Updates from December, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kate 20:43 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

    Wednesday I lost my REM virginity, but I was only taking it one stop, under the mountain, so I don’t think I’ve had the full experience yet. It pretty much felt like a metro trip (quieter and faster than the yellow line under the river) and the train itself is a smooth ride.

    I was struck by some of the same things others have mentioned. The wayfinding is not great. There are a lot more stairs involved in getting down to the platform at McGill than I expected, and I did not expect to have to take two different elevators up to metro level at Édouard‑Montpetit.

    A friend was telling me that he takes his young grandson on the REM across the river and back every weekend as a treat, so another friend and I have agreed to do the Brossard-Deux-Montagnes run in both directions soon, to get a feel for the whole shebang. Report will be made when that’s done.

     

    • Joey 22:01 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

      Same here! Rode downtown and back to Édouard-Montpetit. Agreed about the way finding. That said, it took six minutes to get to Bonaventure. Try riding in the front car when you arrive at Édouard-Montpetit – interesting to see the interior of the mountain rock.

    • Nicholas 02:15 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

      Someone pointed this out last year: Quebec has rules on how long a stairwell can be in a transit station without an escalator. McGill is deeper than that. But, the rule only applies between levels, so they created a faux level in between two sets of stairs to eliminate the requirements for escalators. At least we kept costs down!

    • Kate 10:20 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

      I was wondering about accessibility, though.

    • James 15:31 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

      @Nicolas: That is not the reason why there are no escalators at McGill. The real reason is that they would not fit because the available space is too constrained.
      @kate: Yes there are elevators on both platforms – the entire REM is 100% accessible.

    • Major Annoyance 15:32 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

      You’re in for a treat when the train goes around the Point St. Charles yard and over the river. The Two Mountains branch doesn’t offer any views nearly as dramatic.

    • Nicholas 20:31 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

      James, the space doesn’t look too constrained to me. Downtown also has lots of single-width escalators.

  • Kate 20:32 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

    The Parti Québécois is already drafting a provisional constitution to replace the CAQ’s proposed document. And the federal government is beginning to face the likelihood of a third Quebec independence referendum.

     

    • Kate 15:50 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

      Food is expected to continue rising in price next year, the average family of four forecast to shell out nearly $1000 more for groceries. It’s beef that’s expected to lead the price surge.

      I’m not a vegetarian, but surely it’s possible to eat well without eating beef? A billion Hindus manage it.

       

      • Nick 15:57 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        These are two of my favourite vegan recipes!

        Bean & Winter Squash Chili

        Lentil-Mushroom Bolognese

      • patatrio 16:01 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        I wish there was a Quebec volet for these price rises. In Montreal I’d wager the price increases will be more severe – these costs will significantly contribute to the affordability crisis, already since the pandemic most people have been doing some sort of financial self-preservation. 18-44 year olds are really suffering, and unmanageable debt in this age group is going to be catastrophic for the Canadian economy in the next decades. Even those able to avoid debt will not be able to compound interest for their retirement.

      • Nicholas 16:10 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        When I saw that a report was saying that a family of four spent $17,571.79 on food every year, I immediately knew who wrote this report (project lead). I’ll just give two quotes from this report.

        “The average Canadian family of four should expect to pay nearly $1,000 more for groceries next year if they follow an average diet.” Note, however, that the index includes restaurants, so it’s not just “groceries”, because spending $50 a day for a family of four on groceries seemed high. The report does not seem to break down spending by category, but I bet restaurants are up there, and are projected to rise among the fastest categories, right after meat. It’s fine to include food at restaurants in your calculation of food, but you can’t call this groceries.

        “From mid-December 2024 to mid-February 2025, the government implemented the Tax Break for All Canadians Act (Bill C-78), during which customers were not charged any Goods and Service Tax (GST) or Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) when they purchased specified items. This included most food and beverages at grocery stores and restaurants.” Most food and beverages at grocery stores are exempted from sales taxes. This is widely known and easily verified, and I can’t believe a “food economist” would write this.

      • dwgs 16:38 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        We are a family of four and we eat pretty well for about $250 a week.

      • Mark 17:01 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        Until you live with 3 teenagers, I would have agreed that spending $50 a day on groceries would seem insanely high. However, we do everything to save: coupons, sales, only the discount chains (Super-C, Maxi). We have a pressure cooker for cheap meals many times a week. We only eat red meat at most once a week as we’re mostly vegetarian. We go to this surplus place that charges you a fixed amount and you can grab all kinds of things.

        And we can’t keep our grocery bill (just groceries, no restaurants) under $350 a week. The thing is, it’s not just the meals, teens are relentless eating machines: we buy 6 muffins for $6, and they disappear within an hour. We should probably invest in a cow for the milk. My son’s snacks on 3 carrots, two pita breads, a couple slices of cheese and a box of crackers 30 min before dinner, and he finishes his meal easily. None of my kids are even close to overweight.

        Point is, I’m not surprised by the amount, and no one with kids would be either. Some products have shot up so much because of failed crops/climate change such as chocolate, coffee, olive oil, etc. Lindt should start offering monthly financing options.

        But a ton of other essentials things went up drastically in the last 5 years, stuck there and never came down.

      • Ian 20:27 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        One thing that isn’t really being acknowledged is the cost of gasoline. Before covid, gas rarely went above 130 but now it regularly hits 160 – and diesel is even more expensive. Since most of our food comes in on trucks, that affects our food prices directly, too. There’s been a lot of price spikes since covid that never really came back down.

        At the time eveyone blamed supply chain, but I am reminded of when I worked at a record store when CDs were introduced, and they cost twice as much as LPS – supposedly because of supply chain problems. We were all assured that the CD prices would come down to the same prices as LPs (or lower) as soon as N. American factories were built. Guess what happened.

        Regardless, it’s hard to accept that our grocery prices have gone up more than 15% since 2020 as a result of regular market forces, especially given the history of collusion within the industries involved.

      • Meezly 20:41 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

        Our food is controlled and distributed by only a handful of corporations, most of which have also been using inflation as an excuse to drive up food prices. There was the bread price fixing scandal some years ago – has there been any government action since then to regulate food prices? Probably not because capitalism.

        But yes, the combination of greedflation, rising gas prices, climate change, etc. is just making food more and more expensive. The only positive is that as a society we eat too much beef anyway so hopefully fewer cows have to be killed.

      • Uatu 06:03 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

        The YouTube channel Great Depression Cooking has recipes that can help meet a limited budget. It’s an old 91 yr old grandma who runs it and she has lots of culinary wisdom of getting the most bang for your buck

      • Ian 21:13 on 2025-12-05 Permalink

        When I lived in the country we ate pgeon and squirrel, and I’ve heard good things about raccoon…

    • Kate 15:15 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

      Five bars and/or restaurants have been shot at or been the target of arsonists overnight in a festival of frustrated extortion.

       

      • Kate 15:00 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

        Are francophones a minority in Montreal, as claimed by some of our politicians? La Presse responds “Yes, but…” with a dissection of the statistics available.

         

        • Ian 20:33 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

          This reminds me of philosophical discourse.

          First, define what it is that we are defining, and whether or not definition is contextually possible per se. Now define what it means to measure them, if measurement itself (etc.)

          In the right frame of mind you can prove or disprove anything, and argue it endlessly, especially if it comes down to interpretation of quantitative data based on qualitative systems of measure.

      • Kate 10:19 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

        France-Élaine Duranceau is promising to cut 5,000 civil service positions by March 2027. If there’s anyone in our public life who’s actually a reptilian alien in a poor disguise, it’s our France‑Élaine.

         

        • Kate 10:17 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

          The numbers prove that anglos in Quebec face lower employment and wages than francophones, a success story for sure.

           

          • Ian 12:12 on 2025-12-04 Permalink

            OK so maîtres chez nous is out of the way, but nobody tell PSPP or he’ll call you a race, er, culture traitor.

        • Kate 10:16 on 2025-12-04 Permalink | Reply  

          Some news days have a theme, and Thursday’s is homelessness – not surprisingly. Le Devoir talks to several women about what it’s like to have access to shelter after having no home – but the shelter, CAP St‑Barnabé, needs more money, as do they all. And their newest shelter is being criticized for being too close to a school.

          CultMTL reports rather uncritically on the Ensemble promise to eliminate homelessness.

          But isn’t it heartwarming to read that the CAQ intends to end its housing help for refugees? Even as the city helps people off the street, the CAQ will push more people onto it.

          It’ll be down to –14° Thursday night. The city is planning emergency measures offering extra shelter spaces.

           

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