This is Montreal

CBC reporter Ben Shingler looks at how Montreal-based security company GardaWorld, a company backed by Quebec public funds, is involved in the expansion of U.S. immigration detention through its U.S. subsidiary, prompting criticism from some Quebec organizations that say governments should be paying closer attention to what Quebec corporations do abroad.

The legal challenge of Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, before the Supreme Court of Canada has evolved from a fight over whether teachers can wear hijabs in the classroom into a debate over who should get the final say when deciding questions of rights and freedoms in Canada: courts or elected legislatures? Reporter Steve Rukavina breaks down the arguments and explains why the outcome of this case will have implications across the country.

When a massive hole opened up in the Sauvagine bridge in Chateauguay, it didn’t just provide a clear view of the frozen river below, it arguably gave us a pretty clear picture of the challenges facing Quebec's road infrastructure. By some measures, more than 40 per cent of the province’s roads aren’t in good shape. With the provincial budget coming, engineers and economists are calling for better investments in road maintenance. But with a maintenance deficit in the tens of billions of dollars, is it a budget hole we can actually patch?

When the rest of us head inside, a crew of researchers from McGill and UQAM gear up and brave the freezing rain, to try to better understand the wildly unpredictable cocktail of precipitation that can happen when the temperature hovers around zero. The goal is to help cities and citizens be better prepared when an ice storm is looming. But just capturing that data can be a big challenge.

​In the ​spring of 1940, Nazi Germany had gone on the offensive. France and other European countries had been invaded and Britain could be next. So​ Britain devised a plan to secretly ship its wealth out of the country to keep it from Nazi hands and help finance the war. A top secret plan was born and one downtown Montreal basement would play a starring role. Producer Craig Desson brings us this story.