some gnocchi instead of the typical long noodle. In a bowl, mix ⅔ cup of your favourite tomato sauce with ½ cup of frozen spinach or broccoli. Sautée half a chopped onion in a pan, and add the sauce mixture. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and add ½ cup of gnocchi—homemade or prepackaged. When the gnocchis rise to the surface of the pot, they are cooked! Finally, add the sauce to the gnocchi and serve. 

When in doubt, turn to these well-balanced, nutrient-rich recipes that will help you clean out your fridge! 

Baseball, Sports

The World Baseball Classic: What you need to know

by Tillie Burlock on

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Flashback to 2017: The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is underway in Los Angeles. Javy Báez and Marcus Stroman are the stars of the show as the United States defeats Puerto Rico in the gold medal game. Six years and one pandemic later, the most electrifying baseball tournament in the world is back. 

Tournament Format

While the top four teams from each pool in 2017 earned automatic berths into this year’s tournament, Panama, Czechia (Czech Republic), Great Britain, and Nicaragua had to earn their spots by competing in a qualifying tournament in 2022. Each team is composed of the best baseball players their country has to offer, with some exceptions for injuries, insurance issues, and personal reasons. 

The 2023 WBC is set to open on March 8 with Pool A match-ups taking place between Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Cuba, Italy, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Panama in Taichung. Pool B, comprising Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and the Czech Republic, will begin game play on March 9 in Tokyo. 

Pool C will open on March 11 with Canada, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, and Great Britain playing in Phoenix, while Pool D, comprising the Dominican Republic, Israel, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, will hash things out on the same day in Miami. 

During pool play, each team will face off against the other four teams in its pool once and the two teams with the best records will advance to the quarterfinal round. The advancing teams will be placed in a single-elimination eight-team bracket, where the last two teams standing will play in a championship game in Miami. Most importantly, the tournament will not include pitch clocks, bigger bases, limited pick-offs, limited timeouts, or a shift ban—all new rules adopted for the 2023 MLB season. 

Team Canada 

While missing some of the country’s top stars such as Joey Votto and Josh Naylor, Canada’s WBC roster has no shortage of talent. Finishing 15th overall in 2017, Canada is ranked 12th overall heading into this year’s competition. 

The team is filled with young talent. Montreal’s very own Otto Lopez will likely be the Canadians’ starting shortstop. Owen Caissie, a second-round draft pick in the Chicago Cubs system, hopes to slot in as designated hitter or in the outfield, while Texas Rangers prospect Mitch Bratt hopes to find himself as the number two in the starting rotation after the Cleveland Guardians’ stud, Cal Quantrill. 

As for players with greater accolades, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, a six-time all-star and former Most Valuable Player, will serve as the team’s first-baseman. Tyler O’Neill, the St. Louis Cardinals’ two-time gold-glover, will prowl the centrefield while Matt Brash, a cheeky righty with the Seattle Mariners, slices up hitters on the mound. Along with Quantrill, the Cleveland Guardians will lend rookie catcher Bo Naylor, the second of three baseball-playing Naylor brothers, for the tournament as well. 

While not in the running to win it all, the plethora of young talent leaves plenty of hope for the future of Canadian baseball. 

Who else to watch?

Team Japan 

With a mix of superstars from MLB and the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB)—Japan’s professional baseball league—the team is overflowing with talent. From MLB stars Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish, we know what we’re going to get: Five pitch mixes, dirty strikeouts, and remarkable two-way play from the unicorn, Ohtani. It doesn’t end there. The batting lineup is supported by reigning NPB Most Valuable Player, Munetaka Murakami—a 23-year-old lefty slugger who slashed .318/.458/.711 with 56 home runs last season. Other names to follow are NPB pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the winner of back-to-back Sawamura Awards (NPB’s Cy Young equivalent) and Rōki Sasaki who pitched a 19-strikeout perfect game in April 2022. 

Team Dominican Republic

As the favourite for many heading into the tournament, the Dominican Republic may have put together the best WBC roster ever. Rafael Devers. Manny Machado. Juan Soto. Jeremy Peña. Wander Franco. The list goes on and on, and that’s just the bats. The pitching staff hosts reigning National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara along with World Series champion Cristian Javier. Needless to say, the Dominican Republic is a must-watch when they take the field this year. 

Where to watch? 

Games will be available on Sportsnet in English and TVA Sports in French. 

Out on the Town, Student Life

Montréal en Lumière makes its long-awaited post-pandemic return

by Naomi Gupta on

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The long, gloomy days of February aren’t for the faint of heart. But, amid the never-ending winter, Montreal brought some life and light—quite literally—back to the city. On Feb. 16, Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles opened its doors to Montréal en Lumière, welcoming teenagers, students, and parents looking to keep themselves busy over spring break. 

Located steps away from the Place-des-Arts metro station, this 18-day-long festival included an array of events catered to foodies, concert lovers, and outdoor-activity fanatics. Skating rinks, concerts, shows, DJ booths, food trucks, and outdoor exhibits lined the intersections of Jeanne-Mance, Balmoral, St. Catherine, and de Maisonneuve Ouest. Most of the outdoor activities were free and open for hours on end, making the festival accessible to those with varying schedules. And, for students like myself, with a small budget and some extra time to kill during Reading Week, this was the perfect occasion to ditch the books and get a taste of Montreal’s cultural scene. 

Establishing an action plan prior to my arrival would’ve been appropriate considering the festival’s popularity, but, alas, it had completely slipped my mind. As I wandered into Place des Arts at 9 p.m., skates in hand, my friend and I were baffled to see how the length of the queue for the skating rink—or skating “loop,” as it was described—rivalled that of McGill’s Activities Night and how, by 10 p.m., it seemed to be primarily composed of eight to 12-year-olds. After much shivering and endless back-and-forths between the rink and the central fire pit to warm up, we finally made it onto the main rink.

Most of the fun had less to do with the actual skating—or participating in any given activity—and more to do with simply enjoying the ambiance. MingXi Gu, U1 Science (and first-timer at Montréal en Lumière) quickly came to realize this. 

“I’ve never seen the city so lit up,” he said. “The energy was amazing—the lights and music truly made the city feel magical.”

Braving the cold and the interminable lines called for a must-needed wintery treat—good thing for Beaver Tails, Tim Hortons, and the event’s signature maple taffy. Although $9 for a Beaver Tail seemed a little bit pricey, nothing beats the feeling of wolfing down a piece of Nutella-coated fried dough after shivering in the -13-degree-Celsius weather for a few hours.

Beyond the radiating energy of the festival, what was most enjoyable was getting outside in the wintertime, which can otherwise be very difficult. Colder temperatures are often an excuse to stay indoors, but Montréal en Lumière’s objective was to make spending time outdoors more appealing to all, despite the colder temperatures of the season. The festival’s various activities and creative ways of keeping participants warm was its way of doing just that.

“Despite people’s general lack of motivation and the season being so dreadful, everyone really came together to make Montreal feel alive again,” Gu shared.

For locals, Montréal en Lumière is an excellent reminder of all the city has to offer and the benefits of getting outside and enjoying the wintertime, even when it seems impossible to do so. But, for international students, it can provide even more—an understanding and appreciation of the city and its culture beyond the few neighbourhoods surrounding McGill’s downtown campus. Conveniently located and low-cost, Montréal en Lumière is a pit stop for those looking to combine fun, accessible, affordable, and creative pastimes. 

Unfortunately, the festival—with all of its shimmery lights and loud music—came to an end on Sunday. But, for those who missed out or who are looking for a similar taste of Montréal en Lumière, the city has similar—albeit warmer—events lined up in the upcoming months, including Quebec’s International Film Festival, starting in April, the Jazz Fest, which kicks off on June 29, along with its comedy-centred Just for Laughs festival, which takes place in July.

McGill, News

Open letter urges McGill to make statement about devastating earthquake in Türkiye and Syria

by Sabrina Nelson on

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A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit northern and western Syria and south central Türkiye on Feb. 6, claiming an estimated 50,000 lives, injuring an estimated 100,000, and causing tremendous damage in a region already struggling through the more than a decade-long Syrian civil war and subsequent refugee crisis. Millions of people have been displaced, humanitarian aid has been limited in Syria, and health-care services are scarce as several hospitals and clinics collapsed following the quake. 

In light of the devastating earthquake and aftershocks, students and professors in the McGill community have rallied to support those affected.

On Feb. 15, an open letter calling on the university to issue an official statement of support for people in Türkiye and Syria was sent to Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor Christopher Manfredi. Initiated by Aslihan Gürbüzel, assistant professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies, and Ipek Türeli, associate professor at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture, the letter urges the university to raise awareness within its community by sharing information about the main organizations trying to provide relief. The letter has since collected over 300 signatures from current students, faculty, staff, and alumni.  

Türeli explained that she and Gürbüzel did not receive any response from the Principal about the initial letter, so a follow-up was sent on Feb. 22. They then received a response from Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell, explaining that the administration would not be issuing such a statement. Instead, Campbell wrote that the McGill Reporter would publish an article as it would have “further reach.” 

Türeli explained that she was disappointed in the administration’s response in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

“The university has sent many MROs of the nature we are seeking, […] for example, in the case of the war in Ukraine, both the Principal and the Provost sent out MROs,” Türeli wrote. “The McGill Reporter article that eventually came out on [Feb.] 15 celebrates what McGillians are doing to help, and it is not about the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding [….] Why is McGill not standing in solidarity with the Turkish and Syrian universities in the affected region?”

McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle informed the Tribune that following the Feb. 6 earthquake and aftershocks, the Office of the Dean of Students reached out to all Turkish and Syrian students to offer support and share resources that they can turn to in case they require help. 

“The health and well-being of our community remain our top priority,” Mazerolle wrote. “The University continues to amplify the efforts made by members of our community to collect donations for survivors in the area by sharing them through our channels.”

Berfin Simsek, a Turkish U2 Arts student, explained that she felt “let down” and “uncared for” by McGill because she had expected a statement of solidarity addressing the situation. 

“It makes me feel like people from my background, from where I’m from, are not worthy of their attention or time,” Simsek wrote in an email to the Tribune. “We have been struggling so much mentally and emotionally […] we needed to hear that they were there for us. We needed to feel like school was one thing we did not need to worry about. But they failed to do that.”

Gürbüzel explained that it would not be too late for McGill to issue a statement of solidarity as the crisis is still unfolding and it will take time for the region to fully recover. She thinks that an acknowledgment of support would mean a lot to affected students and members of the McGill community. 

“I believe that a statement of support that emphasizes the long-term nature of the destruction and recovery processes is going to make a strong impact now as we observe the attention and solidarity to the Turkey-Syria earthquake slowly dwindle,” Gürbüzel wrote. 

McGill, News

Arts students vote in new executives, strike down motion to raise AUS fees

by Lily Cason on

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Undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts, the university’s largest of 11, voted in next year’s Arts Undergraduate Society of McGill University (AUS) executives and representatives in a ballot that ran from Feb. 20 to 24. A referendum also took place during the same period, where students decided to continue funding the McGill Journal of Human Behaviour (MJHB) but struck down a proposed AUS fee increase.

According to AUS, 1,102 people—13.1 per cent of the electorate—voted in the 2023-2024 elections. Those who did vote decided that Matthew O’Boyle, who is currently an Arts representative to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), will be the next AUS President. 

“Working between SSMU and AUS this year, I’ve developed a pretty good understanding of what powers each institution holds and how these powers can be enacted to serve the interests of students,” O’Boyle wrote by email to The McGill Tribune. “I look forward to overseeing the various portfolios of the AUS and offer my institutional knowledge to help get things done efficiently and effectively. I worked under both Adin Chan and Ghania Javed, the AUS presidents these past two years, and […] I learned a lot from both of them and am eager to carry this knowledge forward in my new role.”

Julia Widing was elected as the vice-president (VP) Finance, Suzanne Levandier as VP Internal, Sophia Weiqi Li as VP External, Lauren Hicken as VP Communications, Sarah Jiang as VP Social, and Nick Rieck as VP Academic.

Three Arts representatives to SSMU, who will sit on the SSMU Legislative Council, were elected: Keith Baybayon, Quinn Porter, and Aishwarya Rajan. Two Arts Senators, who will represent students in the faculty at the McGill Senate, the university’s highest democratic governing body, were also elected: Sophia Garofalo and Juliet Morrison*.

In addition to elections, Arts students voted on two referendum questions. According to AUS, 877 students—or 10.4 per cent of the electorate—participated in the Winter 2023 referendum.

A question regarding raising the AUS fee from $16.50 to $17.50 for full-time Bachelor of Arts (BA) students, and from $8.25 to $8.75 for part-time BA students failed, with 60.9 per cent of students voting against it. Current AUS President Javed found it “a bit disappointing” that the fee increase did not pass, explaining that the additional funds would have gone toward higher wages for AUS employees.

“The most important reason behind the fee change, or fee increase, was because of the minimum wage increase,” Javed explained in an interview with the Tribune. “So it went from $13.[50] last year to $14.25 this year. That’s what we’re operating with, and it’s going to change again in May to $15.25 [….] The fee has not been increased for years.”  

“So the meaning of this fee increase was so we could pay our staff adequately. We do have a lot of stipend and hourly wage staff […], a lot of them work anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week.”

The MJHB fee, which was also up for a vote, was approved with 59.1 per cent of voters in favour. The student-run Journal publishes a wide array of “exemplary” work by Arts students twice a year.

“Our goal is to foster conversations that transcend disciplinary boundaries to better understand why we act the way we do,” MJHB Editor-in-Chief Sophie Cleff wrote in an email to the Tribune. “The implementation of the MJHB fee as decided by the AUS referendum will not only allow us to continue running our publication, research fellowship, and speaker series, but also expand our operations with even more ambitious projects.”

*Morrison is currently a News Editor at the Tribune and was not involved in the publication of this article.

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