$39.5 Million Earmarked For Lighting Up The Jacques Cartier Bridge To Celebrate Montreal’s 375th and Canada’s 150th Anniversaries.
We love the idea of Montreal’s massive potential as a national and international business and investment hub; it’s a city of unparalleled elegance, style and joie de vivre. But we’re in the business of assessing risk‐adjusted, long‐term value.
So we were surprised by the $39.5 million plan to light up the Jacques Cartier Bridge – a sum that includes financing from the City of Montreal, the Quebec government, and private funding. The project is called “Living Connections” – involving the installation of 2,800 lights on the 2.5‐kilometre structure and its turrets – and is being hailed as “a showcase of the city’s creative and engineering talents.” It’s scheduled to be unveiled on May 17, 2017, the date of Montreal’s 375th anniversary.
Earlier this year, a CROP poll surveyed 1,000 Quebecers, mainly living in the Montreal area: only 8% of respondents said they want Montreal to go ahead with the plan at its current cost; 52% said they’d be in favour of the project if it cost less money; 30% cent said they don’t approve of the project at all.
Milestone birthdays are pretty special, we’re not so sure about $40,000,000 worth of special.
