City broke promise on community centre renos, councillor says

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

In May 2018, then-city councillor Jonatan Julien left his seat on then- mayor Régis Labeaume’s executive committee to enter provincial politics, setting off a byelection in the district of Neufchâtel- Lebourgneuf. During the byelection campaign, Labeaume promised a $10- million renovation to bring the Charles-Auguste-Savard community centre in the district up to code, paid for entirely by the city if necessary.

“Honestly, I have to tell you, it’s been neglected,” Labeaume told Le Soleil at the time.

Six years and two mayoral administrations later, the work still hasn’t been completed, despite promises of completion by several parties, including Mayor Bruno Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) and Québec 21 (now Équipe Priorité Québec) under former leader Jean-François Gosselin, now a QFF councillor and member of the executive committee. Earlier this month, the project was potentially delayed further when city officials said it was conditional on support from other levels of govern- ment, according to Neufchâtel- Lebourgneuf Coun. Patricia Boudreault-Bruyère, a member of Équipe Labeaume’s successor party, Québec D’Abord.

Boudreault-Bruyère said the centre, which offers a wide range of activities for youth, families, seniors and amateur athletes in Neufchâtel, no longer meets city standards for accessibility and energy efficiency, and only has a single emergency exit. The Marchand administration, according to Boudreault-Bruyère, had announced plans to demolish and rebuild the centre at a cost of $16.6 million. “Two or three weeks ago, I was told they were targeting 2027 [for completion] and the project was well on its way.” Plans and estimates were already being developed, she said.

During discussions about the city’s 2025 budget, she was surprised to learn that the funding for the community centre project had become conditional on funding from other levels of government.

“Citizens and people in the recreation field have been waiting for this since 2018, and it was aberrant to see that the money wasn’t there,” said Boudreault-Bruyère, pointing out that Marchand recently promised the city would build a $40-million curling centre without support from other levels of government if necessary. “The administration made a political choice to put the [money allocated for the community centre] elsewhere and deprive 165,000 people of a community centre. They backed down from their commitment, and this is the kind of thing that contributes to cynicism in politics.”

The Ville de Québec had not responded to requests for comment at press time.