Since its official announcement in December 2020, the Eastern REM project has raised debates. Many, including the members of the Alliance for East Montreal, hailed this important decision, which brought hope and a real opportunity for the in-depth revitalization of East Montreal.
From sustainable mobility to socio-economic development through increased access to higher education institutions, the arrival of a public transport infrastructure of this scale responded to the demands repeatedly repeated by the majority of stakeholders in the East. from Montreal.
For us, members of the Alliance1, there is no doubt about the relevance of a means of public transport for the East that would connect Rivière-des-Prairies and Montreal-North to the center of the island of Montreal.
Since the announcement of the project, groups support it, others criticize it. Some of these criticisms are worth considering. Any large-scale project that is quickly put together, such as that of the REM, is subject to bonus. It is therefore necessary to listen to these concerns and proposals, provided that they properly take into account and respect the needs of the population of east Montreal.
Citizens, organizations, businesses and institutions have legitimate and relevant questions about this project. Their concerns are not theoretical. On the contrary, they are concrete. The population and civil society organizations would need a larger consultation with information communicated upstream in the process. Some will say that the project manager’s way of doing things stifles the original flame of this formidable project which, in fact, could be a driving force in the revitalization of eastern Montreal.
The Alliance is certainly concerned about the challenges accompanying an aerial route, and scrutinizes all the urban considerations as well as the quality of the development. But it attaches as much importance to the issues surrounding future stations, to their very nature and to their integration into the neighborhoods and communities that will be served.
How is this integration thought out? Only like a railway route or from the angle of a transport network that supports the development of the areas surrounding each of the REM stations. A transport network in which each station would reflect the color of the neighboring districts. Do we want to create small Griffintowns with the associated development problems, or do we want to make these stations development poles centered on the needs of local populations and the characteristics of the environments?
For the Alliance, it is essential to go beyond a REM equipped with stations that are functional only from the point of view of transport. The idea of making stations into thematic stations turns out to be a much more structuring and relevant development opportunity for us. By its very nature, the Alliance wishes to play a role in the dialogue to be established with the responsible authorities and the community. Be a facilitator, an accompanist in the ideation work around the definition of the themes and the signature of the stations.
It also seems important to us to underline that the question of station planning is not only the responsibility of CDPQ-Infra. Indeed, the City of Montreal and the boroughs must be at the heart of this planning. The latter have the regulatory tools necessary to guide the territorial development adjacent to the stations. Considering the structuring effect of this project, the contribution of civil society would be an additional asset to guarantee its smooth implementation.
For Alliance members, the Eastern REM is not limited to a technical public transport project. It has the breadth of a backbone serving the urban revitalization of the third of the Island of Montreal. It represents a unique opportunity to rethink the urban community, the city, the neighborhoods and their facilities.
More deeply, it is important to quickly agree on how to link the technical deployment of the REM to the deployment of an integrated vision in the communities it serves. In this connection, there is a winning condition for achieving the social acceptability of this project.
1. With a view to social and ecological transition, the Alliance for the East of Montreal’s mission is to mobilize the actors of civil society around socio-economic projects and initiatives favorable to the integrated development of the East of Montreal.
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