A new census of the homeless will be done on April 15 and Quebec is bracing itself for a rise from the 10,000 counted in October 2022.
The CAQ government appears to think that by saying it wants to reduce the numbers, it will magically happen. No additional funds were directed to housing in this week’s Quebec budget, and we have a social services minister, Lionel Carmant, who has said that some people choose homelessness as a lifestyle.
More and more Montrealers are getting around on bicycles, but the gain is at the expense of public transit, not driving.
Makes sense really, becasue most people would be replacing a nearby commute or short trip. IN that regard as long as the weather is nice, bicycles are often more convenient. When I worked near my home I could easily bike to work in half the time the bus took, mostly becasue I wasn’t swasting time standing around waitign for it to arrive. I still hop on my bike to go to the nearby grocery stores – it’s easier than worrying about parking and just as fast with traffic.
When I’m driving 35 minutes to the west island at 6 am along the 40, bicycling instead never crosses my mind, lol.
That’s not quite the full picture, because at least in central Montreal (basically the pre-merger city plus Westmount, Outremont and Verdun), the share of people driving has decreased.
In 2013, the commuting picture looked like this: 7% cycling, 11% walking, 29% driving, 46% transit.
In 2023, it looked like this: 14% cycling, 13% walking, 24% driving, 42% transit.
That’s a 7% increase in cycling, a 2% increase in walking, a 5% decline in driving and a 4% decline in transit.
The full breakdown between different parts of Montreal is here:
https://forum.agoramtl.com/t/reseau-cyclable-montrealais-discussion-generale/342/2690?u=kilgoretrout
Incidentally, the problem with most mobility studies is they focus on commutes rather than on all travel, which means they miss out on exactly the kind of modal complexity that is common in places like central Montreal. The “transport cocktail” that Ian describes is pretty common, but in a study he would be considered a car commuter just because that’s how he gets to work.
There are a lot of car commuters in central Montreal but I imagine very few of them rely entirely on their car for all their activities.
That’s a really good point DeWolf, thanks!
In the LaPresse chart it shows an increase in automobile use in Longueuil and the Couronne Sud, but the numbers in their reports show decreases – am I misunderstanding something or did they make mistakes?
Just to clarify, while most studies just show work trips (like census data does), this one does all trips. I was mailed a letter to take part in this cycle, and it had a link to a website where I had to list every single trip every single member of the household took the day prior, and which mode(s). So I went to the park, and then to get an ice cream, and so on. I read in another La Presse piece that this cycle better captured active transportation trips.
Some buildings on Decarie south of Queen Mary are being demolished so the STM can build an underground facility. The promise of an eventual park is a mixed blessing, given that the space is directly on the Decarie service road.
Since the STM expropriated the buildings and they have fallen into ruin, the STM now has no choice to demolish them.
The park is only supposed to be temporary until they start building there – maybe in 2028.
https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-metro-projects/northwest-attachment-centre
PTI : https://www.stm.info/sites/default/files/pdf/fr/pi_25-34.pdf (Nouveau centre d’attachement – secteur nord-ouest)
Thanks for the info, James.
Maxime Bergeron goes to a business meeting addressed by Christine Fréchette, who’s minister of the economy, innovation and energy, minister responsible for regional economic development and minister responsible for Montreal and its region. After presenting some grim numbers about the state of the city’s economy, Bergeron asks whether the city should have a
full time minister looking after its needs.
The province of Quebec has a population of just over 8 million., Greater Montreal is 4.37 million. The provincial government may not like us, but the numbers are right there for everyone to see.
Yet we don’t have the votes to keep ourselves a priority.
Well that’s the Canadian voting system writ large; the point of ridings is so that even the least populous areas of the country have a say in what goes on. Of course Justin Trudeau went back on his promise of electoral refrom so whatever. Carney or PP sure as heck won’t do it, and it’s in the CAQ’s best interests to keep things just as they are on a provincial level too.
@Ian interesting you bring up Trudeau’s broken promise, which presumably would not have applied to Quebec elections, when you could have brought up Legault’s broken promise to hold a referendum on a mixed-member proportional system.
I wonder if things would be different if Montreal voted as a bloc, instead of splitting its seats mostly among the LPQ and QS.
TBH I wasn’t aware that Legault made that promise … though I am not surprised he broke it. Anyway it doesn’t matter if we vote PLC becasue they take the Montreal vote fro granted and spend their energies trying to woo ethnonationalists.
Ian, he certainly flirted with the idea, as described here and here. Later, Legault handwaved the whole thing, saying Quebecers were not interested. But the unkept promise doesn’t hang over him as it did over Justin Trudeau.
To be fair it was a main plank of Trudeau’s election platform, so it’s fair that it hangs over him.
That it doesn’t hang over Legault might simply be becasue he is so easily reviled for so many far more egregious things such as running any openly ethnonationalist government rife with blatant corruption and systemic racism.
Christian Dubé says he spoke too soon about rebuilding Maisonneuve‑Rosemont hospital, so it’s being delayed until at least 2026 i.e. see what happens after the next election.
A recent event celebrated the old Lux on St‑Laurent, which opened in 1984 and closed about ten years later. We discussed it here in 2020.
At least I was wrong about the gentrification of the neighbourhood continuing apace. Shiller Lavy is selling off their properties now, even if it’s too late for dear old SWW bookstore.
Not only are Shiller Lavy selling their Mile End properties, nobody is buying them. They’ve been on the market for more than two years now.
I’ve noticed that. Considering the “cool” bubble has burst it is probably difficult to get the prices SL wants for their places.
Le Devoir is doing a series on dangers to pedestrians. Wednesday it’s the difficulties faced in the more traffic‑dominated neighbourhoods on the periphery of the island.
For me the biggest takeaway from that article is the guy who switched from a black coat to a pale grey coat in order to be less invisible as a pedestrian. Uh…
I know, Blork! I was expecting the camera to pan back to him wearing a high-viz orange or neon green affair.
Daytime in winter, light grey is LESS visible than black! At night it’s just neutral (and therefore mostly invisible.)
A lot of seemingly all-black or all-grey winter wear has just enough touches of reflective material so that you can often get a good sense of the broad outlines of a person who is otherwise invisible. Worst offenders – racing cyclists who don’t have lights (or even reflectors)…
Montreal’s Comiccon has landed some big names in the genre category for this July’s festival: William Shatner and Elijah Woods along with others from the Star Trek and Lord of the Rings casts. It’s a bit harsh for CTV to call this “nerd culture” as their characters are hardly marginal entertainment in this century.
Mayor Plante is unhappy about the lack of support for public transit in Quebec’s big budget.
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