Calls grow to fast-track redevelopment of Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
Posted March 13, 2026 2:25 pm.
Last Updated March 15, 2026 5:48 pm.
Montreal officials are intensifying calls for the Quebec government to advance the long-delayed modernization and expansion of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, warning that further delays and budget cuts could compromise patient care and increase costs.
Doctors, business leaders, and politicians gathered Friday to demand a clear, fully funded timeline for the hospital’s redevelopment. Repeated cuts over the past five years have slowed progress and jeopardized a critical healthcare facility in Montreal’s east end, they said.
A project of national importance
The hospital is nearing the limits of its functionality, creating daily challenges for staff and patients. Dr. Marc Brosseau, pulmonologist, intensivist, and president of the CMDPSF, described recurring elevator failures affecting critical transfers, shared rooms, poor ventilation, and even water damage, he said.
“The reconstruction of the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont is an emergency,” Brosseau added. “It’s a hospital that is nearing the end of its functionality, and unfortunately, in the past few months, the emphasis has only been on cuts on the final project that’s been planned. Yes, there is a parking under construction, but we were expecting activation in terms of planning, and these meetings have been on hold to cut on the final project. This is a scandal in itself, and that’s why we’re here today to request that the project that was planned is done fully and as quick as possible.”
Brosseau added that the hospital’s conditions are not adequate for a modern healthcare facility. “This in itself should not happen in the hospital, and that’s why it needs to be improved as quick as possible.”
Repeated cuts put patient care at risk
The hospital modernization and expansion project has already been revised downward several times over the past five years. It is now subject to a 15 per cent revision imposed on projects in planning under the Quebec Infrastructure Program.
Denis Cloutier, president of the Syndicat des professionnels en soins de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, said most of 2025 was spent focusing on budget cuts rather than advancing construction. “It was these new cuts that took up most of our efforts in 2025,” he said. “Quebec was put on hold on March 13, 2020. Today is March 13, 2026, and Quebec is back on track, but we’re still on hold at HMR.”
Suzanne Plourde, representative of the hospital’s users committee, said that continual plan revisions are disruptive. “The construction work will cause major disruptions for patients. We need to stop constantly revising the plans and commit to a concrete, predictable timeline for completion.”
Business leaders call for funding and accountability
Delays also have economic consequences. Jean-Denis Charest, president and CEO of the Eastern Montreal Chamber of Commerce, said the repeated postponements increase costs and erode public trust. “In the last six months, we’ve worked more in training to cut the project than advancing it. At this stage of the project, we’ve been working on it since 2018. The optimization has been done, and what we’re doing right now is delaying the Maisonneuve-Rosemont project, generating extra cost and making at risk the respect of the calendar that we have requested,” he said.
Charest urged the government to include $300 million in the 2026 budget and to provide a clear, eight-year funding schedule. “We ask the government to put $300 million in the budget for the next year. We ask the government to recognize all the optimization that have been done over the years at Maisonneuve-Rosemont and not ask the project to cut another extra 15 per cent. And we ask to be in the PQE with a very, very clear calendar, how much money per year to make sure that we will be able to realize that project within a framework of eight years.”
Political pressure mounts ahead of Quebec’s 2026 budget
Opposition politicians emphasized the hospital’s critical role beyond Montreal.
Charles Milliard, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, said the facility serves nearly 26 per cent of the city’s population and extends its reach to Lanaudière, Laurentides, and Abitibi-Témiscamingue. “We’re here to support the Coalition HMR so that this hospital can be renovated and have better access for all Quebecers and mostly for Montrealers because it serves close to 26 per cent of the population of Montreal, but it also serves the population in Lanaudière, Laurentides, even as far as Abitibi-Témiscamingue,” he said.
Québec solidaire also raised concerns about delays. Ruba Ghazal, party spokesperson, warned that postponing the project jeopardizes access to care in east Montreal.
“The CAQ is jeopardizing access to care for all of East Montreal by continuing to postpone funding for the HMR implementation phase. The completion of this project must not wait for the CAQ to find a new leader; it must be this government’s priority now.”
Health critic Guillaume Cliche-Rivard said the government has made the hospital a political tool. “Will the hospital’s expansion and modernization become another election ploy for the CAQ? This government already postponed the project last year, and faced with the outcry over that decision, all they were able to offer was a parking lot.”
Alexandre Leduc, MNA for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, added that failing to fund the next phase would prove the project was never taken seriously.
“If phase 2 does not move to the implementation stage in the new version of the PQI, it will be proof that the CAQ has never taken this project seriously and that these are, once again, just empty words.”
Coalition HMR calls for predictable investment
Formed after the 2025 budget sidelined the project, Coalition HMR is pushing for a fully funded, unambiguous redevelopment schedule.
Brosseau emphasized that the hospital is a project of national significance. “We’re calling that the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital is reconstructed as soon as possible, without any cuts,” he said.
The bottom line
With Quebec’s 2026 budget approaching, supporters of the redevelopment are pressing the government to move beyond planning and piecemeal optimization. They want concrete investment, a predictable schedule, and a firm commitment to complete the project fully, ensuring safe, modern care for one of Montreal’s most important healthcare institutions, they said.
