Bisbille autour d'un projet près du canal de Lachine

La Presse
Actualités, vendredi 2 septembre 2005, p. A14
Bisbille autour d'un projet près du canal de Lachine

Bérubé, Nicolas

Un affrontement s'annonce entre Parcs Canada et le promoteur d'un projet de centre culturel doublé d'un hôtel de plusieurs douzaines de chambres prévu sur les rives du canal de Lachine, a appris La Presse.

La directrice exécutive de Parcs Canada pour le Québec, Lynn Cleary, a indiqué cette semaine que le terrain loué au promoteur George Syrovatka ne pouvait en aucun cas être utilisé à des fins commerciales. " La vocation doit être celle d'un centre culturel. Il peut y avoir des chambres d'hébergement temporaire, mais il ne peut pas y avoir six étages, par exemple, comme ça a été rapporté ", a-t-elle dit.

Or, en entrevue avec La Presse, M. Syrovatka a soutenu que le projet qu'il compte réaliser sur le terrain de Parcs Canada devra obligatoirement comporter un aspect commercial. " Si vous lisez attentivement le bail, vous vous rendez compte que nulle part il n'est écrit que je dois limiter le projet. Le nombre d'étages ou le nombre de chambres que nous pouvons construire n'est pas inscrit dans le bail ", a-t-il dit, ajoutant que Parcs Canada a été informé de son intention de louer des chambres avant la signature du bail.

En août 2002, M. Syrovatka, président de l'organisation Centre tchèque inc., avait obtenu pour un dollar symbolique le contrôle d'un terrain de Parcs Canada avec le dessein d'y construire un centre consacré à la culture tchèque, auquel se grefferaient quelques chambres pour accueillir des artistes de passage.

La dernière mouture du projet, que M. Syrovatka a présentée à la Ville de Montréal en janvier dernier, faisait plutôt état d'un centre culturel tchèque doublé d'un hôtel de 71 chambres. M. Syrovatka soutient ce que projet est en train d'être modifié, et que le nombre de chambres n'est pas encore arrêté. M. Syrovatka indique toutefois que l'hôtel devra être suffisamment rentable pour couvrir les frais du centre culturel. " Les chambres vont financer le centre. Sinon, qui va payer? Le gouvernement? La Ville? Je ne crois pas que ça les intéresse. "

Parcs Canada a fait savoir au promoteur que sa position demeurait inchangée depuis la signature du bail. " Ce qui avait été discuté, c'est une trentaine de chambres. Actuellement, la balle est dans leur camp ", a soutenu Mme Cleary.

Le bail signé avec Parcs Canada stipule que le terrain devait être décontaminé aux frais du locataire dans les 24 mois. Ces travaux ont été réalisés cet été, soit 36 mois après la signature du bail.

Le mois dernier, l'arrondissement du Sud-Ouest de Montréal a reporté l'adoption d'un règlement autorisant la construction de l'hôtel et du centre culturel. Le règlement n'est pas non plus à l'ordre du jour du prochain conseil d'arrondissement le 6 septembre.

Czech hotel deal suspect

August 11th, 2005
Czech hotel deal suspect
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Bets off on Czech hotel
P.A. Sévigny

Thierry St-Cyr blames former MP Raymond Lavigne for cutting the so-called "Czech hotel" deal on the Lachine Canal.

The deal concerns a piece of land which, two years ago, was leased to promoter George Syrovatka for a mere $1 by the federal government in order for him to build a Czech community centre on the site. With the new Montreal Casino about to move next door, the locale has taken on new value and Syrovatka has decided he would rather build a hotel. Locals aren't happy.

According to St-Cyr - the former Bloc Québécois candidate who nearly bounced Verdun MP and Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla out of her seat - Raymond Lavigne was behind the hotel project from its very beginning. He was the Ottawa operator who flushed the piece of land out of Alfonso Gagliano's Public Works Department and into former minister Sheila Copp's Heritage Canada before it was signed over to Syrovatka, he says.

Now a senator, Lavigne is reported to have recently organized a top-level meeting for both Sud-Ouest borough councillors Line Hamel and Robert Bousquet with officials at Parks Canada to discuss the hotel project, which has been buried under accusations of Liberal patronage in the last weeks and faces dissolution. While Lavigne is known to have been at the meeting, borough Mayor Jacqueline Montpetit refused her invitation because she felt it was "inappropriate."

During last week's borough council meeting, Bousquet and Hamel voted to have the borough's decision about the hotel project put off until

next month, stating "We want to have all the facts before making that kind of decision."

"What more do they need to know?" asked one borough activist. "This deal stinks, and if they can't smell it, [Bousquet and Hamel] would have to step into dog shit before either of them knew something's wrong."

When Bousquet tried to defend his choice to put off the decision about the hotel project, borough activist Marc Tremblay replied that both Hamel and Bousquet were putting their credibility on the line.

"The people won't forget this," he said. "Stop taking us for granted... stop trying to fool us!"

Previous to the evening's meeting, Montpetit said that she left Pierre Bourque's Vision party because she could no longer continue working with Hamel and Bousquet.

"Too many questions have been raised about this project, its dubious merits and the credibility of its promoter for any of us to have anything more to do with it," she said.


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Patronage and Back Door Deals


Let's see we've got the Quebec government who's eager to move the Casino de Montreal from Ile Notre-Dame to the Peel basin (near the Lachine Canal), and there's some federal land sitting nearby (near the location of the future site of the Casino) which no one wants until the Casino's move there is proposed. The federal land is leased for a buck by a guy who wanted to build a Czech community centre but will instead build a hotel 'cause instead of doing something to benefit the Czech community, he wants to pad his wallet. Now, we find out a former Bloc Quebecois MP (now Senator) was probably the one who was instrumental in this hotel project and the residents of the area are pissed. I don't know what's more surprising the fact that a former Bloc Quebecois MP is behind all of this or the fact that a Bloc Quebecois MP became a senator. It also seems that councillors who represent the Sud-Ouest are somewhat complicit in this matter.
Ah, capitalism and crooked politicans...where have I heard this before (hey, does anyone remember the Quebec sponsorship scandal?).
For the record, I hope that the residents who are protesting vs. this project win because it's blatantly obvious to anyone as to what's really going on.

Basil James
{41 votes}
August 12th, 2005


Lavigne is a Liberal... of course


Let's correct Basil James comments : Raymond Lavigne, the senator behind all this is a liberal ! (Of course!) The BQ former candidate is in fact against this project. Read carefully again.

Maryse Tanguay
{9 votes}
August 16th, 2005


What a steal...just more proof that city hall is full of crooks!!


Wow! 1$.. When was the last time you walked into a dollar store and found a parcel of land big enough for a community center..or a hotel on sale for 1$..?? Where is this magical dollar store and do i need a membership to vuy land there, because i have had my eye on a peice of land in the downtown core... I bid 1.50$ for it..how about it? This story is so BS! I get the idea that the federal gov. wants to help out the Czech community, but i have never heard of this kind of thing previously for any other ethnic community... I mean if you are going to do it for the Czechs you gotta do it for the Italians, the Russians, the Haitians, the Chinese, the Iranian, the Polish, the Burmese, the Armenians, the Greeks...and let's not forget the Natives..oh wait they have there reserves..right?!! This deal smells to high hell!! And now the community center idea is scrapped and instead there is going to be a casino!! Wonderful!! (sarcastic emphasis)...because a community center will not make nearly as much money for the owner as a casino can... Somehow i think a community center was never their original intention..it was just a ploy, a kind of sob story, to get the land dirt cheap from the government for this casino... Because a casino in itself is not profitable enough i guess... you need to build it on ridiculously cheap land in order to really make a buck... The sad thing is, that after this scandal is over the federal government will be very reluctant to help build any other new community centers., even if they actually want to build a center, not a casino. Sometimes people make me sick! These jerks just ruined it for everybody else.

Shant Noubarian
{10 votes}
August 16th, 2005


Leave The Land As It Is


I have always liked the Lachine Canal because of its bike path and the pleasure craft that could use its waterway. We need more green spaces like this especially in poorer areas of the city. I would rather have the Czech Centre built near a Metro station like the Casa Italia on Jean-Talon which is also actually close to Little Italy and within walking distance to many who use its services. Building a hotel on the spot next to the Lachine Canal is an even worse idea as tourists like to be near the Montreal Convention Centre and close to fine downtown Montreal bars and restaurants. With Montreal's famous Underground they can easily get around without getting wet or covered in snow or sleet.

Stephen Talko
{7 votes}
August 16th, 2005


I Smell a Rat!!


Well obviously this one you could smell a mile away. Sure looks like someone wants to get rich in a hurry. As I live almost next to the Lachine Canal I say hands off this area. Who first of all wants a Casino built here and on top of it a hotel to house the tourists who habit this Casino. This area is mainly residential we don't want traffic tie-ups, loud noises from people on these nightly outings; we'd like to sleep in peace and quiet. Go build this Casino elsewhere as it certainly is not wanted or needed here. As I have said it time and time again, why can't family oriented districts be left alone, why can't they leave the Casino on Iles Notre Dames where it is as there are no buildings and families to be disrupted. Why do they have to move it to town; don't we have enough headaches without this? I'm ready to start a petition against this.

Maria Jankovics
{31 votes}
August 11th, 2005


_N£W$_2_N£W$_2_N£W$_


Now this is just a waste of time to get into a huff over. Was it wrong? was it illegal? Pretty much, yeah. People are getting pissed? I get that but for everyone that's pissed over it you have to imagine a good number of them are pissed because they wish they were the ones that pulled this scam off. I'm not saying everyone but a few of the people must feel that if anyone is going to profit it should be them. Maybe I'm taking a too negative a view of human nature but that's how I see some of the noise coming from this.

Vladimir Joseph
{27 votes}
August 11th, 2005


Public Consultations!


What is obviously needed here is a little transparency rather than continuing the back-room deals that have caused this proposal to be so controversial in the first place. Setting up a public consultation where locals would have a chance to voice their opinion after having been more fully informed about the deal beforehand seems like the only alternative for local officials.
Afterall, this is publicly owned land.
I for one, would be in attendance at such a consultation, as would many who are tired of these people approaching the Lachine Canal as if it were a clean slate for development with no impact on the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Giovanni Paquin
{25 votes}
August 11th, 2005

Time running out for Czech centre to get OK for hotel

Time running out for Czech centre to get OK for hotel
Use original plans, Parks Canada urges; Officials to meet with non-profit group to check decontamination of property

ANN CARROLL
The Gazette

Friday, August 26, 2005


CREDIT: GORDON BECK, THE GAZETTE
"There was no money involved whatsoever," promoter George Syrovatka said of his successful bid for the federal land. He paid $1 for a 99-year lease on the Parks Canada property.



The Czech Cultural Centre Inc. bought itself time this summer to decontaminate a canal-side property leased for $1 from Parks Canada.

But the non-profit organization is running out of time to sell federal officials on plans to build a six-storey, 70-room hotel and cultural centre on the site.

"One of the obligations of the lease was to respect the original plans," said Nicole Racette, a spokesperson for Parks Canada.

And those plans called for a four-storey cultural centre, with a basement and 36 rooms for visiting artists, Czech delegations and researchers, Racette said.

"That is the only project that we will approve."

Promoter George Syrovatka, the man behind the plans, says the lease dispute is a misunderstanding, compounded by criticism from jealous developers and groups claiming to represent the Czech community.

"I never planned a luxury hotel," Syrovatka said, downplaying the gap between 70 and 36 rooms.

"It's just facilities ... to accommodate visitors."

In 2002, Syrovatka brokered a 99-year lease on vacant land at the corner of Seminaire and Olier Sts., on the north side of the Lachine Canal, to build a non-profit cultural centre.

The project, which promised 70 new jobs, had the backing of Senator Raymond Lavigne, then MP for Verdun-St. Henri-St. Paul-Point St. Charles, as well as the Southwest borough councillors, Syrovatka said.

Then came the federal sponsorship scandal.

In the publicity fallout, people became suspicious about possible payoffs in his real estate deal with Parks Canada, Syrovatka said.

Talk of redeveloping the Canada Post site next door and of relocating the Montreal Casino to the south side of the canal only fanned speculation, he added.

"There was no money involved whatsoever," Syrovatka said of his successful bid for the federal land.

"The critics only see that we got the property for $1," he said.

"But we don't own the land, and we have to decontaminate it and do the landscaping at our own expense."

The overdue cleanup was completed this week at a cost of as much as $200,000, Syrovatka said.

Parks Canada officials are to meet with Syrovatka on Tuesday to check the decontamination and review his plans, Racette said.

"We're still in favour of a community centre as we approved it," she added.

The borough council has postponed the building permit approval, pending the out-come of the lease dispute and discussions with other Czech groups.

acarroll@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005