A popular café on Wellington in Verdun is closing after a 60% rent increase, reviving calls for commercial rent controls. The Gazette piece includes a coda in which the café’s landlord denies asking for a 60% hike.
Updates from May, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Quebec is putting millions into what CTV calls health care prevention. Some would say that Quebec governments have been busily preventing health care for a long time.
Uatu
you know what would be great? Having a family dr. Just saying.
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Kate
Le Devoir marks the 20th anniversary of the Grande Bibliothèque with a dossier of items. In particular, they look at how a social worker at the library manages the presence of homeless people who need a peaceful place to hang out.
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Kate
Fans of the Canadiens are ramping up the festivities. The Bell Centre has added a third big screen so more fans can watch the away matches there.
La Presse talked to men at the Old Brewery Mission. One says that the playoffs remind him he’s still alive. It’s all very Victor Hugo-Charles Dickens, this piece. Sometimes the news reminds me we’re slipping past the Robber Barons era into the depths of the Victorian age.
Jim 11:24 on 2026-05-11 Permalink
Sad to see them go. However, the update matters. If the landlord disputes the 60% figure, we should be careful treating one side of lease negotiations as the full story. It is still a shame, but commercial leases are business, and sometimes both sides walk away unhappy.
I understand the call for commercial rent controls, but I’m not convinced regulation is the easy fix. We see already how well-intended rules can create paperwork and compliance costs that bigger companies absorb more easily than small independents. More bureaucracy may hurt the very cafés and shops it tries to protect.
Better lease support, better advice for small tenants, and ways to help local business owners stay rooted would make more sense to me.