Montreal rents are rising sharply. The median price of a single family home has more than doubled in a decade. So what can the next federal government do to get housing built more quickly?

Usually, it might be Quebec sovereignty that’s on the table come election time. But this time around, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation, some Quebec voters, like those in the rest of Canada, have Canadian sovereignty on their minds. We’ll look at what that might mean for the electoral map in Quebec.

Those white plastic temporary car shelters — known as tempos — pop up in driveways in many Montreal driveways each winter. Those who love ‘em say they save the time and hassle of digging out their cars after a snowstorm. Those who hate ‘em say they’re an eyesore at best and a potential hazard at worst. We’ll hear how they became a Quebec winter phenomenon and why, more than fifty years after they hit the market, some Montreal residents are pushing to be allowed to put them up in their driveways. Correction: The original version of this episode incorrectly referred to Suzanne De Larochellière as a city councillor instead of a borough councillor.

For some it was the choppy sound of a video call. For others, it was tuning into the daily news briefings. For others still, it was the voice of a patient saying goodbye to loved ones who couldn’t be with them in their final hour. Five years after Quebec declared a public health emergency over COVID-19, five Montrealers reflect on what they remember most about the early days of the pandemic and how their lives have changed since. 

Many Montreal families may be heading off-island to hit the ski slopes for March break this week. But throughout most of the 20th century, you could find downhill ski runs on and around Mount Royal, complete with tow ropes, T-bars and even a 100-ft long ski jump! We'll hear why downhill skiing disappeared from the heart of Montreal, and why not everyone agrees over whether it should come back.

To shake off those winter blues, we’re bringing you one of our favourite episodes from the archives. We follow an urban explorer who has walked nearly every alleyway in Montreal and hear how alleys helped shape the development of and the social life of many Montreal neighbourhoods.

When Montreal gets walloped with snow like it just did, it takes days to get the streets and sidewalks cleared. A century ago some streets just didn’t get cleared at all. From horse-drawn plows to the snowblowers, plows and trucks we use today, we’ll look at how snow clearing has evolved in Montreal. And we’ll hear from some Montreal researchers who are working to design the snow removal of the future using artificial intelligence.  

As of this month, if you buy an electric car in Quebec, you’ll be paying for it entirely out of your own pocket. The federal rebate program for electric vehicles has ended early and the Quebec program is on pause until April, before being phased out in 2027. Both Quebec and Canada have goals to eliminate the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. But with less subsidy money on the table and with all the economic uncertainty of U.S. tariff threats, can we still meet that goal?

Every year Quebec’s housing tribunal, known in French as the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), releases a set of calculations to help landlords and tenants figure out how much rent should increase. This year it recommended 5.9 per cent for an unheated apartment — the largest increase in at least 30 years. So how does the TAL come up with this number? We’ll look at how the rental increase formula works, and hear why both tenants and landlords seem to want it to change.

In October, the Education Ministry published a report alleging that a group of teachers at an elementary school in Côte-des-Neiges had for years created a toxic atmosphere. That led to a series of investigations into other schools. In the wake of those events, about 30 Montrealers gathered at the Maison des Jeunes in Côte-des-Neiges, for a conversation with CBC host Nantali Indongo about the state of our schools. In this episode, we’ll hear from some of those students, parents, teachers, administrators, community organizers and researchers, about their experiences in the Quebec education system and what they think needs to change.