There might be a new school built as part of the development that will take the place of the old Montreal Children's Hospital, and if it happens, its future students may have to credit the lobbying efforts of an 8-year-old boy, who personally enlisted the help of none other than mayor Valerie Plante.
Third grader Hector Singh took the microphone at City Hall Tuesday night, at a Ville-Marie borough council meeting, to drop off a stack of cards coloured by his classmates — a petition, of sorts — and handed them off to mayor Valerie Plante, in an effort to get the borough to impress upon the education minister that there's a need for a new school to serve his neighborhood.
"I am in third grade at St. Leon de Westmount," he hold the meeting. "I was born in England, but now I'm a Quebecer and a Montrealer. I love politics, and I even conducted a poll at my school during the election. I would have liked to have voted for you, Mme. Plante."
The boy was interviewed by CJAD 800's Natasha hall on Wednesday.
"I felt kind of nervous, but I felt kind of like I was really in the game," he said.
His proud dad, Rev. Graham Singh, suggested it's refreshing to see a complicated issue through the eyes of a child.
"Hector's got loads of ideas like this," he says. "A child would say, 'let's get everybody together, and let's make this happen.' And right now, the more time I spend in downtown Montreal, the more I realize people aren't getting together and having the simplest of simple conversations."
The developer in charge of the Children's project, Devimco, is on record as saying it isn't opposed to having a new school on site, but that education minister Sebastien Proulx would have to make a decision on when and where a new school would be built.
Meanwhile, it appears little Hector's efforts are paying off — on Tuesday night, the borough council prepared, and ultimately passed, a motion at the meeting, supporting the initiative for a new school. The motion was put forth by Plante herself, and seconded by the councillor from their home Peter McGill district, Cathy Wong.
Hector was also told Plante will now send the cards he and his friends prepared will be sent off to Proulx's office.
Et voici la motion avec le sceau officiel de @CentrevilleMTL. #polQc #PolMTL
— Stéphanie Bellenger (@sbellenger) December 14, 2017
"Nous aussi, on en veut une école à côté de chez toi [Hector, 8 ans]" - Valérie Plante, mairesse de l'Arrondissement de Ville-Marie, centre-ville.#monpetermcgill pic.twitter.com/gnjmu1BHbt