Gatineau asking Quebec to help foot bill for LRT to Aylmer
Gatineau city councillors will ask Quebec to share some of the cost of building a light rail and rapid bus link between Aylmer and the city's downtown.
Councillors also voted at a Tuesday night meeting to officially fund two high-profile downtown projects and demolish a Hull presbytery despite opposition over its historic value.
Aylmer LRT
Councillors unanimously voted to ask the provincial government to help pay for the estimated $700- to $900-million cost of building a light rail link to the city's west end.
Hull-Aylmer MP Greg Fergus, who has been championing the idea of running light rail from the Canadian Museum of History to Aylmer, said the city had taken a definitive step toward a unique opportunity for a modern, efficient transit system.
Deschênes Coun. Mike Duggan cautioned against taking away road lanes to make way for rail, warning that would increase traffic rather than reduce it.
Hull presbytery
The fate of the former Très-Saint-Rédempteur presbytery in Old Hull has been sealed, and it's not what a group of local residents wanted.
A group of residents had been pushing for councillors to save the 116-year-old building after its owners got a demolition permit to expand a seniors' complex.
They argued it was one of the last surviving buildings from that era of the neighbourhood's past.
However councillors voted to demolish the former home of the first Bishop of Gatineau because it's in such bad shape.
"The foundations are giving way," said Manoir-des-Trembles-Val-Tétreau Coun. Jocelyn Blondin.
"The structure has to be redone."
Greenery and groceries
The city will give $83,000 to help get a grocery co-op started in Hull, long seen as a so-called "food desert" with only smaller grocery stories and depanneurs.
There hasn't been a supermarket in Hull since 1999.
"If you want to bring people downtown, notably families, it takes a grocery store," said Hull-Wright Coun. Cédric Tessier.
The city will partner with the co-op, but the store's location hasn't been determined.
Councillors also approved $2 million to bring the Mosaïculture horticulture show back to Jacques-Cartier Park this summer.
This, too, was unanimously approved, though Masson-Angers Coun. Marc Carrière warned it was a risky move, especially because the federal government isn't funding the event this time.
