SMF has announced more money for potholes.
Updates from May, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Students enrolled at Villeray’s Académie de Roberval, but who’ve never set foot in their school of record, have addressed an open letter to the premier and her education minister appealing for the school building to be made usable again.
La Presse has reported on this school and I’ve posted about it before. Is the CSSDM, or is the government, simply waiting for the building to collapse from neglect?
Nicholas
I heard about an elementary school in the Plateau where students were bussed to Ahuntsic for five years. If you’re a parent of a 4 year old it’d be useful to know which schools need imminent renovations so you can try to go to another and avoid all that.
Ian
You don’t have a lot of choice, your school is mostly determined by your address.
Kate
Is that still so? When I was a kid, families pretty much brought their kids to the closest school, which in many cases had the same name as the nearest church. But I thought things had diversified since then, with some public schools having better reputations and attracting kids from farther afield.
Does anyone tell parents they can’t sign their kid up to a school because they live too far away?
RE
I don’t have kids but my understanding through talking with friends who have school-aged children is yes, for the public system it is determined by address. I’m told some public schools are “better” than others and it has impacted where some friends have chosen to live/move to.
I think for private schools, it’s different.
Mark Côté
Generally you have to go to your nearest school as they are compelled to take local students. It’s possible, I believe, to go to another school if they have room.
The exception are “status 240” schools, which are specialized in STEM, fine arts, etc., like FACE, Royal Vale, and Royal West. They have specific entry requirements but accept students from anywhere in the school board area (and sometimes beyond).
jeather
My friend got her kids into a different (and much closer to where they live) school without much issue, though this is the EMSB which is a bit more willing to work with families. The catchment areas in NDG are a bit weird.
SMD
In my experience with public schools the distinction is between primary and secondary. For primary you have to attend your local school, and exceptionally can try to change schools although only a handful of exemptions are granted each year. For secondary you can apply to any school in the school board, and beyond (although that is an extra form and hassle). Most kids end up staying close to home, but there is no obligation too.
jeather
This was primary school, fwiw.
Joey
Yeah, for primary school you are zoned to a local school (usually but not always the one that is closest to your home) but you can try for a spot in another school via the ‘libre choix’ process. My understanding is that those spots were never confirmed until the first couple of days of the school year, as the schools had to be able to accommodate local kids whose parents had not registered them in time (imagine a family that arrives in mid-August). And being granted a spot one year was no guarantee for subsequent years, so the potential for disruption was always fairly high.
For high school things don’t seem as tight – the schools are bigger and farther apart so it’s less critical that they primarily or only serve their local neighbourhoods, and there’s more variety in what they offer. Most of all, though, many, many parents are enthusiastic about public education until things start to get serious, and shift to private schools beginning in high school. This phenomenon both is caused by and reinforces the principal challenge of our school system – that there are too many resources going towards private schools and not enough to publics. If you’re a parent your choice, assuming you can afford to even have a choice, is between a public system that’s struggling or a private school that’s flush – doing what’s ‘best’ for your kid may be what’s worst for your community, and vice versa.
Kevin
For the EMSB the three language streams (English core, bilingual, and immersion) are why the catchment areas are so weird.
That’s also why people get a bit mixed up at the beginning of the school year as it finally dawns on parents what they’ve signed up for.Kate
Thanks everyone for explanations. I know a lot of things have changed in public education since I was in it, but without kids I’ve never had to cope with the details in any practical way.
Joey, that’s an especially good point about what’s good for your kid vs bad for the community. I wonder how many members of the National Assembly send their kids to public high schools.
Joey
Forgot to add that my experience is with the CSSDM. I assume the other French CSSes are similar but the EMSB is unique for lots of reasons.
I would guess that the % of MNAs who send their kids to private high schools is about the same as the % who own their own home, i.e., very high. Because Quebec subsidizes private schools the sticker price isn’t necessarily shocking (closer to $5-6K than say the $25K you might expect in many cases), so it’s a viable option for many Quebec parents – which further undermines the public system. The province also pushes the particular programs around sports and arts as a way of bringing some of that private school ‘rigour’ (mostly around admissions criteria, if we’re being honest) to the public system. All this to say, the structure and incentives could not be worse for building a strong, resilient, egalitarian public school system.
jeather
Most of the English private schools are more like the 25k, though their class sizes are half that of the French ones and often they no longer accept subsidies. But this is because the English public high schools are generally as good as most of the French private ones, so there’s no real urge to pay 5-6k/year for a broadly equal education. English private high schools also have much lower expulsion rates, because they aren’t living or dying by ministry rankings.
Kevin
Jeather
Is it really that many English schools? I thought it was just St. George’s and maybe Kells Academy. (And like 12 years ago, St. George’s was 10k)jeather
Just for fun, high school costs only:
St George’s – 27-29k
ECS: 34k
Traf: 26k
Selwyn House: 35k
LCC: 34k
The Study: 33k
Centennial: 24k
Kells: 22k
WIC: 17k
Sacred Heart: 24k
I’ve ignored the more actively religious private schools which do things differently (Villa, Loyola, Jewish ones). I wasn’t paying that much attention, so some probably include fees that others don’t, but it’s a pretty good overview of the English private schools I could think of offhand.Kate
Thanks for the data, jeather.
Are there any grants or scholarships at the high school level?
jeather
Yes, though I have no idea how many students get them or how big they are.
These fees get smaller class sizes, a lot of independent help, and the knowledge that your kids won’t be kicked out to keep the rankings up. No one is paying 30k+ a year to be in a class of 30+. Even the top French private schools have large class sizes, though obviously with more stringent acceptance rates, higher expulsion rates, and involved students class size is significantly less of a problem than it is in public.
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Kate
Playoff hockey resumes Wednesday evening.
SMD
It never stopped; the Victoire won their game last night with a goal from captain Marie-Philip Poulin in triple overtime. Finished at 11:30pm. Amazing stuff.
Kate
Thank you, SMD.
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Kate
A lot of work’s been done, but 10% of city water mains and sewers are still in poor shape, so an appeal is being made to Quebec for funds to bring things up to spec over ten years.
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Kate
Two new Montreal restaurants have received Michelin stars in this year’s edition.
Harvey
A slight rephrasing… “two new Montreal restaurants had Michelin stars bought for them.”
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Kate
La Presse examines the orange cone as a symbol of love‑hate for Montreal.
Mozai
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Kate
Factories with the potential to release toxins will be testing their warning sirens at various times on Wednesday. Details on the city website.
Taylor C. Noakes 22:20 on 2026-05-06 Permalink
I wonder if she’ll announce more money for bike lanes if people start painting lines on the streets?
Or if there’ll be more money for transit if people start using their own cars as taxis…
Harvey 06:00 on 2026-05-07 Permalink
@Taylor that’s called Uber…
CC 10:29 on 2026-05-07 Permalink
DIY traffic lines painting. Makes me recall this story: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-42181263
Joey 11:37 on 2026-05-07 Permalink
Kramer tried that and it was a total bust.