“Now that it is clear that Sam Hamad is the friend of the promoters, we see the merchant’s game: he is afraid and he sold his soul to the promoters,” blamed the transitional chief Quebec, in a press briefing on Monday.
Its exit, at the Quebec City Hall, occurs a few days after the holding of a new public assembly of eventful consultation in the file for the development of the Dorchester island.
The merchant administration plans to modify the municipal regulations contained in the specific town planning plan (PPU) of the southern sector of the Saint-Roch district, to enhance the ceiling of 10 floors allowed in order to allow the construction of a culminating real estate project at 17 floors.
The highest tower of the Trudel project at the Dorchester island will culminate at 17 floors. (Trudel)
Jackie Smith sees it as a reflection of a “wild densification”, in the heart of the city center.
A position contrary to the promises of Bruno Marchand in the electoral campaign, in 2021, she underlines, while the candidate advocated a “development on a human scale” and the preservation of the woods.
“The beautiful words of Marchand are nothing more than beautiful words.”— Jackie Smith, Quebec Transition Chef
“I deplore the fact that citizens are constantly brought before the fait accompli. I deplore the fact that Marchand has misleaded the population in the past three years to say that he wanted a city on a human scale, a gentle densification, but just before the elections, he gives a green light to all the projects which have no social acceptability and which would be disputed if there was a referendum right. It is undemocratic and it is loose, ”accused the municipal councilor of Limoilou.
The Hamad effect?
The Dorchester island is not a unique case, she said.
The Quebec Transition Chef, Jackie Smith (Caroline Grégoire/Le Soleil)
The position of the merchant administration is also reflected in other real estate projects in the boxes, as in the woods of the Châtels, that of the airport and on the Cap-Rouge golf course.
“He had made the promise not to build industrial parks on natural environments and that is exactly what he is doing,” she said.
“I see that in all these projects, Mr. Marchand is completely bending in front of the promoters.”— Jackie Smith, Quebec Transition Chef
This “voltage” of the merchant mayor is not unrelated to the confirmed arrival of Sam Hamad in the race for Quebec town hall, believes Ms. Smith.
The proximity of the ex-liberal minister with a great real estate player, Trudel,-who pilots the project of the Dorchester island-has been revealed in recent days by Le Journal de Québec.
“It is a scarecrow which was a threat to Mr. Marchand for a long time and he pulls the strings with a pressure from the promoters and, now, Mr. Marchand has felt this pressure,” analyzed the transitional chief Quebec.
Former Liberal Minister Sam Hamad officially confirmed his candidacy in the Quebec town hall race. (Caroline Grégoire/Archives Le Soleil)
She herself a candidate for the town hall, Jackie Smith says he has trouble conceiving that Sam Hamad can direct the city without “appearance of conflict of interest”.
“How is Sam Hamad, as mayor, will take enough distance from real estate promoters so that the population has confidence that he is not in conflict of interest, that he receives pots of wine or that he renders services to his friends? There are too many questions. “
