“I have the impression of going back to the Jean Drapeau era”: opposition intensifies against a Hydro-Québec project in Montreal

Around sixty people from the cultural sector, including actors Christine Beaulieu and Marc Béland, are urging Quebec to prevent the construction of a “mega-transformer” on land near the Grande Bibliothèque, in the Latin Quarter.

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“I have the impression that rewinder at the time Jean Drapeau,” says Pierre MacDuff, former director of the Conseil québécois du théâtre.

“We are told that there will be consultations,” he adds. Yes! What are we going to be consulted on? What color should you put on the behemoth? Or what kind of mural we’re going to paint on it? It’s completely incredible.”

According to him, we must start the process from the beginning. “The real question is to have a real, informed public debate, starting with the relevance of the location,” says Mr. MacDuff.

Secret decision

The decision to build a new 315 kilovolt electrical substation next to the Great Library was made out of sight.

Hydro-Québec was looking for available land in this area of ​​the city center at a time when the Legault government was trying to finance the Maison de la musique project, which is to be located in a former building of the National Library, rue Saint-Denis.

Quebec therefore asked Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux (BAnQ) to sell to Hydro-Québec the land adjacent to the Grande Bibliothèque, rue Berri, which was to be used for a possible expansion of the institution.

We do not yet know how much Hydro-Québec will pay BAnQ for the land. “As the sale has not been concluded, I do not have this information at the moment,” replies a spokesperson, Claire-Hélène Lengellé.

“No power”

Municipal councilor Robert Beaudry, responsible for urban planning on the Montreal executive committee, maintains that the city’s power was very limited since it is a project carried out by “superior entities” reporting directly to the government.

“We have no decision-making power in this matter,” he says.

The City still agreed to sell to Hydro-Québec, for $490,000 plus taxes, a right of way that it owned on the land in question.

“It is not a lever that allowed us to stop the transaction,” assures Mr. Beaudry. On the other hand, it is a lever that we used to seek assurances regarding architectural integration, minimization of the impact on green spaces and an exemplary approach towards the population.

In a letter published Monday in The dutyHydro-Québec promises to “show great ambitions in carrying out the project, in particular by organizing an “architectural competition”.

“I find it an insult to intelligence to say that we are going to hold an architectural competition on a project which is a mega-transformer, which has strict obligations to respect, which is without windows.. . It’s a bunker, anyway! An architectural competition to define what? It makes no sense,” fumes Pierre MacDuff.