City renting out Formula E barriers for G7 summit in La Malbaie

Montreal is renting out 1.5 kilometres of concrete barriers and metal fences purchased for last summer’s Formula E race for use at the G7 summit in La Malbaie next month.

The city’s executive committee approved a draft contract to rent 375 sections of concrete barriers and 375 sections of metal fencing to the Sûreté du Québec, which is handling logistics for the meeting of world leaders on June 8-9.

The rental, from May 15 to June 30, will bring in $120,000 in revenue — a pittance compared with the $7.5 million the city spent to buy the barriers in 2017 from Deric Construction Inc.

When it was in the municipal opposition, Valérie Plante’s Projet Montréal party criticized the high cost of the barriers, saying it would have been cheaper to rent them.

The SQ must bring them back clean, graffiti-free and in good condition, or it will have to pay for them, under the rental contract.

Éric Alan Caldwell, the execu- tive-committee member responsible for transportation and urban planning, told reporters after the meeting that the city is pleased to rent out the barriers any time they are wanted.

“We’re happy to get a little revenue for these barriers,” he said.

In January, Plante suggested that the barriers could possibly be used for flood control.

In December, she pulled the plug on the 2018 edition of the Formula E race, saying it was too costly and brought too few benefits to the city. Two-thirds of the 45,000 tickets were given away last year.

About 8,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, plus the RCMP and Sûreté du Québec will provide security in La Malbaie, 400 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Three-metre-tall security fences have already been erected around the Manoir Richelieu and the Casino de Charlevoix, where the summit will take place. The meeting will be U.S. President Donald Trump’s first official visit to Canada.