The decision to throw another billion dollars out the window to install yet another roof on the Olympic Stadium at a time when thousands of Quebecers cannot find a roof is a national shame. The inability of any of the opposition parties in the National Assembly to oppose it is embarrassing, especially for Québec solidaire.
It is unacceptable that in the middle of the worst housing shortage to occur in a very long time in Quebec, the CAQ found nothing better to do than to once again deal with this monumental white elephant.
Let us remember that the Olympic Stadium has been a drag since its construction. It hadn’t even been completed in time for the 1976 Olympics!
Government after government, both liberal and PQ, have chosen to spend lavishly to save this symbol of the corruption and ineptitude of another era.
A mast here, a new roof there. It’s become a bad joke.
Sad sight
Since the Montreal Olympic Games, billions have been sunk, project after project, into this stadium which interests no one, especially not professional sports teams.
Unless you are a fan of giant trucks, the famous “monster trucks”, it is difficult to find a reason to go there.
To hear the CAQ ministers, Taylor Swift was just waiting for this new roof to announce a series of shows here. Yeah yeah…
The CAQ is, on most issues, in the middle of the political spectrum.
If his economic program leans a little more to the right, in reality – apart from environmental privileges for companies like Northvolt – Legault generally has a balanced approach on most issues.
The glaring exception to this rule, however, is his handling of the housing crisis.
Next week, the CAQ will come back with a bill that will prohibit a practice that has always helped keep rents lower: lease transfer.
Let’s not forget that Housing Minister Duranceau already had her “Marie-Antoinette” moment, when she said that those who don’t like being tenants should just do like her and become owners! What a disconnect!
Since coming to power, the CAQ has also presided over a meteoric increase in “renovictions”, which have affected thousands of renting families.
Many owners have thus taken advantage of the lack of vigilance of the CAQ.
However, it is ordinary people who are paying the price today for Legault’s carelessness.
Poor solidarity figure
No one was surprised this week to see the Liberals and the Parti Québécois support the decision to build a new roof at the Stadium.
But what shocks me is the support of Québec solidaire!
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois even made a super-embarrassing statement, affirming without laughing that the Olympic Stadium is “a jewel of Quebec identity”. Phew!
Situated directly above metro stations, the location of the stadium and adjacent land could have accommodated thousands of affordable housing units.
The estimate of two billion dollars put forward for its demolition is a pure fabrication which has never really been tested on the market.
Offering this site to residential builders in exchange for the demolition of the Stadium could have led to surprising results, but we will never know.
The shame, too, is that the CAQ didn’t even try.