CF Montreal had hopes of being able to play winter matches in the refurbished Olympic stadium, but when and whether this will ever be possible is still uncertain.
Updates from May, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A pro-Palestine rally on the weekend is being investigated over mock hangings apparently of Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir.
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Kate
There are now 95 tents along the Notre‑Dame East park strip, a record number.
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Kate
A recent report from the Observatoire Grand Montréal says the city population is in decline as the population ages and immigration is curtailed.
More on this Tuesday: it’s not just that the population will shrink, but that it will also age, putting more of a burden on its younger, working‑age people.
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Kate
Charles Milliard wants Quebec to emulate Doug Ford’s Ontario. Enough said?
Taylor C. Noakes
Charles Milliard: how else can I prove to you I have no idea what I’m doing right now?
Joey
Politics must be a lot harder than it looks given how often seemingly intelligent people wind up saying stuff like this…
Blork
Well, I only scanned the article but it seems like he’s mostly referring to things like making inter-provincial trade easier, standing up to Trump, and saying yes to Federal assistance in industry development. I’m not going to complain about those things.
Joey
Isn’t that the point? The hard part of doing politics is being able to say “we should borrow ideas and approaches from Doug Ford’s government” without everyone hearing “I want Quebec to emulate Doug Ford’s Ontario”… easier said than done…
Kate
Writing headlines – like writing brief blog summaries – lends itself to oversimplification.
Taylor C. Noakes
I dunno… ‘breaking down interprovincial trade barriers’ is a fancy way of saying ‘restricting workers’ rights’, and workers’ don’t have many rights to begin with, even here. It’s a euphemism for ‘get rid of anything standing in the way of the corporate steamroller.’
Ford has taken a hatchet to Ontario’s environmental regulations, is a big fossil fuel booster, rejects EVs for purely ideological reasons, has zero respect for the press or for the rights of cities, and is pushing for nuclear power, despite far cheaper and more effective alternatives.
He’s a rightwing populist, fundamentally no different than Danielle Smith, Scott Moe, or Pierre Poilievre. They are all cut from the same cloth, and they all will say and do whatever a small minority of elites tell them to, using language designed to appeal to everyone’s basest instincts.
Do we need more of that in Quebec?
Blork
“‘breaking down interprovincial trade barriers’ is a fancy way of saying ‘restricting workers’ rights’, and workers’ don’t have many rights to begin with, even here. It’s a euphemism for ‘get rid of anything standing in the way of the corporate steamroller.’”
Well, no, it’s more like “why was it so easy to sell goods to the U.S. but not right across the provincial border? Now that the U.S. is being the way they are it makes sense to do more trade horizontally.
Most of those interprovincial trade barriers are based on things like the big domestic breweries needing to have a footprint in each province for union reasons, or to protect some agricultural producers, but that’s very 1950s thinking. It makes it difficult (for example) for a small independent brewery in Quebec to sell into Ontario or other provinces, or for Quebec cheese makers to sell to other provinces.
Blork
…it makes no sense that in Ontario you can find tons and tons of U.S. products, but so much stuff trying to come in from Quebec or BC has barriers on it.
Nicholas
I agree with Blork, including about how the headline is about emulating Ford but the article is about a speech to Toronto business people talking about how much he likes Ontario business. And while he could go into Ontario and say “I think the person I hope to be working with for 3 years sucks,” you can see why he might not do that.
Tim S.
Every story about inter-provincial trade I’ve ever read features some craft brewer going on about how they can’t sell their beer in Alberta or whatever. If only we got rid of these silly laws, the economy could benefit by (X) billions of dollars.
Now, I’m no economist, but I do enjoy the occasional micro-brew. There’s some from my last trip to Ontario in my fridge even now. Thing is, if it becomes legal to sell BC beer here or whatever, that’s nice, but not I’m going to drink much more of it. Whatever I buy from BC will replace what I now buy from Quebec. So, unless I and many others turn into a raging alcoholic (consuming only expensive niche products, mind you), I don’t see where these billions of dollars will come from.
All of which is to say that, yeah, I agree with Taylor that I suspect inter-provincial trade barriers is code for “race to the bottom of worker, consumer and environmental protections.”
Blork
The microbrewery example is always brought up because it’s easy to remember. It’s actually more about aligning various regulations and standards, etc. A bad (and fictional) example is something like this: Ontario insists that eggs be packaged by the tens while Quebec insists that eggs be packaged by the dozen. So Quebec farmers can’t sell eggs into Ontario unless they go through the expensive process of adding a “by the tens” packaging line. Obviously that’s made up, but my understanding is there are many real-life examples like that.
SMD
From a report last year by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:
“The idea that there are vast, hidden interprovincial trade barriers holding back the Canadian economy has seized the political, media and public imagination. In reality, the alleged costs of interprovincial trade irritants have been vastly overstated, as virtually all goods, services and investment flows freely across provincial borders. In that sense, recent laws and executive decisions aimed at increasing internal trade should be seen as the “premiers’ new clothes.” […] While these efforts will have little effect on Canada’s internal economy, there are downsides to the public interest [as they] will further reduce governments’ capacity to protect the environment, spur domestic economies, promote workplace health and safety, and stop predatory behaviours against consumers.”
Lots of good examples and analysis in the report.
Joey 21:03 on 2026-05-26 Permalink
On the one hand, the new MLS schedule means the CF needs an indoor stadium (way more winter games). On the other hand, Quebecers should be fully on the hook to enable the Saputos to have a leisure project.
Nicholas 00:08 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
I’ve been on the pitch for soccer matches below freezing. Not too fun, but I wasn’t being paid what these guys are making. The Als can do it in November, the NFL does it in January, maybe they can handle a game or two in November (and, as they said, go on the road a bit). Baseball rains out, they can figure it out if we get a blizzard.
GC 03:47 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
Did you mean “should NOT be”, Joey?
Kate 07:18 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
I thought he was being satirical…
Joey 08:30 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
LOL let’s say you’re both right
Anyway, MLS is moving its calendar because, presumably, it will generate more profit for the league and its teams. So let them pick up at least part of the tab…
Josh Cuppage 11:44 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
Nicholas: I think the concern is more for the fans than the players.
Joey: MLS is moving its calendar to be in sync with the global soccer calendar. As it stands, MLS plays through several international breaks where all of the other significant leagues shut down to release players to their national teams. (A side effect of having run on a different calendar than all the other leagues for all these years is that it’s been a contributing factor to many elite players taking a pass on MLS.)
And MLS is not going to pick up part of the tab here. They are an American-based league who just so happen to have a handful of Canadian teams in it. I think they’d be just as happy if Montreal and Vancouver were replaced with Detroit and Las Vegas. (It’s a problem generally for Canadian sport that our top level teams in most sports are mixed up with these American concerns.)
Joey 12:36 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
Yeah, I understand the rationale behind the calendar change (which makes sense IMO), but it’s undeniable that MLS wouldn’t be making this move if it didn’t think it could make more money as a result – as you point out, they would trade off Mtl and Vancouver for US-based teams if they could make more money. But the way CF Mtl is positioning this is that the MLS is doing some altruistic schedule change to appease more important leagues and don’t-ya-know they just don’t have the money to support their franchises who are not set up for a winter season. Granted, it’s ridiculous to spend what $800M+ to renovate the stadium and *not* have it be able to host the local soccer franchise, but it can’t just be a permanent, recurring handout to the Saputos (net worth estimated at $7.59 billion by Maclean’s).
Nicholas 14:59 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
Josh, the CFL playoffs are mostly all outdoors, and sometimes it’s actively snowing and the stands seem pretty full. The Bills have had a few games with two feet of snow in the last few years, one which resulted in a one-day delay. If Montreal fans can’t handle being outside for two hours in November weather we may as well just pack the team in now.
Joey 17:00 on 2026-05-27 Permalink
The CFL playoffs end in November. Nobody is going to watch soccer outdoors in Montreal in February. No MLS team is going to agree to play soccer outdoors in Montreal in February.