Montreal's iconic lump — sorry, "mountain" — is getting a facelift soon, according to Mayor Valérie Plante. The park will be expanded as part of a larger "regreening" effort that aims to bring more natural spaces to the city.
"This vast collective project will unfold over 20 years and will add the equivalent of more than five soccer fields to Mount Royal Park. This is the largest expansion of the park in 100 years," the mayor said on Twitter.
Alongside the work on Mont-Royal Park, the city will be greening three areas of the Old Royal Victoria Hospital, where contentious excavations by McGill University have been raising an outcry from several Indigenous organizations, including the Mohawk Mothers.
Plans for expanding Mont-Royal park using land from the Royal Victoria Hospital.Val_Plante | Twitter
The land granted to the city was given for free by the Société québécoise des infrastructures. By 2036, the three unused lots will be used to create a new entrance to Mont-Royal park, as well as additional green space.
The city's vision includes plans to add green space to the parking areas around the Maison Smith, as well as adding trees along the côte Placide near Jeanne-Mance Park. Nearly 40% of the parking spaces around the Maison Smith will be greenified, Mayor Plante said on Twitter.
Some 200 of the trees planted at the côte Placide will be in honour of COP15, the ongoing Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity taking place in Montreal until December 19, 2022.
