No need to build an army to wage war on noise in Montreal. It took one man to silence a 111-year-old cultural institution. The muzzling of the legendary La Tulipe cabaret ordered by the Court of Appeal this week had the effect of a ton of bricks on the cultural community, in addition to waking the City of Montreal from its guilty lethargy.
For years, performance halls have been deploring an environment that has become inhospitable under the cumulative effect of constraints and regulations that have become increasingly annoying. Was it necessary to reach this judgment which scrupulously applies the spirit and letter of article 9 of the Noise Regulations of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough to measure the deleterious effects on wildlife nocturnal and cultural?
The mayor of the district, Luc Rabouin, announced a regulatory change in a hurry. Its objective: to exempt all performance halls, restaurants, bars and cultural centers from Article 9, which has become, in the space of a few hours, toxic for the ambassadors of Montreal nightlife.
It is true that the balance of power is vitiated when it grants to a single or a handful of quibbling minds powers that are almost impossible to overthrow or temper. Talk to the Society of Technological Arts (SAT), which is drowning in infraction reports, or even to Espace ESC, which claims to have never had to confront such a sclerotic bureaucracy.
The mayor of Montreal suggested that other boroughs could follow suit. His speed in drawing a firm line is perhaps not unrelated to the “terracegate” fiasco in the middle of the Grand Prix this summer. You have to believe that there are limits to replaying in the same film. We still wonder why the hell the City and the borough waited to be pushed against the wall to take the bull by the horns.
Long before the century-old cabaret on Avenue Papineau was brought to its knees, other venues fell into similar circumstances. Think of the Bobards, the Inspector Pin, the Diving Bell. Their audiences were indignant as the friends of La Tulipe did loudly without it too disturbing our elected officials in Montreal and Quebec.
In 2018, it was the Orange Divan which laid down its weapons at the end of an obstacle course combining noise complaints, rent increases, management problems and anemic public support. The cooperative then wanted to “die usefully” by forcing a reflection to benefit the bad fate reserved for alternative scenes throughout Quebec. The Ministry of Culture had listened. Six years later, we’re still waiting for him to get wet.
The standoff between the La Tulipe cabaret and its neighbor seemed to have finally struck a chord, at least in the City. In May 2023, Luc Rabouin promised to make his rescue “a priority” after the Superior Court of Quebec ordered La Tribu to turn down the volume and soundproof its room. It was over a year ago. All these months, no one in the City has found a way to go back to the source to understand what was wrong and see what was hanging over their nose?
True, the City pulled out its gloves by undertaking legal proceedings against the neighbor who complained of noise pollution, Pierre-Yves Beaudoin. His argument? The real estate investor makes “illegal use” of his building. However, if he was able to transform it into housing, it was because an official granted him a permit and a zoning change “by mistake”. The Plante administration also announced the enhancement of its support program for soundproofing alternative rooms.
It’s not much and, quite frankly, it’s late. The monumental blunder that the City has never managed to undo continues to poison La Tribu, owner of the cabaret. We do not know what effect the regulatory change will have on its fate. Classified as heritage, the building has long housed the famous Variety Theater. It has served as a showcase for all kinds of creators, approaches and diverse disciplines and its memorial presence is inseparable from the cultural effervescence of the Plateau.
His fall caused by whims incompatible with the choice of living in a lively neighborhood should convince the City of Montreal to hasten the adoption of its long-awaited nightlife policy. The same goes for the change agent principle. The approach, which works miracles in London and Toronto, provides that it is up to newcomers who enter a mixed-use neighborhood to take existing activities into account and adapt accordingly.
The reversal would do a lot of good for the Montreal night, which has been looking very weak for far too long. If it does not want the unenviable title of “Montreal, closed city” to stick to it, the metropolis had every interest in waking up. Because, for the moment, its crown as a cultural metropolis seems very pale.