If you want some fun, read the investigation reports about the corruption surrounding construction business and politicians in Montreal, QC. Not sure which year it was, could be 2015.
Montreal has a never ending construction. A colleague of
mine says the mafia controls the construction business in Montreal. Seems like corruption is a tad high in Québec than Rest of Canada
Yeah the construction is pretty much in the families. The report explicitly shows how they deter others from bidding for contracts. First an engineer from the government who oversees the project will make a phone call to tell you that the contract has been already given to someone else so please withdraw your body which of course has a lower price. If you don't then some guys will throw garbage at your door. I'm not sure what's the next step.
This may be indeed true. Some say the construction is the fault of the city being old but I’ve seen the same street being worked on throughout the summer for two consecutive years. There is construction everywhere as well compared to other cities I’ve visited.
Montrealer here. Constant construction of everything is the norm.
The roadways are a nightmare of poor construction and tons of detours.
The thing that bugs me the most is that they can’t seem to get the hang of painting lines properly on the roads. Lines painted last 2 months at most, then are gone. I was driving this weekend on 3-4 land highways, that curve around corners and have no lines painted.
Luckily our public transit is decent so I don’t normally have to drive.
I actually wasn’t aware of this. I was wondering why there wasn’t a better alternative, but it seems there are environmentally friendly paints more durable than what is in use in Montreal.
It’s just more expensive.
I don’t really understand how that can be the blocker in a city with strong economic activity, high income taxes, high fuel taxes, and high property taxes (>4% in our downtown core on non-residential properties).
Of course not. The company uses the substandard paint to ensure that there's a future need thus future income. The fac t that the shorter lasting paint is cheaper just gives the company a leverage point in the bidding.
Google 'mafia', 'phoebus cartel', and many other examples of skimming, profiteering, and collusion to fix prices.
I wonder why they don't shift to using non-paint markers like a plaster or something at that point. The advantage of paint seems throughly lost overall.
In New York City we have four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction. Supposedly we're in autumn but the reality is it's the tail end of construction. We'll have a few months of crummy weather and then back to beautiful sunny construction.
