Just so people understand a bit more about the Tesla Supercharger network expansion being essentially halted, one of the driving reasons behind it is grid bottlenecks, especially in certain locations south of the border.  

It boils down to simple math: the grid hasn't been expanded as quickly as EV fast charging stations consume electricity.  

A Tesla Supercharger station with 20 stalls installed, needs a minimum of 5.5 MEGAWATTS of electricity (250kW x 20 plus ~10% efficiency loss) which is the equivalent of about 1,000 homes in the USA.   There aren't many locations with the local electrical infrastructure and of those, many are already tapped out with the various other charging networks, including Tesla.  

The other issue is Tesla opening the NACS to other vendors, ending the exclusivity for Tesla owners at Superchargers.  This allows them to effectively put the onus on others to build out parallel networks instead of spending their own money which can no longer be used to incentivize people to buy Tesla cars for access to a superior charging network.    

12 hours ago, maxi2515 said:

Feragamo, Prada, Christian Louboutin, Christofle on oublie, les entente n'ont pas abouti, ou ses brand attendent de voir comment préformera le centre avant d'aller de l'avant. 

 

Some luxury brands have very, very favorable exclusivity contracts with Holt Renfrew with varying end dates.  

On 2024-04-19 at 4:44 PM, SameGuy said:

That doesn't leave much time for the MTQ to find solutions for the traffic nightmare that already exists and will only get worse by the time it's operational.

Everything the MTQ has touched around Vaudreuil has turned to S**t.  I'm thinking they're trying to screw over our mayor since he's been abusing them in the media for the last 5 or so years.  After more black eyes than they can count, they're figuring "why not, let's give Pilon what he gave us".  

I mean it doesn't help that the map of Vaudreuil looks like a raving lunatic drew it, which contributes to absolute gridlock even on the weekends...

2 hours ago, Djentmaster001 said:

Port of Montreal to host Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series event this summer

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/port-of-montreal-to-host-red-bull-cliff-diving-world-series-event-this-summer

That's gonna be fun.  Red Bull events are always wild.  

Sounds like they are promoting Quebec as a welfare state to promote "equality".  Or am I missing something?  

One thing is for sure, you don't create societal wealth by over taxing the rich when, somehow, $100K is considered "rich" during a time of high inflation.   

3 hours ago, Djentmaster001 said:

Canada's data centre market to grow 'in a big way': Cologix president

Adding on to that, I know of a relatively large European HQ'd data centre company planning multiple expansions here, they already have a presence, but will continue to grow in 2024. 

https://renx.ca/canadas-data-centre-market-to-grow-in-a-big-way-cologix-president

At what point in time is continuing to court large datacenters with generous tax credits and the promise of low electricity rates going to lead to a net negative financial gain? 

Job creation and datacenters don't go hand in hand with each employing, at most, a few dozen full time workers.  Plus we're already on the precipice of an electricity crunch on a distribution system that increasingly feels like its held together with a bit of duct tape and a pair of rusty staples.  These facilities put exponentially more stress on the system relative to their size, forcing additional expenditures on back-end electrical generation to keep up with demand. 

We shouldn't be happy these companies are setting up shop here.  At least not until Hydro Quebec gets its act together. 

16 hours ago, mtlurb said:

🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

Ce n’est pas une blague, il faut maintenant payer pour s’assurer d’avoir un câlin avec Youppi

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2023/12/02/ce-nest-pas-une-blague-il-faut-maintenant-payer-pour-un-calin-avec-youppi
 

 

LOL, what?  How would this be managed?

Are they gonna put Youppi behind a barrier that opens when you swipe your credit card or something? 

Is he going to walk around with a bunch of Square-totting bouncers that shake down parents for money if their kids get close enough to snap a photo?  

19 hours ago, groanister said:

Multi-level parking is expensive and car drivers don't want to pay for it. They cried so much a few years ago to lower the parking cost, and the CAQ granted it to them. Not giving away expensive stuff for free this time, so no multi-level parking will be built.

But bringing the LA Kings for an exhibition game to a city with zero attachment to the franchise isn't expensive apparently.   Sorry but I had to....

Joking aside, there will be fees for the parking regardless of whether its multi level or not.  This is a public institution so our tax dollars are paying for it (and the parking) regardless as well.  Fees won't "pay back" the structure, our taxes will and obviously, based on numerous surveys and petitions people in this region would be more than happy to have parking density versus what's been planned.  

11 hours ago, maxi2515 said:

For named a few :

-STK

- Arthurs

- Tommy Cafe 

- Antonio Park new Concept

- Massimo Lucas New Concept 

- Milestones

- Omnivore

- Lemeac

 

So essentially a mix of some interesting new restaurants alongside a bunch of Foodtastic sub-brands.  Sounds like what Fairview has been trying to do.   

The whole parking plan is an absolute joke.  I'm not sure where this province's distaste for multi level parking structures comes from (for public transport & otherwise) but it needs to stop.  Yes, people will DRIVE to a hospital especially in this region and NO a lot of people who drive to a hospital might have problems walking a half kilometer to an appointment.  This situation also eliminates the possibility of expansion without spending even more money in the future (due to inflation) to build a multi level parking lot when part of the existing one will be eliminated for new outbuildings.  

Planting trees doesn't fix the issue in any way, shape or form.  The whole plan is shortsighted and downright idiotic.  

14 hours ago, Rocco said:

Sti qu'elle est incompétente. C'est pas le Vieux-Montréal, c'est la Cité du Multimédia. 

Parc-Éponge? C'est 90% béton. Wake up Valérie, arrête de nous niaiser. On est pas des cons.

This looks so unbelievably sad.  

On 2023-11-03 at 3:32 PM, samal90 said:

Plan du projet.

The provincial government needs to step in and limit or outright remove the rights of municipalities to negatively impact developments in TOD zones.  This is proof positive of that.  

2 hours ago, peekay said:

I dont know why you are so concerned about a rich guy spending his own money on our city. The Dix30 people. The negative impact is the traffic that will be created and the morons that run TQ and the city will point the finger at Royal mount.

It doesn't take a genius to see the city grew so much and we still have the 15 and 40 merging into one fat mess. That isn't his problem. Ay least he is generating jobs and revenue. Where is the hippdrome? What has Queen Plante done with that??

Also, take a trip to Yorkdale mall or any other "luxury" mall, you might be shocked that it isn't all expensive stores. 

This.  For example, Yorkdale has an Aldo right next to the Rolex store.  

Interesting, this bill has elements I just mentioned the other day about taxation status of low cost housing developments.  

The problem here again is that Quebec is simply giving municipalities the TOOLS but very few, if any, end up using them.  And forget about the Plante administration even thinking about giving a tax break to the big, bad developers.  

Another issue this causes is determining what is and is not an "underutilized" building.  Who determines and monitors this?  It sounds like another level of bureaucracy that would cause cities to hire on inspectors, administrators, etc. which would eventually negate any additional taxes they accumulate through fines.  

A great example:  I have several rental properties that are on AirBnB and Giggster.  In total they're booked for on average 65% of the year.  Is that underutilized?  Is it properly utilized?  Who determines this? 

I'd think the tens of thousands I pay yearly in property taxes, small business taxes, payroll taxes, CITQ fees, etc. not to mention the sales taxes I generate would be much more beneficial to the government than the threat of a nebulous additional tax causing me to yank my listings altogether and sell my properties at the market rate, shelter the majority of capital gains tax and never think about red tape again.  Which, by the way, wouldn't help the low cost housing pool one iota.  

Social housing cannot be legislated.  Nor can an administration take a carrot vs stick approach where developers only face the stick and don't get any carrots. 

The only way to do this is to incentivize developers to build social housing through LESS fees / taxes, not tack on more fees since that will just cause them to take their money and run.  

Or maybe (I know crazy, right), we remove ALL height restrictions for residential buildings in an effort to increase supply.  

Everyone called this a White Elephant.  Looks like the exterior design took that term to heart.  We will see how it evolves though.  

Wouldn't it be Inocea Group buying the Shipyard Oy and not necessarily Davie?  

Either way, it seems to be a perfect match. One of the larger Finnish shipbuilders gets bought by owners in a "friendly" nation (the UK in this case with its primary facility in Canada) and Davie can tap into their expertise as they build out the PIB program. I'm really not sure where the resistance would come from.  

Just to be clear.  They planted weeds in the sections on each side?  

Oh come on.  More money for failing news organizations?  

If Métro Média STILL hasn't completed a "digital transition" at this point, how many decades into the online age, what makes anyone think a million bucks will allow them to operate for any length of time?  The lack of transition is on them, a private company, and yet taxpayers are supposed to foot the bill for bad corporate governance in a business area that's dying already.

There are already dozens upon dozens of successful hyper-local online publications that are perfectly successful.  The Suburban and Néomédia are just two examples off the top of my head, both having transitioned to online decades ago.    

16 hours ago, Rocco said:

BUT BUT.....OUR VIEW OF MOUNT ROYAL WILL BE BLOCKED BY ANYTHING OVER 233M!!!!  

Don't send this picture to Heritage Montreal....they'll convince Plante to restrict buildings to the height of a Montreal traffic cone.  

I'm willing to bet pricing will hit $10 billion if other projects like Crossrail are anything to go by.  

The hypocrisy is unbelievable on any infrastructure project isn't it?

-  Current government purposely under-estimates project cost or allocates insufficient funds

-  Government gets voted out of power and sits in opposition

-  New government comes in and announces project will actually cost more

-  Opposition blames new government for cost overruns