Road to ruin: Montreal’s pothole problems have solutions — but city lacks money
Global News
This winter has been perilous Montreal drivers, with officials reporting 3,824 pothole-related complaints between Jan. 1-27, compared to what was logged at the same time last year.
Montrealer Marianick Baril says she’s had eight flat tires since Christmas. Now, she plans her daily commute less on travel time and more by choosing the streets that have the fewest craters that threaten to send her vehicle back to the mechanic.
This winter has been particularly perilous for Baril and other Montreal drivers, with officials reporting 3,824 pothole-related complaints between Jan. 1-27, nearly five times the 796 logged over the same period last year.
”This isn’t normal,” said an exasperated Baril on the scarred, pockmarked roads that have forced her to spend about $3,500 since late December repairing her 2015 Honda Accord Touring.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. A specialized laboratory at a Montreal technology college is trying to help fix the city’s perennial asphalt problems. Its director, engineering Prof. Alan Carter, says he has solutions. The issue, he laments, is a lack of money and political will.
“There’s a question of responsibility that no one wants to take,” he said. “It’s understandable — we don’t have the money.”
Meanwhile, the city is quick to note that this season’s weather is partly to blame. Numerous freeze-thaw cycles, particularly in January, have taken their toll. Environment Canada has recorded at least 17 days this winter with temperatures fluctuating above and below zero.
“Water seeps into cracks, freezes, and expands, weakening the road surface,” says Carter, who leads the pavements and bituminous materials laboratory at École de technologie supérieure.
And while he recognizes that Montreal’s punishing winters do a number on infrastructure, he says the main reason for the city’s disastrous road network is insufficient maintenance. The city has delayed maintenance for so long it doesn’t have sufficient labour or money to properly fix the roads in a reasonable time, Carter said. Municipal and provincial government, he added, must start factoring in long-term upkeep when approving infrastructure projects.
Ottawa Fire Services said they received multiple calls around 9:30 p.m. Saturday about a fire with people trapped in a high-rise building in the 300 block of Somerset Street West.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre proposed a tariff-free auto pact with the U.S. to revive Canada’s auto sector, at a press conference in Windsor, Ont. on Sunday.
The vice-president of the St. John's Junior Hockey League, says the violent game was an isolated incident and officials have since handed out suspensions to 18 players and coaches.
Alberta RCMP say just before 3 p.m. Saturday, a pickup truck pulled up beside a Honda Civic on Highway 2 and fired a weapon, resulting in the death of a driver.
Two men face charges ranging from mischief to assault and harassment following Saturday's Al Quds Day march in Toronto. Police say the suspects were counter-protesters.
Snow is continuing to fall in parts of Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, with heavy rain and freezing rain expected in some communities in the Maritimes and Ontario.
As demand for syrup has surged in recent years, Quebec's maple industry is evolving too, adding millions of new taps and turning to automation and better technology.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is concluding his time in Norway meeting with that country’s prime minister, along with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
Two people have been charged with first-degree murder after the remains of Masood Masjoody, reported missing in February, were discovered in Mission, B.C., police say.
A man and a teenage boy have died after a shooting in Winnipeg’s North End, and police are asking the public for information as the homicide investigation continues.
When you walk into the Club Pays coffee shop in Montreal, the first thing you see are the posters with Quebec sovereignty slogans plastered on every wall.
Police have identified the woman found dead inside a north Toronto home as 60-year-old Xian Wei Shao. She is believed to be Toronto's fourth homicide victim of 2026.
Ontario's public safety regulator has laid charges against the operator of a Scarborough trampoline park following a zipline accident in January that sent a boy to hospital.