St-Roch

Woo and Weiser out as candidates; poll gives Marchand lead

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , , , , ,

Woo and Weiser out as candidates; poll gives Marchand lead

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Week two of the Quebec City campaign featured the exit of prominent candidates for two of the main parties running for City Hall, an encouraging poll for Mayor Bruno Marchand, and an original “fourth link” idea from a mayoral candidate.

David Weiser, a prize catch for Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party when the tech pioneer, nonprofit founder and interfaith relations advocate joined his administration, was removed from the QFF slate over a broken “bond of trust.”

Marchand opted to remove Weiser from his re-election bid in the Plateau district following a report in the Journal de Québec that Revenu Québec had registered a legal hypothec (a form of legal mortgage) on his residence over a tax dispute covering the years 2012 to 2015.

The Journal also reported Weiser had declared personal bankruptcy that was registered in 2021, the year he became a city councillor.

In a statement, Marchand said, “I had a discussion with David … at the end of which I decided to withdraw his candidacy for QFF in the Plateau district. His explanation of the facts brought to my attention has broken our bond of trust.”

Weiser told Radio-Canada he had explained his situation to Marie-Josée Savard, the leader of the party he ran for in the 2021 election, but acknowledged that he did not disclose it to Marchand or his party after he crossed the floor in February 2022.

“I think I was treated unfairly,” he said. “There is an outstanding debt to Revenu Québec, but the legal hypothec is still in effect.”

Weiser said, as is required of elected officials, he submitted his notices of tax assessment to the party every year. Weiser had not responded to the QCT’s request for an interview by press time. QFF has until Oct. 3 to find a replacement candidate in the district.

Sam Hamad’s Leadership Québec had to scramble to find a last-minute candidate as a result of the withdrawal from the race of Napoléon Woo, the party’s purported star candidate in Saint-Roch– Saint-Sauveur. Shortly before this newspaper went to press, on Sept. 29, Radio-Canada reported that Hamad had selected social worker Pascale Houle, who does not live in the district, to represent the party there.

Woo, owner of a local restaurant, exited the team following controversial remarks he made at his candidacy announcement about homelessness in Saint-Roch.

Québec d’Abord, meanwhile, continues to face a challenge in finding candidates for all 21 seats on council with the Oct. 3 deadline looming. As of this writing, the party that evolved from former mayor Régis Labeaume’s organization is still short six candidates. Leader Claude Villeneuve is running for mayor but also for re-election in his Maizerets-Lairet district.

A lack of candidates is not Villeneuve’s only challenge. A Léger poll for the Journal de Québec placed the Opposition leader a distant fourth in the race for mayor, at seven per cent, slightly behind Stéphane Lachance of the upstart right-wing Respect Citoyens party.

The poll found Marchand with a significant but not commanding lead over Hamad, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and MNA for Louis-Hébert. Marchand polled 27 per cent in the field of seven candidates, with Hamad at 20 per cent, followed by Lachance and Villeneuve. Transition Québec Leader Jackie Smith had three per cent, and former city councillor and Opposition leader Anne Guérette had one per cent.

The poll also identified the cost of housing as the most important issue in the election, at 38 per cent. The second greatest preoccupation of potential voters was homelessness at 29 per cent. Just behind were public transit at 28 per cent, traffic congestion at 27 per cent, and infrastructure projects like the “third link” at 24 per cent.

On that latter topic, Guérette, who came third in the race

for mayor in 2017 as leader of the now-defunct Démocratie Québec party, has proposed a plan for a “fourth link” between Quebec City and Lévis.

Guérette, an architect and former councillor for Cap-aux-Diamants, is proposing a bridge be built exclusively for public transit in addition to one for car and truck traffic.

In a slick video on her campaign Facebook page, Guérette, a radio commentator and opponent of the tramway in its current configuration, said the public transit bridge, situated to complete a transit loop with a third link, should be built first. She said it could be built with efficient and inexpensive technology for $2.2 billion within four years.

Guérette and her running mate Frédéric Imbeault are seeking election in the Cap-Rouge–Laurentien district under the Parti du Monde banner. As of this writing, the party has not announced any other city council candidates.

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City to upgrade historic St-Roch building for offices

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

City to upgrade historic Saint-Roch building for offices

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

An historic building in Saint-Roch will be undergoing a $17.5-million makeover to be transformed into modern office space for city employees.

The city announced the project in a Sept. 22 news release.

Located at the corner of Rue Saint-Joseph Est and Rue de la Couronne, and known officially as Édifice Joseph-Ernest-Gregoire, the seven-storey building was for many years the tallest structure in the district.

The building, across the street from the Gabrielle- Roy Library, had housed municipal administrative offices since the city acquired it in the 1980s. When the offices were moved to the new YMCA building in Saint-Roch in 2020, a service for homeless and vulnerable people called Répit Basse-Ville moved into part of the building. The service will remain there until next spring, when it will be relocated elsewhere.

Work began on the project on Sept. 22, with the “selective interior dismantling” which will be followed during the winter by the removal of asbestos insulation and a complete interior cleaning. The final phase, to run from fall 2027 to winter 2029, will see the “major renovation of the building, including repair of the envelope, foundations and structures.”

The building is named after Joseph-Ernest Grégoire, a former mayor of Quebec City (1934-1938) who also served concurrently in the National Assembly (1936-1939). He was the father of Gilles Grégoire, one of the founders of the Parti Québécois.

Designed by René-Pamphile Lemay, creator of many city landmarks, including the Dominion Hotel and Maison Pollack, the building was commissioned by the Quebec Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company. It opened in 1911, the tallest structure in what was then a bustling commercial and industrial area, known as Le Faubourg de Saint-Roch.

Called “Le Merger” for undetermined reasons, when it opened, according to the city’s building directory, “newspapers highlighted the building’s quality.” Among other things, they noted “the majestic entrance on Saint- Joseph Street, which seems intent on attracting crowds and clearly indicates by its importance that all of Quebec must pass through it.’”

Tenants over the years included Hydro-Québec and the Kirouac toy store. The building receives a high heritage value rating from the city for its Rationalist-style architecture.

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Electoral campaign heats up in Saint-Roch

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Electoral campaign heats up in Saint-Roch

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The road to Quebec City Hall leads through Saint- Roch.

The neighbourhood is different things to different people. To some, it’s the heart of Lower Town’s nightlife, food scene and still-vibrant tech sector, home to several theatres and the bright new central library. To others, it’s a close-knit working-class neighbourhood where people share the little they have. To still others, it’s a symbol of post-pandemic decline, with tourists rolling suitcases toward dubiously legal “ghost hotels,” past clusters of homeless people and half-empty office buildings.

As the campaign for the mayor’s office has ramped up, candidates have increasingly focused on the borough. The current city councillor for Saint- Roch–Saint-Sauveur, Pierre-Luc Lachance of Mayor Bruno Marchand’s Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party, is not running again; QFF has recruited Marchand’s former press attachée, Élainie Lepage, to run there. Marchand recently met with businesspeople in Saint-Roch, and announced $100 million in funding over 15 years – mostly infrastructure upgrades – to the neighbourhood.

Transition Québec (TQ) and leader Jackie Smith have recruited a star candidate of their own, former CKIA radio host Marjorie Champagne, and opened their campaign headquarters in the former Benjo toy store on Rue Saint-Joseph.

Leadership Québec (LQ) leader Sam Hamad initially recruited restaurateur Napoléon Woo to run in the district; Woo stood down after publicly accusing community organizations in the area of perpetuating homelessness in order to keep their jobs. Shortly before this newspaper went to press, Hamad named a new candidate, social worker Pascale Houle.

Québec d’Abord leader Claude Villeneuve and candidate Quentin Maridat countered with an announcement of their own on Rue Saint-Joseph, accusing Marchand of  overpromising and underdelivering on homelessness and Hamad of stigmatizing Saint-Roch. Respect Citoyens has recruited restaurateur Mélanie Leroux.

Community groups and business representatives the QCT encountered are wary of being seen to take sides in the upcoming election, but they are eager to show the candidates “their” Saint-Roch.

“Saint-Roch is downtown, it’s the heart of the city, and there’s downtown life that goes with that,” said Marc-Antoine Beauchesne, president of the SDC Saint-Roch business owners’ association. “We kind of lost our rhythm from before the pandemic, but we’re getting it back now.”

“There’s a big issue around homelessness and mental health, and we have secondary problems coming from that…. We need to work on that and it will solve everything else,” he said, adding that the SDC didn’t believe in “hiding” homeless- ness or other signs of poverty or distress, but rather working toward shared solutions. “We’re ready to contribute.”

“Saint-Roch is the subject of a lot of conversations,” said Marie- Noëlle Béland, executive director of L’Engrenage, a community organization based at Église Saint-Roch. “For example, the problem of businesses [leaving] Rue Saint-Joseph, you read that it’s ‘because of homelessness,’ but the causes are a lot larger than that. There are fewer workers in the neighbourhood because of telecommuting; people have less disposable income because the cost of housing has risen so high.”

L’Engrenage recently released a 174-page “portrait” of Saint-Roch, laying out the neighbourhood’s history as a bustling hub for middle- and working-class francophones that has gentrified rapidly in the past few decades. It also released a questionnaire for the candi- dates, with a series of questions about urban planning, mobility, housing, economic and cultural life and civic participation.

“For urban planning, for example, many people don’t have private yards, and there aren’t many parks with picnic tables. We don’t have a lot of drinking water in public places, and the same goes for public washrooms, laundromats, trash cans, benches, ashtrays, shady spots or places where people who are homeless can safely leave their things. These are things that would be really helpful for the people themselves, and for cohabitation in general. Mobility is another thing. We want to quiet the traffic and make the roads and sidewalks safer for pedestrians and cyclists. There need to be more public benches, for older people, people with disabilities and anyone who’s carrying a heavy load. … There’s also the question of [short-term rental ghost hotels], increasing surveillance to find illegal Airbnbs, but also seeing what we can do to keep housing on the residential market.”

L’Engrenage plans to send the questionnaire this week and make candidates’ responses public. Until then, Béland is keeping an open mind. “We’re ready to talk to any of the candidates. … It’s interesting to see that the people running are interested in the neighbourhood. That’s a good thing. But should this campaign be about homelessness? Obviously, homelessness concerns everyone, but … there are people who seem to believe that it’s mainly a municipal issue, when the resources are more on the side of the Quebec government. It’s a little risky. I don’t want to minimize the impacts of homelessness, but I don’t want to stigmatize the whole neighbourhood for it either.”

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Église Saint-Roch to host immersive light and sound show

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

Église Saint-Roch to host immersive light and sound show

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Montreal-based light-and- sound-show specialists Moment Factory have announced plans to bring an immersive show to Église Saint- Roch just in time for the holidays.

The company has created immersive light-and-sound shows at the Cathédrale Marie- Reine-du-Monde in Montreal, at Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and at landmarks in Paris, New York, Singapore, San Francisco and Las Vegas, in addition to immersive museum exhibits, light and sound for global pop stars such as Billie Eilish, and – much closer to home – the Onwha’ Lumina light and sound walk in Wendake. This is its first foray into downtown Quebec City.

Église Saint-Roch still holds regular masses, and hosts a seasonal day centre/cold-weather night shelter for people experiencing homelessness, as well as offices and meeting rooms used by several community groups, in its enormous basement. It has at various times served as a concert venue and a gallery for local artists and designers. Its sprawling forecourt, known as le parvis, arguably the social centre of the neighbourhood, has hosted outdoor jazz concerts and magic shows, farmers’ markets, a food fridge and pantry and a communal piano. However, this is the first time the church has been home to a tourist attraction.

In an announcement issued on Sept. 16, the show is described as “a grandiose immersive experience highlighting its venue. The 45-minute show will transform the church into a living tableau celebrating the harmony between humans and nature. “As night falls, visitors are first invited to (re)discover the history and architecture of this iconic Quebec City landmark through an interactive web application. The space is then transformed by breathtaking projections, enveloping light displays, and an orchestral musical composition. Every detail of this odyssey encourages us to slow down, look up, and be immersed in a larger-than-life beauty,” the announcement says.

“I am very proud that Église Saint-Roch has been selected to host the AURA immersive experience, which represents an exceptional opportunity for downtown Quebec City. The city has chosen to support this initiative, which will help attract visitors to the neighbour- hood. We need more traffic to stimulate economic vitality. This experience is part of a three-year action plan that includes significant investments for the area over the coming years. AURA will mark the beginning of an era of change, dynamism, and renewal for Saint-Roch,” Mayor Bruno Marchand said in a statement. In addition to the city, the provincial government, Destination Québec cité, Desjardins and the SDC Centre- ville business owners’ group are among the show’s founding sponsors.

The company will pay an undisclosed sum in rent to the Marie-de-l’Incarnation parish, which oversees the church, insulating it at least somewhat from the financial and architectural struggles of other large churches in the city. To accommodate Moment Factory’s specifications, the church will make a few changes, including moving the altar. For Rev. Julien Guillot, moderator of the Unité missionnaire Basse-Ville– Limoilou–Vanier, it’s worth the effort. “Since 2017, we have been hoping that a project like this could see the light of day,” he said. “It’s a joy for the parish to contribute to the project alongside other partners.”

For restaurateur Marc- Antoine Beauchesne, president of the SDC Saint-Roch business owners’ association, the project represents a “big vote of confidence” and a chance to bring people to the neighbourhood who would not usually visit it. “Our job is to make sure Saint- Roch is shown in its best light,” he told the QCT. He emphasized that for the SDC, that didn’t necessarily mean “hiding” the district’s much-discussed struggles with poverty, homelessness and drug use. “The problems are there with or without Moment Factory … but we don’t want to hide problems, we want to solve problems or [reduce] problems. It kind of gives us a little elbow in the ribs to find solutions.”

Tickets are expected to go on sale in October, with opening night scheduled for Dec. 5.

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City announces $2-million plan for St-Roch

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

City announces $2-million plan for St-Roch

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

On March 18, arguing that “the house has to be in order before company comes,” Mayor Bruno Marchand announced plans to invest $2 million in city funds on a range of projects aimed at shoring up “safety and cleanliness” in the Saint-Roch sector of Lower Town.

City officials announced that a team of five people would be hired to clean public spaces in Saint-Roch, including the Jardin Jean-Paul-L’Allier, the Place de l’Université-du- Québec and the forecourt of Église Saint-Roch. Four seasonal graffiti removal workers, hired through the Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi youth employment bureau, and four additional cleaners, part of a “cleanliness brigade” man- aged by the local Société de développement commercial (SDC), would also be hired. The Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) will receive funding to add an undisclosed number of personnel to its Équipe MULTI community policing division, which patrols the area on foot. The remaining funds – $27,000 – will go toward planters and other urban decor to beautify the area in summer.

In recent months, residents, business owners, people who work in Lower Town and labour unions have raised concerns about safety and hygiene problems in Saint-Roch, including visible drug use and violent behaviour. Benjo, the city’s largest toy store and a Saint-Roch landmark, closed late last year, and Le Soleil recently reported that the Office québécois de la langue française is considering moving its office to another part of the city.

“When I first came here, I met some members to discuss their concerns, and what kept coming back was cleanliness and safety – not just from our members [business owners] but from their employees,” said SDC Saint-Roch director general Marie-Pier Menard. “They have to pick up the trash. When something comes up security- wise, they are told to call 311 or 911 or hire a security guard. I know of a few major employers who have hired a guard or invested in a security system.”

Menard said she hopes the measures will make a difference in the neighbourhood. “Now, people keep themselves from coming here because of the safety and cleanliness situation,” she said. “We hope residents and tourists will want to come here.”

Coun. Pierre-Luc Lachance, who represents the district of Saint-Roch–Saint-Sauveur, said the measures were put in place to help “give quality of life back to residents and businesspeople.”

The Réseau d’aide aux itinérants et itinérantes de Québec (RAIIQ), a network of organizations supporting homeless and marginalized people in the city, has raised concerns about the potential negative impacts of cleanliness drives and an increased police presence on the area’s poorest residents. Lachance has an office across the street from Lauberivière, the city’s largest homeless shelter, which moved into the area in 2022. He said he sees the shelter as an “ally” in the fight against homelessness and desperation.

“I recognize that people are dealing with safety issues, I recognize the situation and I recognize that a lot of people who are homeless or intoxicated or dealing with mental health issues can be out of control,” he said. “The pandemic was a bigger catalyst [for the homelessness crisis] than the moving of Lauberivière. People in need need resources, and Lauberivière is one.”

Lachance rejected the argument that by investing in cleanliness and beautification, the city is sweeping the localized homelessness cri- sis under the rug. “We’re not just investing in cleanliness,” he said, noting that the city had invested $1 million in homelessness prevention and outreach efforts in 2025, and had repeatedly called on other levels of government to invest more in social services, supported housing and support for community organizations. “We want to have more workers and residents, more resources in place to help people in crisis, and a clean neighbourhood.”

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