Montrealers tip better than any city in Canada, according to point‑of‑sale folks Lightspeed.
Updates from June, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
Thousands of people have been issued fines for insulting police in other Quebec municipalities – Quebec City in particular. The SPVM brotherhood is pressing for a similar law here, and SMF is in favour.
Note the wording: “insulting an officer or other municipal employee.”
This is ridiculous and will waste time in court as people argue over what is, and what is not, an insult.
Taylor C. Noakes
How would this even withstand the inevitable constitutional challenge?
That said, I’m *super* suspicious of the timing of that FPPM survey from three days before the stn 39 revelations came out. No wonder Yves Francoeur and SMF don’t want people insulting the police.
Ephraim
Yeah, that’s a violation of freedom of speech. It is, in no way, protected speech. If they don’t want to insult them, don’t do anything that would make us want to insult them.
Kate
That may be so, but there are such laws elsewhere in Quebec, as the article says, which have apparently not been challenged or thrown out on constitutional grounds.
jeather
Apparently giving cops the middle finger is protected as free expression, so just do that if this comes into force while we wait for it to be fought in the courts.
MarcG
Make sure you’re schedule is clear in case they decide to ruin your day.
-
Kate
A cyclist hit by two vehicles last week on Notre‑Dame East has died.
jeather
Hit by two vehicles? Was he hit by one and pushed into the lane of the second?
Kate
The CBC item says: “he was hit by a first vehicle while crossing Davidson Stree […] was hit again by another vehicle headed in the opposite direction.”
It mentions he was on a bike path. I used to ride that path occasionally – it was separated from Notre‑Dame by some trees, and felt quite safe until you had to pass over a cross street, because either you had to go to the corner and cross on a light, or you had to take your chances with the cross traffic. Obviously this man had no luck with it.
MarcG
The photo from the CBC piece, where seemingly the 2nd collision took place, is quite a distance away from the intersection.
MarcG
Looking at the streetview, there’s a desire path that is closer to where that photo is taken, I suspect they used this and got clipped by a car coming from Notre-Dame and pushed in front of another coming the other direction.
Kate
That actually is the path, MarcG. It goes on for blocks and blocks.
MarcG
The official paved path leads you to the intersection
Kevin
There is the paved path, then there is a short section of dirt which is what witnesses said the cyclist was on moments before he was hit.
Which is just bad design. If you want people to take the paved path, you’ve got to build it in such a way that it makes the paved path the only option, like the berms they have at Notre Dame and Frontenac.
Kate
True. It’s been awhile since I biked along there.
Taylor C. Noakes
I don’t often argue in favour of segregation, but…
If the city were to build a ‘whole street’ bike network that spanned the city, I think most cyclists would opt for it, and the number of fatalities would drop to zero, not to mentiopn probably encourage more people to use their bikes.
-
Kate
Close to 25,000 housing units stand vacant in Montreal right now, a number arrived at through Hydro‑Quebec’s records. With an interesting tool for checking how many vacancies are in your postal area.
Adding later: Projet is proposing a tax on vacant buildings.
It goes on puzzling me, as it did when I worked on the 2021 census and found many addresses empty. In a few, I could see that renovations had begun at some time in the past but had been abandoned, in some cases quite a long time ago. But rents are much higher now, and not everyone demands a high level of finish with granite tops and a breakfast bar. A clean unit with functional bathroom and kitchen fittings can get you upwards of $1200 for a small place, and much more for a larger one – why do landlords pass this by?
Paul
Interesting. BC has a vacant property tax, perhaps QC should do the same?
Kate
The city has a vacant property listing but most landlords ignore it, according to a CBC piece from April. Like other rules set by the city – Airbnb listings, for example – the law is toothless with few inspectors and no enforcement.
Ephraim
Well, if it’s not a residence, maybe it shouldn’t get residential rate 😀
Nicholas
Kate, that CBC article says there are 800 vacant buildings (not units), but the way they define it is utilities are all cut. This measure looks at low (but not no) Hydro usage. So the two lists are completely non-overlapping.
Overall, though, it seems this is a better list and also shows that vacancy rates are incredibly low. 2.6% is a very constrained market, you really want double that to see rates coming down. And these include renos, pied à terres, etc. My place unfortunately has gas and so uses only 5x the cutoff amount, so anyone here for just two months could be under the limit, as would places with active full gutting renos, like at least 2 places on my block.
Also the vacancy rate is very low in the central city but also the next ring, with the West Island having bigger vacancies. Ile Bizard is very high, maybe cottages? Landlords are going to keep squeezing us unless we build more in central areas. And not just a few small apartments, like we could use like 50,000 units on island, but housing starts are just half that region wide, barely enough to keep up with natural growth. We’ve got a big hole to dig out of.
azrhey
well… it is good I am not in charge of anything, but I would put a tax on vacant residential units that double every six months unless there is active renovation work being done.
DeWolf 11:28 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
Maybe it’s because the default tip suggestion at most places here is still 15%? When I’m in Toronto and Vancouver, most places have 18% as their minimum suggested option and many places start at 20%. I think that pisses a lot of people off.
DeWolf 11:30 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
Also, this is amusing:
“Overall, the survey finds that Canada ranks #1 globally when it comes to “doing nothing when service is poor.”
Of course. We’re the most passive aggressive nation on earth.
Taylor C. Noakes 11:48 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
I wonder if it’s a consequence of knowing so many people working in the hospitality sector?
Meezly 12:31 on 2026-06-17 Permalink
I’m noticing more and more 18% as the default, or listed as the first tip option (with 15% being last). Perhaps it may also be due to the fact that Montreal is relatively affordable compared to Toronto and Vancouver.