“Break of trust” between the Plante administration and traders

Let us explain what you need.

We will consult you, perhaps, but we are already convinced that we have the best solution.

Your call is important to us.

Biiiiiiiip.

I caricature reality, but not that much. What I describe corresponds in every way to the perception of thousands of Montreal merchants, in relation to the administration of Valérie Plante.

For some time now, they have felt more and more abandoned. They believe that their opinion is not considered, or very little, when making crucial decisions for the future of several shopping streets in the metropolis.

Dad (or mom) is right. Get used to the idea.

The most recent case affects the legendary rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.

The Plante administration has decided to pedestrianize two large sections, permanently, at the same time as replacing the underground infrastructure.

A project designed largely out of sight.

The district’s main merchant association, which brings together 5,000 merchants, was never consulted on this major modification to the initial redevelopment scenario. No more than the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal (AHGM), which has around twenty establishments and thousands of rooms in this sector.

They fear problems of congestion, uncleanliness and crime around future pedestrian sections. They would have liked to be surveyed by the City in advance, rather than encountering a fait accompli. Learn about impact and feasibility studies.

In both cases, they learned last Monday that the City would move forward with this project… at the time of the mayor’s press conference announcement.

Examples of imposed projects are multiplying in several neighborhoods. The situation has “fractured” to such an extent that the Association of Commercial Development Companies of Montreal (ASDCM), which represents 13,000 businesses, is speaking of the risk of a “breakdown of trust” with the Plante administration.

Others, like Glenn Castanheira, general manager of the commercial development company (SDC) in downtown Montreal, believe they are already at this stage.

It’s serious. Especially in the current economic context, where everyone should be rowing in the same direction.

Let’s make one thing clear: the crux of the problem does not lie in a war of evil capitalists against pedestrianization and greening projects. There have been great successes, all coming from a collaboration between the districts and the traders concerned.

These merchants who, I remind you, weave the fabric of all these neighborhoods that Montrealers love. Which are often its soul and essence.

What is problematic is that many of them no longer feel at all taken into account in the development of the Plante administration’s urban planning projects. Despite all the “citizen workshops” and other meetings with “stakeholders”, their opinion seems more and more relegated to the background.

“We are in the process of wanting to develop projects in the region, but without wanting to link them with the needs of the area,” laments Sébastien Ridoin, general director of ASDCM.

The case of the Plaza Saint-Hubert, which I revealed to you last week, ignited the powder¹.

After an initial pedestrianization in the summer of 2024, the merchants of the commercial artery demanded the holding of a vote supervised by the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. They voted 61% against his return next summer. A clear and clear result.

But the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough seems determined to bring back the project, in one form or another, next summer. No matter the outcome of the vote.

The observation of many merchants could be summed up as follows: it is as if the contract which had been concluded with them, regarding their adhesion – and their power of withdrawal – to these pedestrian projects, had been unilaterally torn up by the City .

The most important dispute, which goes relatively unnoticed, concerns Old Montreal.

The Plante administration has committed to closing a large part of it to automobile traffic, to transform the district into a “kingdom of pedestrians”. The project started last September. The surroundings of the Notre-Dame basilica were pedestrianized in some confusion, using large blocks of hideous concrete².

Many business owners and residents were taken by surprise. Because information on the project filters out in dribs and drabs.

Exchanges between the City and the SDC of Old Montreal, which represents 2,400 businesses, turned sour about a year and a half ago. So much so that the SDC completely dissociated itself from it.

The group of entrepreneurs no longer has any idea of ​​what will happen in the coming months. “We are in a situation of non-communication with the administration, and everything is done unilaterally,” a source from this organization told me.

Further north, on Promenade Masson, another redevelopment project is raising concerns. The artery and its basement will be completely redone in the coming years, it was known. But what merchants have learned more recently is that 100% of parking spaces will be removed between the 1^re Avenue and Boulevard Saint-Michel, for approximately 700 meters.

Even if merchants appreciate the greening and widening of sidewalks to come, the removal of all parking spaces will hurt the business of many of them, believes the president of the local SDC, Philippe Strauss. Their grievances have not been taken into account in the current version of the project.

In interview with The Press last week, Mayor Plante and the president of the executive committee, Luc Rabouin, addressed criticism about the lack of consultation of their administration in various projects.

Mr. Rabouin responded: “We must make a difference between consultation and decision. When we carry out consultations, we seek different points of view, but ultimately, it is to inform our decision. It is the elected officials who decide in the end. »

This has the merit of being clear. Even if this will in no way calm the discontent of traders.

1. Read the column “Plaza Saint-Hubert: a big no to pedestrianization”

2. Read “Old Montreal: pedestrianization is already worrying the commercial community”