No matter what we talk about, more and more dissidents are making their voices heard. According to the reactions on the digital stands, the plan to replace the roof and the technical ring of the Olympic Stadium is rejected by the majority.
To be honest, I also grimaced when I found out about the cost of the operation. And then I, like everyone else, wonder how much will need to be added to the $870 million bill when the work scheduled for 2028 is completed.
That's not all.
The stadium's components have been the same since it opened during the 1976 Olympics. If we want to attract large events, we need to install a state-of-the-art lighting and sound system. Sound has always been a problem in the stadium.
Replacing the benches is an imperative that also needs to be considered.
No to demolition
Yes, it will cost a fortune!
“We have already lost one,” opponents of the project will add.
They believe that the stadium should be demolished from the first concrete beam to the last.
Is that really the solution?
It is true that life gives us choices, but in the case of the Olympic Stadium it would be heresy to let it disappear. We can't raze a building that cost what – $1.6 billion? – to the people of Quebec.
That would be another mistake.
The time of big projects
Whether we like it or not, we're sticking with it. It's like a straitjacket that we can't get rid of.
It is true that it has already cost us far too much. But we must remember the time when it was built.
Montreal and Quebec were in turmoil. We had our subway in 1966, a project that had been in the planning stages for 50 years. In 1967 we opened up to the world with Expo 67.
The Olympics weren't all that much. But we would have exercised stricter control over spending.
This came at a time when multi-purpose stadiums were being built across the United States. However, the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, the Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati or the Astrodome in Houston, the first domed stadium in the world, were small compared to the gigantic stadium designed by the French architect Roger Tallibert and approved by Mayor Jean Drapeau.
It was the largest patent ever built in Montreal. So, yes, you have to keep it for whatever it represents.
And sports in all this?
But that would require long-term tenants.
The stadium's big boss, Michel Labrecque, says he is confident a sports team will one day settle there. Unless he knows something, I don't share his optimism. But all the better when it happens.
According to the government, once its modernization is complete, the stadium will generate economic benefits of $150 million per year.
Let's hope for it because we really need it!
Finally, how can we explain François Legault's absence from the press conference to announce the news?
When a government unveils a major project, its leader and big guns are usually on the scene. Without taking anything away from Ministers Caroline Proulx and Michel Labrecque, Monday's press conference was subordinate.
It was as if we were embarrassed to continue talking about the stadium, even though it would have been an opportunity to restore its glory.