Why is rent going up so much in Montreal?
Every year, Quebec's housing tribunal, known in French as the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), releases a set of calculations that aim to help landlords and tenants figure out how much rent should increase.
This year, it came up with 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?
In this episode of This is Montreal, we look at how the rental increase formula works and hear why both tenants and landlords seem to want it to change.
Do you have a question about Montreal? Host Ainslie MacLellan is determined to help find the answer. Whether it's a story that's disappeared from the headlines, a curious landmark in your neighbourhood, or a quirk of Montreal life you've been wondering about, we're on it. Let's learn about this place together.
Your Montreal questions, answered weekly. Nothing too big, too small or too weird. What are you wondering? Send us your question here.
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Canada Standard
a day ago
- Canada Standard
D-day veterans return to Normandy 81 years later to honor freedom
OMAHA BEACH, France: Eighty-one years after the D-Day landings, a small group of World War II veterans has returned to the beaches of Normandy, France. Most are over 100 years old now, but they came back with the same message they fought for during the war: freedom must always be protected. Nearly two dozen veterans who served in Europe and the Pacific are visiting Normandy to honor their fallen comrades. They are being warmly welcomed, especially by local French families and schoolchildren. The June 6, 1944, D-Day landings marked the start of the Allied liberation of France, and Normandy was the first part of mainland Europe to be freed. The beaches, once filled with violence and death, are now places of remembrance. "Bloody Omaha," one of the hardest-fought beaches, is significant. The sacrifice of the Allied soldiers helped build lasting friendships between Europe, the U.S., and Canada. French families treasure stories of D-Day, passing them down through generations. Veterans are greeted with hugs, photos, autographs, and the words "Merci!" from grateful locals. Even the youngest children are excited to meet them. For example, 101-year-old Arlester Brown amazed French schoolchildren by telling them his age. During the war, as a Black soldier in a segregated U.S. Army, he served in a laundry unit that followed Allied troops through Europe. Jack Stowe, now 98, joined the Navy at just 15 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He still receives kind letters from French children he met on past visits. "The people here are so good to us," he said. "They want their kids to know us and hear our stories. These stories will live on." At the Normandy American Cemetery, where nearly 9,400 U.S. soldiers are buried, visitors rub beach sand into the engraved names on the white gravestones so they're easier to read. Veteran Wally King, 101, paid tribute at the grave of Henry Shurlds Jr., a fellow pilot who died in 1944. Although King didn't know him personally, he felt a strong connection. King himself was shot down and seriously burned on his final mission just weeks before the war ended. King said many veterans stayed silent after the war. "They didn't talk about it with their families. In some ways, that's good—war is full of pain. But we must remember and honor the sacrifice." Each year, fewer veterans are able to return. The Best Defense Foundation, which organizes these trips, brought 50 veterans last year for the 80th anniversary. This year, there are just 23. Among them is 104-year-old nurse Betty Huffman-Rosevear, the only woman in the group. Also returning is 102-year-old Jake Larson, known as "Papa Jake" on TikTok. He landed on Omaha Beach in 1944 under heavy fire and survived. Now, with 1.2 million followers, he shares his story with the world. "We are the lucky ones," Larson said. "They didn't make it home. We are their family now. It's our duty to honor them." As WWII's survivors disappear, the responsibility is falling on the next generations that owe them the debt of freedom. "This will probably be the last Normandy return when you see the condition of some of us old guys," King said. "I hope I'm wrong."
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘The road is long': Syrian refugee engineering a fresh start in Montreal
MONTREAL – When Jad Albasha arrived in Quebec in 2016 as a 21-year-old fleeing his war-torn home of Syria, he landed in a snow-covered world that spoke French, a language in which he did not understand a single word. But now it rolls off the tongue as if Albasha has lived here all of his life. When he graduates on Saturday with a master's degree in civil engineering from Polytechnique Montréal, it will mark yet another milestone that shows how far he's come. He went from being a third-year civil engineering student in Syria, just six months away from earning a degree, to wondering if he would be stuck working at a grocery store in Laval, north of Montreal, forever. 'The road is long. I sometimes wondered 'am I going to get there?' ' Albasha said in an interview. 'Nine years later, we see that it's possible to take steps.' Albasha decided he would immerse himself in French upon arrival. First with a francization course to learn the basics starting in March 2016 and lasting about nine months. The goal was to speak French with the least amount of errors. Then, Albasha enrolled in a junior college program that would allow him to eventually resume his university career. However, his transcripts and missing paperwork from Syria led him to be rejected by almost every local university due to incomplete applications. With the exception of one: Polytechnique Montréal. The engineering school, which is affiliated with the Université de Montréal, has a large cohort of international students. Nine years later, his French is fluent. Enough so that he's able to work as a teaching assistant at Polytechnique. 'Merci, Bonjour, Bonsoir,' that was the limit of his French in January 2016, Albasha recalled in an interview. 'I remember before I started my French courses I was working at a grocery store and I wasn't even a cashier, I was a bag boy because I couldn't speak to clients,' Albasha said. 'It was difficult, every time someone asked me a question in French, I'd have to ask a colleague.' In January 2013, bombings at the Aleppo University killed 78 people and convinced the family it was time to leave the only home they'd known. His family — including a twin brother, an older brother and his parents, spent some time briefly in Lebanon before Justin Trudeau's Liberal government expedited Syrian refugee claims allowing them to come to Canada over a period of a few months. Even today, Montreal snow reminds him of his arrival to the country. He associates the fresh flakes with a renewal of sorts. 'It's a symbol of happiness for me, a new chance, a new start,' Albasha said. He works at AtkinsRéalis Group Inc., where he specializes in hydroelectric dams, a priority for Quebec's economic future, according to the current provincial government. He doesn't see his family returning to Aleppo. All of his friends have either spread across the globe or have died in the war. Montreal is where the family's foundation has been laid. Polytechnique Montreal's president Maud Cohen said Albasha demonstrates an important need for Quebec to bring in more engineers amid an aging population and a demographic deficit. 'The engineers really are building Quebec, they're responsible for innovation, creativity, everything that's happening in tech, in high-tech,' Cohen said. 'So might as well bring in students like this that have been trained somewhere else that have the potential of bringing a contribution to the economy faster, that have the potential to be trained here. 'We need more people like Jad … and it's not to diminish the role of people that are already living here.' Last December, Quebec adopted a law that put a cap on international student applications, with the ultimate aim of reducing overall immigration. At a time when international students are facing a ban brought by the U.S. government and Canadian institutions look to capitalize on a brain drain due to funding cuts in the U.S., Cohen has a message for the government: 'Help us help you.' 'We recruit high-level students so how can we work together to make sure that we help you provide what the economy needs and to help us in the same way with either funding, or help us (by having) higher quotas to recruit.' Albasha is a mentor for others. He's the resource for many attempting to start anew. 'Sadly, I didn't have a chance to meet someone who'd lived through the same things as me, so I didn't have that example,' he said. But everyone deserves a chance regardless of where they come from. While recently presenting a paper in Winnipeg, Albasha went to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Inscribed on the wall was a quote: 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.' 'I found this to be profound and true,' he said. 'Sometimes we're not lucky, but we can't forget that if we persevere, we can get there in most cases.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
D-Day veterans return to Normandy to mark 81st anniversary
OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — Veterans were gathering Friday on the beaches of Normandy to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a pivotal moment of World War II that eventually led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler's regime. Tens of thousands of onlookers are expected to attend the commemorations, which include parachute jumps, remembrance ceremonies, parades, and historical re-enactments. Many will be there to cheer the ever-dwindling number of surviving veterans in their late 90s and older. All will remember the thousands who died. The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France used the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to breach Hitler's defenses in western Europe. A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself. In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians. The exact German casualties are unknown, but historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone. 'The heroism, honor and sacrifice of the Allied forces on D-Day will always resonate with the U.S. Armed Forces and our Allies and partners across Europe,' said Lt. Gen. Jason T. Hinds, deputy commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. 'So let us remember those who flew and fell. 'Let us honor those who survived and came home to build a better world. And let us ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain by meeting today's challenges with the same resolve, the same clarity of purpose, and the same commitment to freedom.' Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed on D-Day. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces. More than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that started on D-Day.
