Transit passes will be more expensive as of July 1, going up to $110 for a regular Zone A pass. TVA lists the new fees for other passes.
Updates from May, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
The bike path along Hochelaga is being cut short – La Presse’s headline says by a third, but it’s more than that. SMF’s administration says it’s worried about congestion and losing parking spaces.
DeWolf
Talk about a bait and switch. The consultation focused on whether the path should stay on Hochelaga as planned, or be rerouted to De Rouen (requiring industrial land expropriations and a very expensive new viaduct across the railway tracks). At no point did the administration present the option of cutting the path short.
-
Kate
Some storefront businesses are still failing to make French pre‑eminent on their signage and façades.
MtlWeb
I have always though that the OQLF sending their own inspectors to verify that businesses offer (greetings/service in french, predominant signage in French, French language on receipts and terminals) is like giving the OK to the mechanic at Canadian Tire to go ahead and fix what he feels needs to be fixed on your car. Their completed reports are always thorough, organized, and easy-to-read…..often a sign that the writer(s) have/has had more than enough time to create the document.
Kevin
What a way to look at the downside.
People made more than 10,000 complaints about language last year. The OQLF went to Taschereau, the Village, and Des Laurentides and inspected more than 1,000 companies and found that people could be served in French in 98% of stores.
But sure, the French language is going to disappear :clutches all the pearls:
Kate
Can people be served in French in 98% of the stores in Paris? I bet there are more stores there serving people mostly in Arabic than we have here.
Joey
My hot take on this issue is that Quebec has done more than enough to ensure that French remains the predominant language in Quebec – it’s been so effective at regulating every last bit of non-English in public life that the xenophobes for whom it was never just about language have had to turn to pretty open racism and discrimination to advance their project.
The risk to French in Quebec is about the same as the risk of any non-English language anywhere:* the homogenization of communication and culture across the world, enabled by the Internet and super-charged by extreme capitalism. If French in Quebec gets snuffed out, it won’t be because a few more percent of us speak English at home or send our kids to an English CEGEP, it will be because the Internet and the pursuit of wealth have seriously undermined the concept of local culture. Seems unlikely for now, but there’s less and less distinctly local things that are common to younger generations now than even 10 years ago – your feed comes from everywhere, and giant companies want to control every aspect of what you see (and, less and less, read). Instragram-first tourism means more and more ‘local’ culture is just a reflection of the latest trends. Just think about how absurd some of the province’s ideas about French-language content discovery on streaming services are – can little ol’ Quebec stand up to Disney/Netflix/etc? That, to me, is an actual existential threat to the idea that a French-speaking part of North America can last in the long run – not that there are 5% more English-speakers than we would like.
- Demography and soft power being what they are, it wouldn’t completely surprise me if another language (Mandarin?) replaced English as the global lingua franca in my lifetime, though I would still consider it very unlikely, especially since instant translation devices are already viable.
-
Kate
The Quebec Order of Architects has given out its 2026 awards, and they’re mostly in Montreal: the enlargement of the bibliothèque L’Octogone in
St‑MichelLasalle, a condo building near the new UdeM campus, a renovated triplex in Ahuntsic‑Cartierville, a repurposed tavern building in Lachine, the new street‑level pavilion at St Joseph’s Oratory, the transformation of the Grace Dart long‑term hospital, a renovated house in Rosemont, and the Centre Sanaaq.DavidH
Octogone is in Lasalle.
Kate
Thank you! I was distracted by St‑Michel’s octagonal street (it’s now called François‑Perreault but used to be called Octogonal because of its shape) which also has a library on it. In contrast, the Lasalle building is not an octagon nor is it on an octagonal street.
-
Kate
The Robins des Ruelles carried out another action Thursday evening in Rosemont, hitting a Maxi at a location unidentified by the journalist and taking an indefinite quantity of groceries. Item also mentions a similar action in Quebec City but is even vaguer about where that happened.
Joey
I’ve been wording about this since the last time – who exactly eats the loss in this kind of thing. Some rudimentary googling suggests that Quebec’s Maxi stores are corporate-owned, meaning that Loblaw would take the hit. The other banners are more likely to have a franchise model, meaning the franchisee (more of your local businessperson than faceless corporation – hence the fact that often the stores are formally called something like IGA Stephane Tremblay) is on the hook. Five thousand bucks is a lot of money but not enough to warrant an insurance claim, it seems.
TLDR these folks seem to have, at least in this case, targeted the right banner stores to ensure that the Loblaw corp takes the financial blow.
Chris
Loblaw takes no blow, they just calculate it as cost of business and increase prices correspondingly.
Annette
Chris: Loblaw’s increases prices corresponding to its wants, not its needs.
Meezly
And its wants are likely dictated by its board of directors chaired by chaired by lord Galen Weston.
Chris
Annette, that’s true, and is compatible with my point. Its wants are for revenue to exceed expenses. If hooligans increase its expenses, they’ll increase their prices to get the profit they want.
-
Kate
A convent in Rosemont is going to be repurposed to become the heart of a new residential complex.
-
Kate
Weekend notes from Le Devoir, CityCrunch, the Gazette, Journal de Montréal, CultMTL.Weekend driving issues et en anglais.
-
Kate
The Armand Vaillancourt fountain in San Francisco is being taken down. Vaillancourt is 96 and reportedly considered it the most important piece of his career.
MarcG
They should integrate it into the work being done near Habitat.
Kate
What are they doing near Habitat?
MarcG
I was thinking of this article you posted in 2022, maybe nothing’s come of it.
Kate
I have no idea. Some projects that were previously promised are going nowhere – Friday, the Gazette considers a beach in Lachine which looked promising but has been shut down.
DeWolf
@MarcG and Kate — Work in underway on the Bonaventure project but it will be many years before the riverfront park is ready. Work is currently underway to move the expressway inland.
MarcG
Scanning the local urban planning forums it seems like they city bought the greenspace next to Mels late last year.
-
Kate
Friday evening could see the Canadiens win their series against the Lightning, so police are preparing. The Radio‑Canada piece is more about managing traffic than coping with fan excesses. La Presse looks at the heightening excitement.
MarcG
My intuition, which is perhaps actually self-projection, says that the world has a lot of pent up anger right now, and combined with a general disconnection from material reality, a hockey riot could be just the thing.
steph
Can someone explain to me why we mostly riot when we win?
Kate
Here’s what an AI says:
Riots following Montreal Canadiens wins, such as in 1986, 1993, 2008, and 2021, are largely driven by a combination of intense, generational pent-up passion, alcohol-fueled over-exuberance, and a cultural tendency to express extreme emotion in the streets. These events often stem from chaotic celebrations where large crowds, rather than focused anger, overwhelm police and devolve into property damage.
Key Factors Behind the Riots:
- Pent-Up Frustration and Devotion: Experts note that because hockey is deeply intertwined with Montreal’s cultural identity, the long wait between wins can create an intense “burst” of emotions when they finally win.
- The “Celebration” Shift: The 1993 riot was interpreted as an expression of frustration stemming from economic issues and a desire for cultural self-determination in Quebec.
- Crowd Dynamics and Alcohol: Many incidents are not premeditated but occur when large, intoxicated, and celebratory crowds gather in downtown areas, such as Saint Catherine Street, turning into chaos.
- Police Response: Studies on these events suggest that sometimes a heavy police presence or early use of tear gas can escalate a peaceful celebration into a confrontation.
- Historic Precedent: The tradition of intense, occasionally violent fan action has roots as far back as 1955 with the “Richard Riot,” which was a response to a star player’s suspension, merging sports with cultural politics.
Tim S.
I would add weather – large crowds out for the first time as spring comes. If not hockey, could be a St Jean party or the Point St-Charles Victoria Day chaos in the old days. Don’t know why people are inspired to set things on fire, but the time of year seems to be consistent.
Kate
My mother used to talk nostalgically about playing cat and mouse with the cops and firemen in the Point on Victoria Day. And her aunt was married to a fire chief!
CE
I saw it from a distance on a bus but there seemed to be a good old fashioned May Day riot this afternoon on Réné-Lévesque near Beaver Hall.
Janet
This evening, I walked from the MMFA back to my home in the Old Port. Bad timing. The whole downtown around the Bell Centre was full of grown men in Canadiens jerseys. Lots of excitement. When I arrived in Victoria Square, there was even more excitement as I found myself in the middle of the May Day demo. First time I’ve ever been kettled. Took me awhile to find a way out that wasn’t blocked by cops in riot gear.
Reply