geraldshaw

Drivers going into London's "Congestion Zone' pay 15 pounds sterling, or $C 25 every time they enter that zone. After some initial tearing of shirts, the tax, collected electronically and billed to drivers, has been a great success -- boosted public transportation usage and new construction. PS Re London's Congestion Zone tax -- it raised 200 million pounds sterling last year, equivalent of nearly $C 350 million.

At first glance, I thought the photos were taken in Griffintown. I remember when these CSL apartments were cheered on at their opening. Now some 50 years later they are seen as ugly tenements / U. S. style "projects" for social housing. There is still time to mitigate this being the opinion for Griffintown as their buildings age.

At the same time this site has become a vital opinion influencer with a growing impact -- it is being seen or heard about or read by private and public urban planners, powerful architectural firms, the media, and yes by political advisors and by infrastructure forces at all 3 levels of government. Differing opinions are far more important than unanimous cheerleading. I have seen very little in the way "ideological barbs". Debate is not divisive but rather it is a good thing that in the end creates better projects. This site succeeds in that effort to help create a better Montreal, the city we all love.

To ignore the critical dynamics of the timing of financing and the deadline to secure that financing within 60 days - March 2021, when said financing is 100% from various arms of the state, and when concurrently there is a March 2021 federal budget with 1many billions of new infrastructure money for Quebec on the table to be delivered by a federal minority govt., is to ignore the elephant in the room. The 3 options for the timing of that financing is (1) before the budget i. e., in February 2021 - or within the next 30 days (2) as part of a March 2021 budget that is passed in May 2021 (3) or after the election say in the summer or worse the fall, by a re-elected Liberal majority government. (1) is most like likely because it gains the most political points in Quebec in the fastest possible way. To ignore financing timing options makes them elephants in the room. This business above you say "those reading just don't have the power to do anything about it" is a "pointless argument" and "does not not add anything of value to the thread" is "politically charged discussions are very divisive" is like saying that this site of supposedly important opinion influencers is for you, just a site where contributors "just enjoy sharing knowledge and on ideas" . I am happy for you. But please, give others who contribute a little more credit. The site has important influence on key decision makers for each project.

I beg to disagree, The state of financing of this YUL station is entirely a political one. There is no point going to the political strand - only to be told that my comments should go to the financing of this station strand.

Minority governments managing a global health crisis as we are currently are almost always re-elected with a strong majority - human beings do not like political change in times of a global crisis - "the devil they know" is safer, particularly ones that have spent $350 billion with much more to come. So far, British Columbia's and New Brunswick's minority governments were swept back in, with huge majorities. If the opposition parties take the bait and defeat a March budget with another proposed massive deficit, voters will punish the opposition parties for creating an unnecessary election - as in BC and NB. A Bloc vote in a time of a Covid and budget Communauté urbaine de Montréal election could be translated into a view that a bloc vote is a wasted vote and cause the Liberals to sweep Quebec. Regardless the airport extension funding is just weeks away.

The Federal budget in March will be designed such that, if defeated, to be an election budget with massive infrastructure investments in Quebec with the REM / ADM airport extension near or at the top of the list. In the alternative, even more likely, the required loan guarantee to ADM by the feds will be announced in February by the Canadian infrastructure Bank. Problem solved.

I am a certain I was not baited. SamGuy has been very strict insisting upon only serious, professional posting. He would never bait another poster on such as serious subject as REM rolling stock safety and winter testing of driverless trains some running 60 feet above ground.

LRT accident in snow. Montreal has 90 inches of snow in a normal winter so it is very good that REM tests are taking place in winter.

Right on. I had not thought of that. Thx.

This winter, the wet snows in Montreal which have clung to trees have frozen hard and stayed there longer than the ice during the ice storm. With climate change, these 1980s looking boxy trains - made in India (if one can even imagine that crazy decision) need some serious re working re their look and the risk of snow and ice on their roofs. It reminds me of the first Metro's 'air conditioning' that required screen doors to try unsuccessfully to mitigate heat exhaustion.

I realize that there is near unanimous agreement on this site that Co-op Verte is disliked but I am waiting for the final product. I sense the new building and its location downslope from the TDCs will look quite smart. Its height is good and its design is not pure shoebox with the same exterior cladding - as are so many buildings surrounding.

QUESTION RE FORMER WESTCLIFF DEVELOPMENT Does anyone have a view/opinion as to why there has been no development plan for the former Westcliff project across from Place Victoria? It would be a perfect location for a one-off height exemption and approval of a 75 floor tower with an iconic design that becomes the focus of a Montreal skyline as PVM did in the 1960s.

Terrific idea re Old Port line. Perhaps design the train cars to fit with the past -- like San Francisco's cars / Montreal's street cars of the 1950s -- rather some modern sleek look that is out of place in the Old Port.

There is a huge donut hole and large population with no rapid transit inside of it that the metro-ligne rose solves. If a REM-rose does the economics that creates its hurdle rate of return with a REM rose then governments can do a public-private partnership to fund REM-rose largely underground - from REM McGill station diagonally along the metro-rose model to Anjou with fares that are partly subsidized by governments to keep them in line with all other metro fares.

Exactly. Diagonal shift creates a REM-Rose.

For those bothered by negativism on this thread - think of it as silver lining inside a cloud. Rubber stamping the first draft of a $10 billion urban transit project financed by a provincial pension fund never happens. Caisse-Infra has put forward it's base case plan and has started the process of negotiating a the federal share (Canada Infrastructure Bank) and funding from Government of Quebec and City of Montreal. Changes to la Caisse-i plan - say tunneling below R-L for 6 stations or longer station platforms will have to be subsidized by governments for la Caisse to achieve its hurdle rate of return. Debate here amongst opinion influencers only creates a better end product and one that gets built.

i suspect that when completed that lighting will be quite spectacular. Black is better than future dirty white concrete.

Merci. J'essayerais le faire.

A NEW REM-EST THREAD. So please tell me how to start a new thread. Who decides the title? I am happy to do so, but being a new boy I need guidance on how to create and new thread and how to name it. Pls advise.

No blame, just an observation of risk -- that pension funds -- both private and public like la caisse are investing more and more heavily into illiquid private equity. It is becoming a worry to pension and insurance company actuaries. Like all fads - best not to overdo them. Capital in the billions is invested over several years with zero returns during the build out years, then future returns are dependent on the assumptions made for a project made years, sometimes a decade earlier.

The last annual report of the Caisse (2019) shows $50 billion of its $161 billion in net assets are invested in private equity. Caisse Infra is part of that. The advantages of private equity are higher returns when a project is on stream > 8% / annum vs, a near negative real interest rate world. The disadvantage of private equity is the dangerous lack of liquidity as more and more savings of private and private pension funds all over the world have bid up the entry value to own or control a large project funded by pension funds via private equity to earn actuarial returns needed 5-10 years down the road -- returns needed to keep their pension funds from becoming underfunded. The loss of liquidity due to their growing private equity share of total assets is rarely discussed by the politicians or corporate pension officers. Diversification of projects is used, but in a very uncertain future world, were just a few of the world's largest pension funds to become underfunded certain private equity investments would suddenly be for sale in a very illiquid world. Any forced exit in pension funds' private equity means that the little guy - the pensioner is the one holding the bag with lower pensions in the future and higher premiums in the short-term. Caveat emptor.

Ivanhoe's assets of $26 billion are gross before debt, which as you know in commercial real estate likely values la Caisse's Ivanhoe equity valuation to be $5-$6 billion of la Caisse's nearly $300 billion of assets under management. I hear you re Macky Tall and his career options. And so are coincidences. In time, we may never know the internal politics that lead to the surprise REM-est announcements when the costs of REM west and the airport station were on the front pages. This is Quebec after all. This business of "suiting my own narrative" puzzles me. I have read so many posts where an opinion is expressed with supporting and without supporting evidence. Pray explain to us all what differentiates a proper and an improper post? Maybe the moderator needs to provide some guidance.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D. Q.E.D. or QED is an initialism of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum", literally meaning "what was to be shown". Traditionally, the abbreviation is placed at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument in print publications to indicate that the proof or the argument is complete, and hence is used with the meaning "thus it has been demonstrated".

Thank you.