Transportation, housing main focal points of summit on economic development for Montreal’s east end

Revitalizing Montreal’s east was the priority of Mondays’ Sommet de l’Est at the Olympic Stadium.

Health, transportation, and housing were top of mind for the many officials in attendance.

“We’ve been talking about the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital for a long time now, and it’s time to start talking about the east side,” said one Montrealer CityNews spoke to. “It’s such a beautiful part of Montreal that should be expanding.”

Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital serves a half million people and is in need of major renovations to keep up with population growth in the coming years. The CAQ government was pressed about the postponement of a vital infrastructure project, which Health Minister Christian Dubé recently admitted work may not happen until 2026.

“We’ll leave no stone unturned to see what is possible,” said Christine Fréchette, Quebec Minister of Economy, Innovation & Energy.

Protesters stormed the stage during Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault’s speech, holding up signs denouncing Bill 89, which limits the duration of strikes.

Ensemble Montréal Leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada said the priority was transportation projects like the Tramway de l’Est, where 25,000 housing units are slated to be built along the blue metro line.

“I used to live at the end of the island, going downtown took me an hour and a half. If you want to be able to move in a city, make sure the employers, students and people move, you have to have transportation,” said Martinez.

In March, the CAQ government said that the tramway de L’est project – connecting the blue and green metro lines – would save commuters about an hour. Breaking ground is still years away, but it’s estimated that 25,000 housing units will be built around the project. 

A flurry of investments were announced by the City: $430 million for infrastructure upgrades to the Botanical Gardens and $1.5 million in sustainable business models. 

A call for project proposals in recently decontaminated areas was made. 

“The call for proposals opened today, and we hope to get some projects by the end of the day and to be able to start this project over the next two years,” said Jean-Denis Charest, the CEO of the East End Chamber of Commerce.

“We have about 500 football fields to develop,” Charest explained. “If we can send a strong signal that the tramway will be built, that the hospital will be built and that the base infrastructure will be there we have investors that are looking in our territory.

“I’m thinking that in the next 10 years, we will see billions of dollars of private investments in the east end of Montreal.”