According to the article by journalists Jean-François Nadeau and Étienne Paré (The duty, Wednesday May 15, 2024), Bibliothèque et Archives nationaux du Québec (BAnQ) is currently negotiating the sale of the land adjacent to the Grande Bibliothèque to Hydro-Québec, the latter wishing to build an imposing electrical transmission station there. This news is beyond belief. The effects on the Latin Quarter would obviously be devastating and lasting. Still stunned by this prospect, we ask ourselves: “Why in this place? “. How can we imagine such a construction next to the Grande Bibliothèque, this jewel that we should cherish, protect and, above all, adequately finance? What is distressing is that BAnQ is reduced to making these shopkeeper’s calculations to counter its chronic underfunding. This evokes the situation of an individual wishing to sell one of his kidneys to save himself from bankruptcy. If, like this poor man, BAnQ found that the sum received following the transaction only temporarily relieved its disastrous financial situation, what could the institution sell next?
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