Montrealers don’t want permanent pedestrianization of downtown streets: Léger poll

Most Montreal residents (87 per cent) say that the City of Montreal should consult with merchants before applying major changes to the commercial streets downtown- according to a new Léger poll commissioned by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

Several organizations representing Montreal small business owners have expressed their strong opposition to the permanent pedestrianization of popular downtown Montreal roads like Sainte-Catherine Street West.

Also, 65 per cent of the residents believe that the City of Montreal should not adopt any major changes before the upcoming election next year.

“Unilateral decisions can have serious consequences for businesses with physical stores, including depriving them of potential customers, causing major delivery problems and creating potential security issues,” reads a press release.

According to the CFIB, they said that this major change must come with the mandatory support from the merchants who could be potentially affected by the permanent pedestrianization downtown.

“The message sent by the population is clear: Valérie Plante’s administration is on the wrong track with the permanent pedestrianization of downtown Montreal,” said CFIB Vice-President François Vincent. “In a democracy, we must know how to listen to citizens and ensure the social acceptability of the projects put forward, especially among those who will experience the consequences. I ask the mayor of Montreal to listen to the merchants and the population, and to backtrack.”

Vincent added that construction projects and orange cones seem to be multiplying in the streets which has made entrepreneurs and citizens nervous.

The survey results also showed that 58 per cent of Montreal residents believe that the permanent pedestrianization of streets will not increase the number of trips they’ll take going downtown.

In fact, respondents said this major change would increase the feeling of insecurity to 56 per cent anyone travelling in Montreal every day, including small business managers who have been directly affected by public safety issues- which is up from nine per cent in 2023 to 30 per cent in 2024.

“Continuing what has been put in place on the new section of Sainte-Catherine West, which is based on a concept distinguished by its wide sidewalks and calm traffic, may be the way forward to reach out to merchants and citizens. In any case, the Plante administration must return to the drawing board and submit a new project quickly in 2025,” concluded Vincent.

The data was collected from Dec. 6 to 8, 2024. As an indication, a probability sample of 501 respondents would have a margin of error of + or – 4.38 per cent, 19 times out of 20.