Projet, Ensemble Montréal announce election plans to build more schools
Posted October 17, 2025 4:43 pm.
Last Updated October 17, 2025 5:42 pm.
As mayoral candidates push to gather more votes ahead of the upcoming Nov. 2 election, both Projet Montréal and Ensemble Montréal have turned towards parents of school-aged children.
Both parties announced Friday that they would look to build new schools within the city.
“Schools are the cornerstone of family life in a neighbourhood. No one wants their child to travel 30 minutes by bus when there’s land ready for a school just steps from their home. We can’t expect to retain our families or create living environments in our new neighborhoods if the government can’t build the necessary schools,” said Luc Rabouin, leader of Projet Montréal.
Stephanie Valenzuela, mayoral candidate for the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough for Ensemble Montréal, said, “The Triangle is a young, growing neighborhood that has been neglected for too long. A site is ready, the needs are desperate, but the current administration has failed in its responsibilities. With Ensemble Montréal, we will exercise the necessary leadership to move this issue forward. Triangle families deserve a school, a daycare, green spaces, and a real plan for the future.”
Ensemble Montréal says it wants to work with the provincial government on new school and daycare projects, noting that residents in the Snowdon area have been waiting for 15 years for a school to be built.
Adding that over the last decade, “more than 1,000 households have moved to the Triangle and were promised a school by Projet Montréal. However, the lack of leadership on this issue, as in many others, has resulted in a decontaminated site ready for a school project.”
Valenzuela added, “We are heading straight for Griffintown 2.0.” No planning, no vision for the future. Residents deserve a neighborhood worthy of the 21st century and one that allows families to raise their children. As a mother-to-be, I want to be able to send my child to school safely on foot.”
Meanwhile, Rabouin points to the fact that the province has suspended around ten school projects across the province, including Montreal — Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (Triangle sector), Ville-Marie (Peter-McGill, Faubourgs), Lachine (Lachine Canal), Ahuntsic-Cartierville (Louvain East), Verdun (Île-des-Sœurs).
Adding that Projet Montréal wants to make it easier for families to be able to live closer to home and wants to make sure that they don’t have to choose between living in Montreal and having access to a neighbourhood school.
Rabouin believes that pressure from the public will convince the provincial government to start implementing the building of new schools around the island. “I hope that we will have higher pressure (…), to have united voice and to defend our children,” he says.
Not only does Rabouin aspire to build more schools if elected, but he wants to add more safety measures around school safety. “We want safety in all our elementary schools in Montreal. We want to install photo radars along all school streets in Montreal because we want to reduce the speed of the cars and protect the life of our children.”
Project Montréal says they want to fight for families that need schools in their sectors, and says it’s one of their main priorities if elected.
For over ten years, a school was promised on Paré Street to the community of The Triangle. As the provincial government stopped the development of schools around the city, many people in the community had to send their kids elsewhere, leaving citizens of CDN–NDG with broken promises.
Sonny Moroz, city councillor of Snowdon-Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, states that if the school on Paré Steet is not built in the next four years, he will not run for re-election as schools should be one of the main focuses of this re-election.
“It really needs to be a promise that’s delivered before this sector becomes Griffintown 2.0,” he says.
Moroz of the Ensemble Montréal party recounts that the provincial government “clearly explains the needs, but none of the funding structures to get that done.” With education emerging as a key issue, both parties want schools to be built as soon as possible.
Montrealers are set to head to polls on Nov. 2.
