The issue of public funding for the baseball stadium monopolizes debate and media attention. With good reason, while Stephen Bronfman and the Baseball Montreal group push indecency to the point of asking Quebec for a financial contribution of a few hundred million dollars.
However, many studies conclude that public investments in stadiums are never made at zero cost for taxpayers. And that the fiscal and economic benefits are negligible. The Legault government’s public opinion poll raised a general outcry from all sectors and demonstrated that the social acceptability of the project to subsidize a billionaire is far from being achieved. Will this convince Mr. Legault and his Minister of Baseball, Pierre Fitzgibbon, that Quebeckers have other priorities that are much more urgent?
But this debate should not overshadow another, just as crucial: do we need, in Peel Basin, a “stadium-condo” combo? The baseball stadium goes hand in hand with a complex of high-rise, luxury condo and office towers, in the extension of Griffintown. And, while the City is slow to take a position on the future of this key sector, the developer Devimco is expanding its empire by acquiring private land in the Peel Basin one by one. With the investment company Claridge, owned by Stephen Bronfman, they are stepping up lobbying operations to get their hands on the federal public lands of the Canada Lands Company (CLC) and the provincial lands of Loto-Quebec. Together with the Urban Development Institute (IDU), they are very vocal in convincing the City that maximum densification must be a sine qua non for the requalification of the sector.
It’s hard to predict whether the preposterous concept of shared custody of a major league team will withstand the myriad questions currently unanswered. Nor if this arranged marriage would survive the years, leaving Montreal and Quebec to grapple with another white elephant.
But one thing is certain, stadium or not stadium, promoters and investors would then have succeeded in their bet to get their hands on one of the most coveted sites of the island, for their private interests.
Can we really lose one of the last public land still available in the heart of Montreal to develop a megaproject that is completely inadequate with the needs of the surrounding neighborhoods and those of Montrealers? THE priority should be to create cities and neighborhoods that are resilient in the face of the housing crisis, the climate crisis and the health crisis.
It takes a vision of the City of Montreal, quickly!
The mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, insists that there will be no public money in the construction of a stadium, that Montreal is not the promoter of baseball, that there will be consultation once the project of the Montreal Baseball Group made public. It remains open, while being careful.
But the head of Projet Montréal remains silent on her vision for Bridge-Bonaventure. However, the City of Montreal has a choice to make! Will it once again leave the field open to developers who grab the land and make housing an opportunity for profit? It has the power – and the responsibility – to supervise development according to a concerted vision with local actors.
It is urgent, as the stadium and its building complex are increasingly presented as a fait accompli.
And meanwhile, François Legault bypassed urban planning for the Peel Basin, opening the door to public funding for the stadium and the use of provincial land to build it. As for Justin Trudeau, close to Stephen Bronfman, he is careful not to take a position, even though Canada’s National Housing Strategy would offer a golden opportunity to use surplus federal land for a vast social housing and housing project. collective facilities.
A stadium remains a stadium, even diluted under a layer of community varnish.
What about the social benefits and spinoffs for neighboring neighborhoods and Montrealers? According to Stephen Bronfman, the stadium will be a catalyst project to “revive a neighborhood in which there is not much going on” and “a source of pride for neighboring neighborhoods that need hope”. For the billionaire, his “community assets” will strengthen academic success thanks to the presence of professional players and the sharing of his sports equipment.
What contempt for the historic communities of Pointe-Saint-Charles, Little Burgundy, Saint-Henri, whose populations contributed to building Montreal and are today dispossessed of their territory by the greed of promoters and by a mode of development urban which excludes people from these neighborhoods. What ignorance of the rich heritage and the spirit of the place, still very much present thanks to the hundred-year-old companies, the traditional know-how and trades which are the pride of Montreal.
But no one is fooled by this marketing exercise. Quebecers need decent income, housing they can afford, health and education services, and public transportation. Community groups need funding to continue providing their essential services.
Young people need a safe environment, a secondary school near their home, multisports grounds accessible free of charge, inclusive neighborhoods where poverty does not rub shoulders with indecent wealth. The population has no need for a megaproject which will necessarily generate more transit traffic, attract passing tourists and reinforce gentrification and exclusion.
We are not backward-looking, we are not anti-development. We advocate densification on a human scale and the creation of truly inclusive and resilient living environments. Action-Gardien, the Corporation de développement communautaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles, carried out a long-term citizen process to design a global vision and concrete development proposals for Bridge-Bonaventure, most of which were retained by the Consultation Office. public of Montreal. And it is for this real community asset that the public authorities should be enthusiastic!