(Ottawa) She still introduces herself to some as “the girl from East Montreal”. Now that she has a place at the Cabinet table within the Trudeau government, Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada intends to make the necessary efforts, with Quebec and Montreal, to revitalize this sector of the metropolis.
Structuring projects, ideas, ambitions will be discussed on Monday during the Eastern Summit which will take place at the Olympic Stadium and which should bring together some 600 participants, assures the Minister of Tourism, who is also responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.
This summit is organized by the Eastern Montreal Chamber of Commerce. But it is also the culmination of a promise made by the member for Hochelaga during the 2019 electoral campaign.
“I committed to holding a socio-economic summit because Montreal and Quebec had signed the declaration for the East in 2018. But the federal government was not there. I wanted to organize an Eastern summit which would bring together all the players from the three levels of government, the private sector, the community sector,” she explained.
Summits, what do they give? They can lead to great achievements, assures the minister, citing the summit on culture which was organized in 2008. This large gathering where ideas were exchanged led to investments of some 140 million dollars for the District shows.
“This summit led to the Quartier des spectacles that we know today. This is a big legacy for Montreal. At the time, the objective was to create mobilization for culture in Montreal. Today, after almost 15 years, we see what it has done. I want us to be able to do the same thing for the East of Montreal,” she said.
In the 2021 budget, the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, also indicated that Ottawa was ready to take out the checkbook to finance development projects in eastern Montreal.
“Eastern Montreal has a long history of industrial activity, and work is underway to revitalize the sector for tomorrow’s economy. This sector has the potential to become a hub for innovative research and for start-ups and expanding businesses,” the 2021 federal budget said.
“The government remains supportive of new approaches to fostering innovation, helping businesses grow and creating new jobs, and will explore how it could partner to better support the development opportunities available to Canadians across the country. all regions, including the East of Montreal,” was added.
If this passage was found in the budget, it is because the member for Hochelaga increased the pressure on Ms. Freeland.
In anticipation of this summit, a first investment was also announced on Friday: Ottawa is offering nearly $8 million for the protection of green spaces and for the acquisition of land, if necessary, by the City of Montreal, in the Assomption-Sud–Longue-Pointe sector, located in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
In the interview with La Presse, Soraya Martinez Ferrada makes a series of passionate assertions about the importance that all governments must give to the development of the East, which has historically been a working-class neighborhood.
“East of Montreal, we forget it, but it represents 10% of the population of all of Quebec. It was one of the territories that contributed the most to the Quebec economy. There was the Miron quarry, the Francon quarry, the Shell refineries, all the manufacturers were there. The East of Montreal was the workers’ neighborhood.
“We always had this perception that it was gray and polluted. I lived next to the Miron quarry. We saw trucks and seagulls there. But the East has also begun to transform with TOHU, the Cité des arts du cirque and the closure of the Miron quarry,” said the minister.
According to her, the development potential is enormous.
“I am a political refugee [from Chile] who arrived in East Montreal with a single mother. My grandparents were very educated people, but once they came here, as immigrants, they took on other kinds of jobs. My mother was a seamstress for years. My grandmother cleaned at night in a store downtown. My grandfather was a chemist, but he worked as a butcher. We have always lived in the East. I am a girl from the East of Montreal.
“For me, the East has given a lot to Quebec and its economy. The port of Montreal is in the East. I always told myself that we had to find a way to work together, all levels of government, to give to the East of Montreal what the East of Montreal gave to Quebec. »
