Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is my third short piece discussing intra-provincial migration numbers published by the ISQ (Institut de la Statistique du Québec) on 13th January 2022. They are worth discussing because they reveal the impact of COVID and allow for some speculation about what the future may hold for Montreal. In the first I suggested (in FrenchContinue reading “Remote(ish) work: a new lease of life for sprawl?”

Voici quelques jours j’ai pondu un texte décrivant pourquoi les données récentes de l’ISQ (Institut de la Statistique du Québec) n’étaient pas catastrophiques pour Montréal. Le chiffre vedette, la perte nette de -48 300 personnes en 2020-2021, recèle des éléments relativement encourageants si on le décortique un peu et si on le compare à l’annéeContinue reading “Montréal, migration (et immobilier): toutes les nouvelles ne sont pas bonnes”

Le chiffre qui inquiète un peu Le 13 janvier 2022, l’ISQ (Institut de la Statistique du Québec) a publié les chiffres de migration interrégionale, décrivant les migrations entre les régions du Québec de juillet 2020 à juin 2021 (retenez ces dates). Ces chiffres sont présentés dans des tableaux qui remontent jusqu’en 2001, et permettent doncContinue reading “Montréal et la migration COVID: les nouvelles ne sont pas si mauvaises!”

A New Year, a New Lockdown Yesterday, 30th Dec 2021, the prime minister of Québec announced yet another round of confinement, curfew and other restrictive measures, all in service of closing the barn door after the horse bolted. With confirmed COVID cases now running at 14 to 16 000 a day in Québec, our expertContinue reading “The need for planning (or the limits of knee-jerk COVID policy)”

As we settle into a prolonged pandemic, there is recurrent talk of work-from- home becoming the norm: and until the pandemic subsides (or until good treatment is found for COVID 19), there is little doubt that work-from-home will remain popular and necessary. But what of the longer term? Work-from-home will never be the norm First,Continue reading “Work-from-home : a longer term view”

Magritte would probably say that this (Figure 1) is not a bike. And he would be correct – but only thanks to technicalities. This (i.e. Figure 1) is indeed not a bike: it is a set of pixels on a screen that evokes bicycleness. And ‘This’ is not a bike either: it is the wordContinue reading “Bikes and surrealism: when is a bike not a bike?”

On 19th October 2021 the CDPQ-Infra, a para-public organisation set up by Québec’s state pension fund, published its initial terms of reference for the construction of a light-rail system extending through densely built-up neighbourhoods towards the East of Montreal. Nobody doubts that Montreal needs an improved regional-level public transport system, especially in the eastern partContinue reading “Montreal’s REM is a financial – not a transport – vehicle (or: how not to plan a light rail system)”

As the COVID pandemic drags on, there is debate over whether – and, if so, how – workers will return to the office. PwC’s announcement this week that its 40 000 employees can henceforth work remotely has brought this question to the fore. Many commentators – as well as some prominent firms – suggest thatContinue reading “Does PwC’s announcement signal the death of the office?”

From time to time I discuss the theory of knowledge with my students: this is a branch of philosophy. Philosophers love (philo) knowledge (sophos). By extension, Philoduokuklers love (philo) bicycles (duo-kuklos1). It is the theory of bicycles that concerns me today. I am sure that Duokuklophiles also love bicycles, but Philoduokuklers – which can beContinue reading “Philokukly: why single-gear?”

However much I understand the need for us all to respect public-health regulations in these COVID times, like many I am getting fed up with them. They are sometimes inconsistent, they are constraining, and – notwithstanding the good reasons for them – they encourage a totalitarian mindset. Government, police and institutions now have the rightContinue reading “Regulation, snitching and bike helmets”