From 1923 to 1983, the sounds of a rumbling roller coaster, carnival games, and the laughter of a giant animatronic woman invited people to Belmont Park, an amusement park along the Des Prairies river in Cartierville. In this episode from the archives, we take you through the twists and turns of the amusement park's history, tying together a former prime minister, a Quebec superstar singer, a Guinness World Record and a police raid.

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. Every Thursday.

If you check out a compass or maps app, you may notice our sense of direction in Montreal is a bit … tilted.

Our "north" leans pretty far west and if you head over to the South Shore and keep going, you end up in the Eastern Townships — which are not in Eastern Quebec. In this favourite episode from March 2024, we try to help you find your bearings by exploring our off-kilter geography. 

New housing developments, especially highrises that require zoning changes, can draw opposition from residents, in some cases leading to referendums on whether the projects can go ahead. While some argue referendums amount to NIMBYism during a housing crisis, others argue citizens should have the power to block projects that don’t meet neighbourhood needs.

No matter who wins the NBA finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, a Montrealer will be hoisting the trophy. And perhaps no one is cheering harder for both the Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin and the Thunder’s Luguentz Dort than people in Montréal-Nord. We’ll hear from Montrealers who love basketball about their sport in their city: how far it’s come, how far it can go, and what it takes to get there.

This week’s strike by maintenance workers has left many commuters out of luck. The labour action is happening at a time when the STM is facing pressure to cut costs, all while facing some major maintenance challenges over the next decade. We’ll look at what this all means for workers and Montreal transit users in the long term.

Quebec is aiming to open up trade with other provinces, but the province says cross-border alcohol sales will take more time to sort out. Some small producers say change can't come soon enough because they have been getting the bottom of the barrel.

Since the federal government scrapped its carbon tax, Quebec stands alone as the only province with its own price on carbon. Now the Quebec government is facing calls from some corners to eliminate it, in order to bring down the price at the pump. But some experts say that would put us even further from our climate goals. And some Quebecers are still trying to wrap their heads around what exactly we’re paying — and where the money goes.

With another spring pothole season upon us, we’re digging into the archives to ponder Montreal’s pothole problem. We’ll get into the science of potholes, their impacts, and what we could be doing differently to deal with them. 

Between the West Island and the South Shore and stretching all the way from Ile-Perrot to Lachine, you'll find Lac Saint-Louis. But is it a lake? Is it just part of the Saint Lawrence River? Or is it both? The answer is more complex than you might think.