IN PHOTOS: Crews begin dismantling Montreal’s Olympic Stadium roof

The dismantling of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium’s roof has begun, with crews removing the white canvas.

The operation can be seen from Sherbrooke Street and the Olympic Park shared up close images of it.

The first bit of preparatory work began a few weeks ago.

Cranes with gondolas carrying workers are used to section and cut the roof in pieces. Then, a team of 10 workers retrieves the detached sections of the roof and folds them for storage.

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Once the white canvas was mostly removed, teams were able to tackle the removal of the blue canvas that can only be seen from inside the stadium.

The removal of both canvases revealed the steel structure that connects the roof to the 26 cables attached to the mast. It will take between four and five weeks for workers to remove all of the canvas. 

The outer white canvas had 20,000 tears and in February, the Quebec government announced it would spend $870 million to replace the structure.

“Honest to God. I feel the money should be channeled into something more productive, like our schools,” said one Montrealer CityNews spoke to.

Another added, “It’s a nice monument. It should be used more than it is now. But I hope sincerely this lot of money is going to last more than all the other investments have been.”

The Olympic Stadium said in a news release that teams will continue work until the construction holidays, and then pick up again until the end of the summer, before proceeding with the deconstruction of the metal part and the removal of the cables in the fall.

Last April, the Olympic Park teams launched an international competition to encourage the recycling and reuse of materials from the old roof and the selection process of proposals is ongoing. The ideas were submitted to the public vote.

One Montreal doctor, who took it upon himself to launch a formal petition against the stadium roof work, says the strains on the healthcare system in Quebec, the investment is ridiculous.

 I have real patients who have real problems that have to be dealt with. I have to fight every day to get access for my patients. So with that money, we have to make choices in society. The Olympic Stadium is not where our money should be placed,” said Dr. Clifford Albert,a family physician, surgeon and clinical instructor at McGill University.

“They’re talking about $2 billion to destroy the Olympic Stadium to tear it down. I’m sure we could get solicit contracts way cheaper than that. If not every single Canadian paying to actually have the right to strike it with an axe.”