A TALE OF TWO CITIES
In one corner, Denis Coderre aims to put Montreal back on the map with bold projects and new towers and cranes transforming the skyline. In the other, Valerie Plante envisions a greener island with more public transit and cycling options. This Nov. 5 elec
Condos, condos everywhere!
Six gigantic towers on the site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital. Twin towers on the last sizable green space in western downtown, where residents had demanded a park.
And more towers every which way you look, rising 40, 50, even 54 storeys.
It’s hard to distinguish Denis Coderre’s vision of the Montreal of tomorrow from that of the developers whose cranes have been busily transforming the skyline under his mayoralty, said Danielle Pilette, an associate professor of urban studies at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM).
“The Coderre administration is very much aligned with real-estate developers and big projects,” Pilette said.
“It’s an approach based on making real estate as profitable as possible, where there’s a close connection between the interests of the municipal administration and those of different categories of developers,” she added.
Of all of the differences between the two contenders in the Nov. 5 election, their conceptions of the Montreal of the future present the starkest contrast.
In one corner is Coderre, who boasts in his platform that he’s turned Montreal into an “unavoidable metropolis” with shiny towers, the $142-million makeover of the downtown exit from the Bonaventure Expressway that creates a better first impression of the city and — just maybe — a new baseball stadium.
Coderre is banking on mega projects like the $5.9-billion REM (Réseau électrique métropolitain) train and new powers from Montreal’s status as a metropolis to cement his legacy for putting Montreal back on the map.
His vision for the next four years also includes redeveloping waterfront areas near the Jacques Cartier and Victoria Bridges, including the former Goose Village district — rumoured as the possible site of Coderre’s coveted baseball stadium — and adding additional urban walkways similar to the $55.3-million Fleuve-Montagne project.
In the other corner is Projet Montréal leader Valérie Plante, calling for a $5.9-billion, 29-station métro line to boost public transit use in the Montreal area, where 70 per cent of trips are currently made by car. Projet’s vision also includes more and safer bike paths; green roofs, alleyways and linear parks; and family-friendly neighbourhoods to attract people back to the city.
“There, in my opinion, is where there is a real difference between (Coderre) and Projet Montréal,” said Caroline Patsias, a professor of political science at UQÀM.
“This is where Projet Montréal has carved out a niche for itself: more bike paths, rethinking urban planning and reconfiguring transportation,” she said.
“Coderre’s vision is much less clear,” Patsias said.
“His weak point, in my view, is not thinking about green policies, like métro use, for example. You can agree or disagree with Projet Montréal, but in my opinion, they are more avant-garde and they have a more in-depth grasp of these issues,” she said.
In fact, Coderre has borrowed from Projet’s playbook in his campaign platform, promising green laneways, pedestrian streets, bike paths, improved public transit, new schools in the city centre, affordable housing and family housing in new developments.
The strong economy, Montreal-friendly government in Ottawa and federal infrastructure program have benefited the Coderre regime, Pilette said.
But despite the construction boom, the city has made little progress on issues like enticing families back from the suburbs, said Luc Normand Tellier, an emeritus professor of urban studies at UQÀM.
“The fight against urban sprawl has been a failure in Montreal,” he said.
Montreal’s distant suburbs are among Canada’s fastest-growing communities, according to Statistics Canada, with growth rates of 22.5 per cent in St-Colomban, 20.4 per cent in Mirabel and 19 per cent in St-Lin-Laurentides, to name just three, from 2011 to 2016.
The Coderre administration has made little headway in reversing that trend, Tellier said.
“There are things going on in Montreal right now that give the impression of a renaissance in the city centre. But it’s a renaissance initiated by the private sector.
“Normally, (the city) should have taken the lead to ensure that these developments would be coherent with the population it wants to attract,” he said.
Citizens’ groups have complained that most new condos in central districts are too small for families and lack amenities like parks and schools. Rather than attracting new residents, neighbours report, many are being used for Airbnb vacation rentals.
Projet Montréal has promised, if elected, to create more family housing by evaluating needs in each borough and requiring a minimum number of family-sized dwellings (with three or more bedrooms) in all new public and private housing projects, depending on local demand.
Coderre’s program calls for 1,000 new units with three or more bedrooms in the downtown core.
Griffintown, rich in condos but lacking parks and community facilities, should serve as a warning to the city to take leadership in planning new communities instead of letting the market decide, Tellier said.
While politicians often act for short-term motives, cities must live with the long-lasting consequences of their urban-planning decisions.
“Urban planning is always a process where you have to take a longterm view and a wide view,” he said.
Growing the city’s tax base will be a necessity for whoever occupies the mayor’s chair for the next four years, Pilette said.
“A municipality, particularly a large one that aspires to the status of metropolis like Montreal, has an obligation to be financially autonomous. That means it is very dependent on property tax revenues,” she said.
Soaring towers mean more property taxes to subsidize big-ticket items like the REM train, Pilette said.
“These things have to be paid for. The city needs to exploit property taxes as much as it can and that’s why its interests converge with those of the developers,” she said.
That’s true not just downtown, she said, but also in outlying areas like western Pierrefonds, where Coderre vowed last month to press ahead with a 5,500-unit housing development on virgin forest, meadow and wetlands, despite a sharply critical report by the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
“You can see that the city doesn’t want to sacrifice potentially lucrative land for a park because it wouldn’t produce tax revenue,” Pilette said.
Projet Montréal has vowed, if elected, to protect the green space around l’Anse à l’Orme and other endangered natural sites.
Coderre has mocked Projet’s policies like the proposed Pink métro line from Montreal North to Lachine, noting that “money doesn’t grow on trees,” and quipping: “The Just for Laughs festival is over.”
The longtime Liberal MP and one-time federal immigration minister also made fun of Projet’s lack of connections to the ruling parties in Ottawa and Quebec City. “What relationships do they have? Québec Solidaire? The NDP? I don’t think so.”
Whoever assumes power after the Nov. 5 vote faces a plethora of projects that could make or break Montreal’s efforts to get its clogged streets and highways moving again, help commercial streets compete with malls and online shopping, banish the spectre of corruption, halt urban sprawl and restore crumbling heritage buildings.
First up is the $95-million initial phase of the multi-year makeover of Ste-Catherine St. from Atwater Ave. to Bleury St. Improvements will include wider, heated sidewalks, Wi-Fi and energy-efficient lighting.
The redevelopment of former hospital sites also looms on the horizon. McGill University has undertaken feasibility studies on repurposing the former Royal Victoria Hospital, while community groups hope to transform the former Hôtel-Dieu for multiple uses including health care, affordable housing and a library.
And a new project will soon be announced for the iconic Alcan complex on Sherbrooke St. W. at Stanley St.
The Quebec government classified the former aluminum company headquarters as a heritage site last winter in the wake of concerns over plans to demolish part of the complex and erect a 30-storey tower. It is to become the headquarters of Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté’s new company, Lune Rouge.