Le Nadia, the city’s first sports bar for women, which opened in December, has been forced to close after noise complaints about its Hochelaga premises. The owners hope to reopen somewhere else soon.
Friday, CTV reports that the reason for the closure is an insurance issue.
Cities and towns in Quebec are all chronically short of the cash needed to cope with infrastructure, transit and housing costs over the next decade and more, according to a new forecast commissioned by the Union des municipalités du Québec. The UMQ wants Quebec to step up.
SMF has announced more money for potholes.
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…
@Taylor that’s called Uber…
DIY traffic lines painting. Makes me recall this story: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-42181263
Kramer tried that and it was a total bust.
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?
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.
You don’t have a lot of choice, your school is mostly determined by your address.
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?
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.
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).
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.
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.
This was primary school, fwiw.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
Thanks for the data, jeather.
Are there any grants or scholarships at the high school level?
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.
Playoff hockey resumes Wednesday evening.
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.
Thank you, SMD.
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.
Two new Montreal restaurants have received Michelin stars in this year’s edition.
A slight rephrasing… “two new Montreal restaurants had Michelin stars bought for them.”
La Presse examines the orange cone as a symbol of love‑hate for Montreal.
Factories with the potential to release toxins will be testing their warning sirens at various times on Wednesday. Details on the city website.
Grand old Péquiste Claude Morin has died at 96. Francophone media are all remembering him – anglos, not so much.
He was an RCMP informant? Quoi le heck?
The Gazette published an obituary https://montrealgazette.com/news/provincial-news/provincial-politics/claude-morin-key-architect-of-quebecs-quiet-revolution-dies-at-96/
In her report on the death of a cyclist on Park Avenue last September, coroner Marie-Claude Boutin recommends a bike path on the street to make it safer. Never gonna happen.
For whatever reason the link won’t load…but there is a bike path, it just got a big upgrade, too…. it’s even fully separated from the roadway, and finally separated from the pedestrian walkway, too.
Why would the city put a bike path on Parc if there’s a really good bike path all along Jeanne-Mance Park, connecting to Mont-Royal path on one end & the Pins to Milton path on the other?
Heck, why does the city put car lanes on Parc? There’s a really good road all along Jeanne-Mance Park, connecting to Mont-Royal avenue on one end & the large St Laurent boulevard after that.
Just one possible route should be enough for motorists, right?
The accident took place near Parc and Bernard.
It’s a real shame that Projet didn’t focus on getting the entire REV built and running in the first half of its first term. Bike paths are very unpopular before they’re built, but quickly become part of the permanent infrastructure once they’re in use. It shouldn’t have taken two full terms for Projet to resolve the Cote-Ste-Catherine/Mont-Royal and St-Urbain gaps in the network, especially since so much of their base is in the Plateau. And it’s really too bad that they didn’t bother dealing with Parc, despite the multiple deaths that occurred on their watch.
Joey is right that it’s a real stain on PM’s legacy that they seemed to ignore Park Avenue until the very last minute. (St-Urbain isn’t their fault, though — the bike path that now exists was planned in 2019, but it required the approval of the STM, and apparently they dragged their feet for years.) I think a big part of the reason why Park Avenue hasn’t been dealt with for so many years is because the city and STM have always wanted some kind of improved transit corridor there, but they can’t get their act together to actually go ahead with it. The Tremblay administration planned a tramway along Park but it fell through. Plante seemed to harbour vaguely similar ambitions but never made it a priority. Everybody has been passing the buck for years. And people have died as a result.
@Ian — The coroner’s report talks about Park Avenue in Mile End. You’re talking about the bike path in Jeanne-Mance Park. And I’m not sure what you mean when the path in the park got a big upgrade recently. The path below the monument hasn’t been changed since it was built in 2007. The only recent difference is that the multi-use path north of the monument was repaved in 2022, with a dotted yellow line added down the middle. There’s still no separation between cyclists and pedestrians in that section.
Ah ok I can see the article now.
Yes, yes, you’re all very witty, especially Chris.
@DeWolf the bike lane on the east side was completely redone from the corner down to Duluth, and the new confusing intersections at Mont Royal and Jeanne Mance. Maybe you forget that the old “bike path” was a crappy asphalt sidewalk barely wide enough for a stroller let alone strollers, bicyclists, pedestrians, etc. I know things being done in sections confuses you, but if the last section was finished last year…
Regardless, we have discussed Parc between Mont Royal and Van Horne before, it’s total garbage for sure – even if we could normalize pedestrian crossings & traffic lights it would make a huge difference – scramble crossings, one way traffic on Bernard, St-V, and Fairmount. Bike paths on Parc would be easy if they simply got rid of the parking lane on one side and made the lane directions the same at all times of day – that switching lane is a menace. I guess the main question would be what happens with the STM reserved lane, they won’t want to get rid of that.
Nobody has even managed to figured out the bike path on Jeanne Mance – it’s no wonder they never got around to Parc. Then again seeing as construction seems to be ongoing if not eternal around Mont Royal and Parc there is always the possibility that they will just redo the whole thing bit by bit until nobody is happy.
@Ian “Completely redone” was, as @deWolf says, just a repaving with a line painted down the middle, and a couple of signs to remove the ambiguity – it’s clear now that it has to function as a bike path and sidewalk, whereas before, there was no signage making it explicit. I don’t think it’s any wider than it used to be, unless you count how much the crumbling edges narrowed the path before.
@jaddle I think Ian is referring to the bike lane on Esplanade south of Mt-Royal along the eastern edge of the park.
Nearly 30 Montreal restaurants have been named to Canada’s 100 best restaurants 2026.
In other breaking news: the sun will set in the west this evening, 2+2=4, and all unmarried men are bachelors.
But this is Montreal, where the sun sets in the north.
There will be free rides May 16 and 17 daytime from the four new stations on the REM Anse‑à‑l’Orme line.
Such cheapskates, couldn’t do free the whole system, and couldn’t do it in the evening.
It would’ve been better. Like people will buy a ticket to the West Island so they can get a free ride back.
It’s OK, there’s nothing to do at the last station on the line in the evening except get menaced by wild turkeys. It’s across the street from the abandoned farm next to the light industrial park. I guess you could take the 20 minute bus into town but I don’t know f they are free too, and I don’t think they start up until the 18th anyhow.
Ooh, Anse-a-l’orme will have a lemonade stand for the occasion. That sounds nice.
Perhaps worth noting that you can use your OPUS card, if it has fares on it, to ride the REM as well as STM buses and metros (as long as you stay on the island.)
The crew of Artemis II is to make an appearance at Place des Arts later this month. I was a little puzzled by the wording “This unique event offers the business community and the public in Montréal the opportunity to hear directly from the Artemis II astronauts” until I saw that it is, for some reason, being promoted by the Chamber of Commerce. A cool $95 plus tax for a ticket.
Montrealer Louise Arbour will be named the new Governor‑General following Mary Simon, whose inability to function in French has been a chronic irritant in Quebec. Arbour’s CV as a judge and prosecutor is an impressive one. She’s 79 years old.
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