A Concordia University grad student has looked into access to groceries by Montrealers and found that 20% of us don’t have quality groceries within a ten‑minute walk.
Can’t tell from the descriptions here whether she also considered fruiteries or the growing prevalence of food delivery services (I see a Voilà truck on my street pretty often).
Québec solidaire set itself a rule that, in cases where byelections were to be held in ridings already won by QS, the next candidate had to be a woman or a non‑binary person. But it has made an exception for the upcoming byelection in Gouin, in central Montreal, which was Gabriel Nadeau‑Dubois’ riding, because Alexandre Boulerice, for some years the lone NDP MP in Quebec, hopes to shift to provincial politics.
Chapleau had a comment on the exception…
Just a slight correction that it’ll be for the upcoming general election, not a by-election, though there will likely be a by-election for Boulerice’s federal seat if he wins provincially, unless we get another general federally.
Thank you, Nicholas. I had forgotten that Gabriel N‑D wasn’t stepping away immediately, but only at the end of his term.
This strikes me as the worts possible outcome for QS – if the rule is worth keeping, then apply it even when the alternative would be ‘better’; if it’s only good enough to apply to ridings that don’t matter, it’s not actually a rule, and diminishes both the party’s credibility and the perceived value of its women and non-binary candidates (the implication being that their value comes primarily from their symbolism but that when expertise is called for it’s OK, even necessary, to turn to a man).
By keeping the rule but ignoring it, the message is that QS doesn’t even believe its own rhetoric (Ruba Ghazal: “je suis fière que Québec solidaire soit le chef de file en matière de parité entre les femmes et les hommes en politique”). Isn’t it better to admit that well-intentioned blanket rules that don’t work well in practice should be jettisoned than to pretend that the gap between principles and actions is negligible? If your whole thing is that your party is categorically different than all the others, it’s really, really important to abide by your values and rules.
*when winning a seat is called for
Joey, perhaps they are abiding by their values. The values in question being virtue signalling and pandering to their base.
It was a silly thing for QS to make a principle of, and they should admit that openly. The right person to choose as a candidate for any given situation is not going to depend on their gender.
I imagine they did it because studies have found that parties often nominate women in ridings they won’t win, whereas men are more often nominated in their safe seats. I seem to remember this coming up with the NDP and later the Liberals where they tried to have a 50/50 split for candidates but it would still be a higher proportion of men in the caucus after the election. Probably QS is thinking that if they’ve won a riding before, they’re more likely to win it again so it’s a way to actually get women/non-binary candidates in the National Assembly.
Be that as it may, it does very much have the surface appearance of a betrayal of core equity that was supposed to be a pillar of the organization.
I guess by now it’s painfully naive to expect any political party to be conistently working towards progressive policies and not just falling victim to lazy cynicism. That they all expect their earlier supporters to just go along with it because they ostensibly don’t suck complete total ass as the other parties. Or at least not as much.
It’s also pretty crappy of Boulerice to ditch the NDP in their hour of need. He would still get that sweet federal pension, too. A real man of integrity, there.
He does seem to be giving himself until the NDP leadership is decided to make a final decision. I’d be very curious to see which candidates would make him most likely to leave/stay.
As for abandoning the NDP in its hour of need, he worked incredibly hard to show the flag during the Jagmeet Singh era – not the easiest leader to sell in Quebec. I don’t blame him for not wanting to carry the can for a new unilingual leader. He’s done his shift.
Boulerice has not yet decided, as Tim S. says, although having it noised about like this is almost a declaration.
Ian, it’s getting to be a pretty long hour of need for the NDP. Without Boulerice, there’s basically no more QS, so I can see the appeal (though again, if you’re going to break the rules to recruit a star candidate, promising to never do it again, as Ghazal did, is hollow, you’re just a regular old political party now). I’m not sure that however many more years of extreme backbench Ottaw life Boulerice should be expected to shoulder when there’s the chance to do it in Quebec City for a few years LOL. Actually he’d be a great Projet Montreal leader…
I suspect the effect will be small, but Boulerice’s candidacy could change the dynamic in other close races where the PQ will be just slightly ahead…
I wish Quebec could have a provincial party that was on the left but not automatically devoted to Quebec separation.
There is simply no party I want to vote for in October; I’ve been giving my vote to QS for some years because they’re never going to come to power and because the local MNA, Andres Fontecilla, seems like a decent guy, but I don’t know whether they have any future. Fontecilla may get back in because he’s well liked, but the QS caucus seems likely to shrink.
For the first time I’m considering destroying my ballot. Or – radically – not voting at all.
For what it is worth, I discovered recently that GNP’s office and Boulerice’s office are next door neighbors. Possibly a discussion between the two of them was had on the elevator, Or someone decided that moving expenses were too high.
Since QS revealed themselves to be ethnonationalists I have no intention of voting for them, and unless Chucky Billions turns out not to be a pick-me to the ethnonationalists like Anglade I too am at a loss.
My nugget of optimism is that another referendum might bring down housing prices when people flee again. I just hope there’s enough cowards left to have the desired effect haha
Lots of plaudits for actor Raymond Bouchard, who died Saturday at 80. I find that he’s virtually unknown and unmentioned on the anglo side.
The fallout from SAAQclic was the big theme this week:
Côté sketch pictures the song and dance presented to Geneviève Guilbault when she was transport minister; an alternative view as robots make their case; finally, Karl Malenfant and François Legault in a spoof of Catch Me If You Can.
Chapleau’s take on the Gallant commission report was a bit blunter as was Ygreck’s.
Godin also illustrated Soraya Martinez Ferrada’s first hundred days while both Chapleau and Ygreck enjoyed the plight of Mr Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor.
Trump’s challenge by his own court gave our artists some inspiration, as did Simon Jolin‑Barrette’s agreement to remove the right to abortion from the Quebec constitution bill – Legault giving him a lesson in the moonwalk.
R T 19:45 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
When phrased inversely, 80% within 10 minutes sounds… pretty good?
(It’s actually 83%: “17 % of residents lack access to any HFEs within a 10-minute walk”)
The paper is here; figure 3a shows that within 15 minutes it’s 90% and by 20 minutes it’s over 95%:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266709172500072X
Fruiteries count, déps don’t:
“Establishments were selected using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 5411 (Grocery Stores) and 5431 (Fruit and Vegetable Markets), resulting in 2229 entries initially. However, the 5411 category includes numerous convenience stores that are inconsistent with fresh food sources. To improve data quality, a keyword-based filtering process was applied to exclude entries such as ‘dépanneur’ (a local convenience store), ‘café,’ and ‘restaurant,’ resulting in the removal of 1274 misclassified entries that rarely provide nutritious food. The cleaned destination dataset comprised 955 verified HFE locations.”
Food delivery does not count (and, after all, delivery coverage is ~100% but groceries arriving within 15 minutes will be ~0%).
R T 19:57 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
Sorry, I misread the x-xis on the CDF in figure 3a. It actually shows the number of businesses accessible by each mode, not the minutes.
They only look at 10 vs 30 minutes for walking. 91% of Montrealers have more than 5 options within a 30-minute walk.
Jonathan 22:33 on 2026-02-22 Permalink
The data for 10 minutes is for walking or cycling. The 30 minutes data is for public transit and a combination of walking or cycling.
Kate 10:28 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
Thank you, R T. I was only giving a brief aperçu of the story, not trying to summarize all the numbers as you have done.
There are definitely food deserts in town. I knew someone who lived in a part of Lachine where grocery shopping without a car involved taking two buses – it was onerous and time‑consuming.
DeWolf 10:32 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
Given the methodology, it sounds like the author missed out on butchers and bakeries? They’re certainly an important part of a healthy food system.
A couple of observations based on the study’s maps: the absolute most grocery-rich part of town seems to be an L-shaped area that covers Park Ex, Little Italy, lower Villeray and western Petite-Patrie. Not surprising given the number of fruiteries and supermarkets of all sizes, and of course the Jean-Talon Market. There’s another strong cluster in northwestern Côte-des-Neiges. Mile End, the western Plateau and Shaughnessy Village do well too. There is certainly a correlation between immigrant neighbourhoods (historic or contemporary) and having a rich food ecosystem.
The maps also confirm some relative food deserts in central Montreal: western Saint-Henri, Point St-Charles, Ville Saint-Pierre, Youville in Ahuntsic. The first two have only one supermarket each, and few of the fruiteries that are common elsewhere in town, while VSP and Youville have absolutely nowhere to buy fresh food within a 15-minute walk.
Kate 10:52 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
DeWolf, you’re right about Youville, but the whole stretch of St‑Laurent from Jean‑Talon up to Louvain is pretty much a ghost town for buying groceries. On the map, you’ll see a Marché Istanbul in the little strip mall om Crémazie, but the only time I hopefully checked it out it was pretty bleak. They had like 50 kinds of jam but not much else.
DeWolf 11:04 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
You’re right. There’s the Maxi on St-Laurent near Crémazie but that’s about it.
If you live in Saint-Simon (that’s what the map calls it, never heard anyone refer to it IRL), your only choice for groceries within pleasant walking distance is the Intermarché Palumbo on Chabanel. Otherwise you’re crossing the 40 to get to the Maxi or trudging over to Marché Central.
Kate 11:28 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
I forgot about that Maxi, which is the grocery store closest to my place but which I hardly ever visit. The last time I was there, the whole store was manned by about 3 people (in the daytime during the week), the self‑checkouts weren’t working well, and there was a sense of overall bleakness that wasn’t appealing.
I get by with a weekly Lufa delivery, plus there are several good fruiteries, a topnotch butcher shop and a couple of good bakeries nearby. Who needs Maxi?
I will add: not sure it helps the study if they excluded food delivery. For most of this month I had a cold bad enough that I preferred not to go out, and I used Instacart to get some items I wanted. Stuff arrived within a couple of hours. Services like IGA’s Voilà are pretty timely too, and you can even get Doordash to pick up some groceries for you.
In fact, a fruiterie owner told me not long ago that the prevalence of delivery services and their popularity (since Covid) has been bad for his business. He knows that people who would’ve been stopping by his store for odds and ends they needed are now getting them delivered.
DeWolf 19:12 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
I’m actually surprised to hear that about the decline in fruiterie business, because if there’s one thing you can’t trust for delivery, it’s fresh produce. Things like Lufa or CSA deliveries are obviously an exception, but if you get standard groceries delivered, the state and selection of produce is pretty bad.
Not to mention value. Corporate supermarkets regularly charge $1 per lime, just for example, whereas there are a number of fruiteries and smaller grocery stores where I can get several limes for a dollar.
Kate 20:23 on 2026-02-23 Permalink
That was one view from one guy, whose fruiterie is (I would hazard a guess) in slight decline. I like the guys who run the shop but they don’t have as varied or as fresh a stock as others in the area.
MarcG 08:43 on 2026-02-24 Permalink
Seemingly going against the trends, This small grocery opened in an old depanneur space in Verdun a year or two ago.