“This doesn’t address any of the issues that came from the La Tulipe case.”
Instead of those zones, the administration will create what it is calling “hubs of nightlife vitality.” These hubs will be able to request extended opening hours for venues, bars and restaurants in the sector. But it will be up to the sectors to come to the city — it won’t be the city designating certain areas for after-hours venues.
There is nothing in the new nightlife policy to change the laws regarding noise complaints. Instead, the policy puts the onus on venues to soundproof their halls.
“They don’t want to change the laws. There’s no political will to fix any of this stuff. This doesn’t address any of the issues that came from the La Tulipe case. You’re naked in the woods here, exposing everything, and they’re like, ‘No, no, soundproofing is the issue,’ as opposed to putting in smart rules that will be able to deal with people living together. And you have these developers abusing the bylaws and getting people thrown out. You’re not doing any concrete, real things to help the people involved.”
On Wednesday, Ericka Alneus, the Projet Montréal councillor for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie’s Étienne-Desmarteau district and the party’s point person for nightlife, said the city cannot bring in rules following the “agent of change” idea because they would be struck down by the courts.
“One thing about the agent of change is that, legally, if I put this in a bylaw, it wouldn’t stand,” Alneus said.
Julien Hénault-Ratelle, the opposition Ensemble Montréal critic for economic development, said the policy doesn’t address the concerns of the nightlife milieu.
“It’s very sad to see today that the Plante administration doesn’t announce anything new in terms of helping the cultural ecosystem in the nightlife industry across Montreal,” said Hénault-Ratelle. “We have seen over the last few years many consultations asking the different partners what should be done by the Plante administration, and today we see a communications operation by the administration without announcing any action plans in terms of helping the businesses and the cultural venues across Montreal.
“We see the agent-of-change principle is not being put in place by the Plante administration. … We’re being told by the administration that we have to wait again.
“We know that the Plante administration doesn’t get the urgency in terms of helping the different venues across Montreal.”