This is Montreal

The temperatures are dropping and snow is on its way, but it’s not stopping some Montrealers from gearing up for the winter biking season. While winter cyclists are still only a fraction of the total bike riding population, they represent a growing group of commuters. We’ll hear what’s driving people to keep pedaling year-round and why one borough has even decided to subsidize 100 people to give winter cycling a try.

Ripped open bags, bad smells, even roving rodents: from Milton Park to Mercier, residents share their frustrations and their solutions for better garbage pickup. And Ainslie MacLellan gets the real dirt on trash collection from a longtime garbage collector, who shares which habits we should be breaking when we put our bags and bins to the curb.

There are more than 4000 of them crisscrossing the central parts of the city — nearly 500 kilometres worth! In this episode, Ainslie MacLellan follows an urban explorer who has walked almost *all* of Montreal’s ruelles, learns more about how they shaped the development of the city, and meets Montrealers who are banding together with their neighbours to transform their alleys and their communities.

Céline Dion is having a moment. It’s not her first, and millions of fans are hoping it won’t be her last. While Céline’s international stardom seems obvious now, it was all so unlikely.

Now, as a rare illness threatens to retire Celine’s more-than-four-decade long career, in Céline: Understood culture writer Thomas Leblanc reveals the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created one of the most enduring superstars the planet has ever seen.

Understood is an anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Over a handful of episodes, each season unfolds as a story, hosted by a well-connected reporter, and rooted in journalism you can trust. Driven by insight and fueled by curiosity…The stories of our time: Understood.

All episodes of Céline: Understood are available now. More episodes of Understood are available at: https://lnk.to/CelineUnderstood

You don’t need to go to Salem, Massachusetts to find stories of people being accused as witches. Quebec has its own distinct history with witchcraft trials. Ainslie MacLellan visits the Pointe-à-Callière Montreal Archeology and History Complex in Old Montreal to learn about witch stories from the city’s past, and what they can tell us about attitudes and beliefs in Montreal society over time.

This story includes a mention of suicide. If you or someone you know needs support, you can reach Talk Suicide Canada at 1-833-456-4566 or can text 45645 between 4 p.m. and midnight ET.

After 7 years as mayor, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has decided she’s not going to run again. As recently as a month ago, Plante had said she would seek a third mandate. So what is prompting this decision now? CBC reporter Matt Lapierre joins Ainslie MacLellan to break down Plante’s surprise announcement, and political scientists Dónal Gill and Katherine Sullivan look at how it fits into a wider trend of political burnout, including amongst women. With research by Carla Désir.

When the forecast calls for torrential rain, some Montreal residents hold their breath. Ainslie MacLellan visits one street in Saint-Laurent where homes have flooded multiple times in recent years by sewer back up during heavy rain, and finds out how climate change, infrastructure choices and our transformation of the natural landscape have created the perfect storm.

New name, same must-listen podcast. Dive into the Montreal stories you’re curious about and the issues you want to understand. Host Ainslie MacLellan explores the complexities of our colourful, vibrant and sometimes frustrating, but always interesting city.

June is Pride Month, especially in the U.S. Montreal’s Pride festivities are in August, but this wasn’t always the case. We’ll hear from Montrealers who had a hand in organizing Pride at various times in its history and hear how, in each era, the 2SLGBTQ+ community channeled political and social struggle into the movement of protest and celebration that we know today.

From Verdun to Rosemont to NDG, it seems like wild turkeys have been popping up all over Montreal in recent years. They’ve spurred a lot of curiosity and even delight from Montrealers, but we have seen some human-turkey conflict arise. We’ll hear about what life is like for a big bird in the big city, and how we can get along without ruffling any feathers.