According to Statistics Canada estimates, the population of this country reached 40 million Friday. Our increase in population is mostly due to immigration.
Updates from June, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The plan to enlarge the MAC has been revived with a promise of a total $56 million from Quebec and Ottawa.
See, if they can get together on this, why not on the housing crisis?
DeWolf
The figure I’ve often seen is $450k per social housing unit. So $56 million would build a grand total of 124 apartments for low-income people.
I’d really like to know why it’s so expensive to build an apartment…
Kate
124 apartments doesn’t sound like nothing. I’m not saying money should not be spent on culture, but that if the feds and Quebec can agree on this, they can agree on housing.
All my life I’ve watched Quebec fidget under Ottawa, sometimes duplicating federal efforts to show that it can, sometimes turning down federal money because it didn’t like the terms. In other words, watching Quebec waste our time and money and making sure Quebec residents didn’t get full value for our federal tax dollar. We don’t have time for that bullshit any more when there aren’t enough affordable places for people to live in.
shawn
And on MAC, it doesn’t seem like that the 116.5 million will likely be enough, the way things are going, but I’m glad that the process is moving forward.
Kate
I agree. They can’t leave that building to moulder forever. It was supposed to be one of the gems of the Quartier des spectacles.
Spi
@Dewolf, I suspect a lot of it is because the people clamouring for social housing just want any units built rather than the optimal use of the funds.
Often times the “promoters” of social housing projects are community groups that are established in a neighbourhood, mostly central fully developed ones, right or wrongly they want those units to be close by which means in most cases they have to buy existing buildings and “build” within those constraints.
There’s a slew of other factors
shawn
I never thought of the MAC as a gem but I admit that in the renderings, with the blank facade on Jeanne-Mance transformed with windows etc it looks great.
Cadichon
450k$ would be a total cost for construction. Subsidies would amount to around half of that.
Orr
In LA the cost to build affordable housing is US$ 1 million per unit, so ours sounds like a bargain (it’s not a bargain).
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Kate
Cree patients who are put up in a downtown hotel while they’re treated in city hospitals, or who were moved here to avoid the fires, have been shifted out so the hotel can make bonus money during the Grand Prix. Other patients have been moved around to make room, in a game of medical musical chairs.
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Kate
Mayor Plante had a visit Friday with Justin Trudeau, who was here in support of Monday’s byelection in NDG.
After the visit, Plante spoke to reporters about the need for coordination among the levels of government, but also property developers and nonprofit groups, to tackle the housing crisis.
Mark Côté
The NDG Community Council had a Meet the Candidates night last Monday and the Liberal candidate, Anna Gainey, didn’t even bother to show. The Conservative candidate wasn’t there either, but all the other 8 people running for the seat showed up and answered questions for two hours.
Kate
Wow, if I lived in NDG this would mean no vote for Ms Gainey. She knows she’s strolling into a sure thing and won’t have to concern herself with the trivia of her constituents, but a smart politician would know not to flaunt it.
Tim S.
The Westmount Municipal Association, which claims to be non-partisan, always hosts a debate. This time they endorsed Gainey on their website, then cancelled their debate at the last minute. They said it was for insurance reasons but also admitted that Gainey wasn’t going to show.
Kate
It would be satisfying to see the NDP win there after this news.
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Kate
Despite announcing that its emergency ward is closed at night, the Lachine hospital has never closed it. It’s still officially closed at those hours, but people are not being turned away at night.
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Kate
Housing minister France-Élaine Duranceau is still in a partnership with a friend that’s an active real estate agent.
I can’t think of anything much more cynical than appointing someone to this role, in the full flush of a housing crisis with no end in sight, who stands to profit massively from the situation.
jeather
Ian
A real fox in the henhouse scenario. Most of the housing advocacy groups are flipping out, justifiably.
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Kate
I usually do a survey of weekend items on Fridays, but this weekend is going to be dominated by nonstop GP. (As I wrote that sentence, I heard someone accelerating hard down my residential street, plus a plane overhead coming in for a landing – there’s another one – reminding me of the state of mind of the city. Thankfully there are still some birds chirping in the background too.)
The Journal says that women come to Montreal to make a few bucks in the sex trade on the weekend. There is a demand for younger and younger women. (Third plane going over, sounds like a big one.) Anyway, the official festivities have begun. (Fourth plane.) I’ll add more details to this posting throughout the day.
Actual items about the car race that’s the excuse for the decadence.
Was the police announcement of a drop in gun violence – for which they take credit – timed to assuage tourist worries for this weekend?
Anyway, there are other things going on this weekend – Metro, CityCrunch, The Montrealer (Richard ‘Bugs’ Burnett), CultMTL, Sarah’s Weekend List. Although it seems road closures have been called off this weekend, TVA suggests people think ahead about getting around town.
Pedestrians, be careful this weekend. There are drivers out there hopped up on Formula One. After all, next weekend we can chill out, it’s only la St‑Jean.
Nicholas
That they can shut down the de Maisonneuve bike path every year and force people onto Sherbrooke or René-Lévesque for five days to show off some cars really shows the priorities. At least for many other bike routes (e.g. St Denis for the BD festival) there’s a quiet residential street one block over, but here there is nothing. Have a controlled crossing, come on!
nau
Not to mention that the bike path on Ile Notre Dame (well, access to the whole island really) has been shut down since May 29, so anyone who normally crosses between the Seaway/Pont Victoria locks and downtown merely has to detour to Ponts Jacques-Cartier or Champlain/estacade… On the other hand, it’s about time to cue up Fast Cars by the Buzzcocks again.
shawn
I was there Tuesday when they were still setting up it was a dismount and walk situation, for a block or two at Crescent. Will that be an option?
Ephraim
BTW, there are also two concerts for The Cure on at the same time. Because of the timing and the price of hotels, seats are cheap. Vividseats have USD$5 tickets, Ticketmaster has $31 tickets
Nicholas
In past years you could dismount and walk during setup, but with the crowds during the days it was fully blocked off, and even if you were allowed through walking your bike (I forget), it wouldn’t be easy. During the Tour de l’Île they could stop people biking here and there to let people walk across, no reason you couldn’t do the same here on major bike routes (also, e.g. Rachel crossing St Laurent this week).
Kate
Five dollars to see the Cure?!
Ephraim
Single seats were actually more expensive. Clicked through and there was one at US$8 including fees. Another site TicketsOnSale had a single for US$4 including fees. These are for tonight.
Ian
@ephraim that IS inexpensive, I paid almost $20 that much to see the Cure in 1986!
Blork
> Five dollars to see the Cure?!
Must be the generic version.
MarcG
Let’s be real about what that money is buying you: sitting in a hockey rink behind the stage watching the band play on big screen while you get infected with Covid. I’d rather eat tin foil.
Kate
Yes, that’s the conclusion I came to as well.
marco
@Ephraim I just got two for tomorrow night after seeing your post. I saw the Cure at Wembley Arena in 1986 and it was a great concert so for $20 I can’t not go.
Michael
It’s just a bike path for 5 days, no big deal at all, these bike paths downtown are opened all winter long with nobody using them.
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Kate
A truck caught fire early Friday under the REM access to the Samuel‑de‑Champlain bridge. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The buzz suggests a suspicion that this was lit on purpose to create an excuse for delays to the opening of the REM. I don’t think it likely.
John B
I drove by this location yesterday.
“Selon les premières informations, le chauffeur a immobilisé la semi-remorque directement sous les installations du REM, mais le viaduc n’aurait pas été touché.”
The REM is definitely soot-blackened, and when I drove by just after 8 last night there were some people there inspecting the underside of the REM with a strong flashlight. The road itself seems to have been melted a bit by the heat.
Kate
Thanks for the report, John B.
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Kate
We’re under a smog warning Friday – perhaps a suitable way to greet the Grand Prix?
mare
F1 cars can’t use much gas. They’re filled up in 4 seconds, how much can you pump in such a short time? /s
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