Fortunately, given the severe lack of affordable and social housing, we will be building at least one new luxury casino hotel in Montreal.
• Also read: Loto-Québec will build a hotel at the Montreal Casino
We certainly don't want wealthy players to be forced to sleep in a homeless shelter. This is of course ironic. In fact, at first I thought it was a premature April Fool's joke.
Oh no. In all seriousness, Loto-Québec announced it this week. An old project that the state-owned company has dreamed of for a long time.
The Quebec legal gambling empire will build a 200-room luxury hotel at the Montreal Casino for more than $150 million. Even Santa Claus, overwhelmed by inflation this year, hadn't thought about it.
Uh yes. As the housing crisis explodes, lines at grocery stores grow longer and the homeless number numbers in the thousands, a state-owned company is set to build luxury goods in Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Well done, champions. Only the Kings and Taylor Swift will be missing from the inauguration. Maybe we could even offer a little pheasant hunting trip exclusively for our wealthy customers.
According to La Presse, the city has now dismantled at least 460 homeless camps since the beginning of the year. A number that, it is said, is “greatly underestimated”.
Dismantled warehouses
420 of the camps were in Ville-Marie, the district of Valérie Plante, the mayor of Montreal. Ms. Plante was also present at the Loto Quebec announcement. You have to say, I'm very happy to be there.
One really wonders what planet some of our political and business elites can live well on.
For the big boss of Loto-Québec, Jean-François Bergeron, it's the jackpot. Finally, he said that the Montreal Casino will have a luxury hotel just like those of La Malbaie and Lac-Leamy.
“The hotel,” he said, “will be unique in its kind thanks to its location in the heart of Jean Drapeau Park.” This will allow Montreal to benefit from a great exposure.”
It is certain that a luxury hotel with sophisticated architecture like its august future clients, nestled in the middle of an island and also equipped with a casino, will be a much nicer showcase for the metropolis than its dirty Latin Quarter in Magané.
On another planet
It's obvious that a luxury hotel next to a casino is a much nicer business card for the city than the offices of its numerous housing committees. All are much more modestly furnished than those of the Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal.
The same housing committees that find tenants stuck in unsanitary apartments, evicted by a greedy owner, or unable to pay their outrageous rent increases will despair.
You don't have to be a genius to figure that out, right? How sad it is to see decision makers so far removed from reality.
In reality, however, there are many citizens who have problems here, and an increasing number of them are poorly housed or not housed at all.
In reality, the last thing this poor metropolis needs is another luxury hotel offered by a state-owned company in a hurry to better pamper locals and deep-pocketed tourists.
If Loto-Québec has its way, there is no shortage of need for affordable and social housing.
Unless the state-owned company is content with launching new slogans such as “Win your home for life” or “Win a luxury room in the casino”. As long as we live on another planet…