Odin Says ...

Université de Montreal’s new Outremont Campus

Sep 06, 2007

Last month, U de M’s new campus proposal received an OK from a key city hall advisory body.  The project is destined to impact all Montreal taxpayers significantly, if it gets the go-ahead from the provincial government, as it is supposed to cost $1 billion in construction only, a very conservative estimate by all accounts.  The total cost would far exceed that of the Glen’s new McGill hospital as well as downtown’s U de M hospital.  In fact, it could end up costing taxpayers more than any project since the Olympic Stadium.

The Tremblay administration is pushing hard for its vision of Montreal as a Knowledge City, and this campus would undoubtedly help in fulfilling that goal.  The assumption is that a more educated workforce would have a stronger entrepreneurial spirit, thus creating jobs, attracting funds for investment and putting more money into circulation.

The university claims to need the campus to accommodate more student volumes.  This however goes against present and future trends that indicate that the province’s student populations are diminishing.  So here we have another major project that seems marred with bad planning.  Add this to the ever-growing list:  Mirabel airport, the Olympic Stadium, the super-hospitals, the new casino, the Laval metro.