"Vive le Walmart": How Quebec is Killing Its Culture One Closed Shop at a Time

Walk down any main street in Montreal or Quebec City and you'll see the ghosts. Empty storefronts where bakeries, bookstores, and butcher shops once thrived. For lease signs hanging like funeral wreaths on the doors of beloved neighbourhood dépanneurs. While Quebec politicians wrap themselves in the Fleur-de-lis and preach about protecting their unique culture, they are presiding over its systematic destruction at the hands of corporate giants and their own disastrous economic policies.

They'll blame Amazon, they'll blame the internet, but the truth is closer to home. A punishing combination of skyrocketing commercial rents, suffocating payroll taxes, and a mountain of bureaucratic red tape is making it impossible for small, independent businesses to survive. The very shops that form the backbone of Quebec's vibrant street life and serve as hubs of francophone culture are being choked out of existence.

And what replaces them? Another sterile, soulless franchise. Another multinational coffee chain. Another ghost kitchen for a delivery app. The unique character of Quebec's neighbourhoods is being paved over with a bland corporate monoculture. The provincial government’s obsession with attracting big tech and global firms has come at the cost of its own main streets. They are selling out the authentic heart of Quebec for the illusion of progress, and soon, the only culture left to protect will be the one you can find in the aisles of a Walmart.