Montreal mayoral candidates vow to press Quebec to address school shortage

The two leading parties in Montreal’s municipal election are both vowing to push the Quebec government to build more schools in Montreal, including a long-awaited one in the Triangle sector of Côte-des-Neiges — Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

During a news conference Friday, Projet Montréal mayoral candidate Luc Rabouin committed to negotiating the issue with the province if elected, saying he will make it a priority.

“The government recognizes the needs are there,” Rabouin said, speaking from the site where a school is planned. “Now we need to convince them to do it.”

In the Triangle, the city has already purchased the land in question, located on Paré St. near the Namur métro station, in order for a school to be built. The project was moving forward when the province froze funding for new school developments earlier this year, affecting several planned for Montreal.

While Rabouin acknowledged the city has limited power when it comes to building schools, as it’s a provincial responsibility, he vowed to press Quebec on the issue and “defend Montreal families so they have access to nearby schools in their neighbourhoods.”

Rabouin said his team will also fight to get funding for other school projects that are being held up in downtown Montreal, Lachine, Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Verdun.

“Schools are the cornerstone of family life in a neighbourhood,” he said. “No one wants their child to spend 30 minutes on a bus when there is land ready for a school just steps from home.”

Speaking alongside Rabouin, Côte-des-Neiges — Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, Projet’s choice to be Rabouin’s No. 2 at city hall, questioned the Quebec government’s decision.

Katahwa said she fears families will soon leave the neighbourhood if the project doesn’t get off the ground.

The surrounding area has been redeveloped over the last decade-plus, becoming more residential and adding more than 1,000 households. Local residents have long argued a school is needed, in part to prevent their children from needing to cross the busy Jean-Talon St. intersection on foot.

“You have dense areas like this, where there are a lot of newcomers who want to study in French in public schools, and you stop the project?” Katahwa said. “Are you really working for the future of Quebecers? I don’t think you are.”

Ensemble Montréal also pledged to see the Triangle project through on Friday, announcing a plan for the neighbourhood and accusing Projet Montréal of dragging its feet on the issue.

Snowdon city councillor Sonny Moroz, who is seeking re-election with Ensemble Montréal, said the area has suffered from a lack of planning and vision through the years.

The school in particular has been promised for more than a decade by various political parties, he noted.

“I want to highlight the fact that (Projet Montréal) has been in power for the last eight years without delivering on that promise,” Moroz said.

Moroz said if elected to power, an Ensemble Montréal administration would prioritize the project in its discussions with Quebec. He added he believes the party’s leader, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, is best suited to lead those negotiations.

In a statement issued Friday, Martinez Ferrada said the area has urgent needs that have been neglected.

“We will provide the leadership needed to move this issue forward,” she added. “The families of the Triangle deserve a school, a daycare center, green spaces, and a real plan for the future.”

jfeith@postmedia.com

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