A merchant who says he lost his shirt on his new business on Bishop Street due to roadwork that began in 2016 and only recently ended is suing the city of Montreal for $165,000.
"I would say to the city you killed my dream, you destroyed my life," said Olivier LaFlamme.
"I'm not going to let that go."
LaFlamme's dream of having his Craft Grill Cheese restaurant turned into a nightmare when he had to shut it down five months after opening in 2016, unable to attract clients on a street that would be under construction for the next 3 1/2 years.
"If they would tell me, if there's construction, of course 100% I never would put money in that," said LaFlamme in an interview with CJAD 800.
LaFlamme said he even called 311 beforehand to make sure there was no work planned for Bishop St. similar to work that was making life difficult for St. Denis merchants at the time.
"I called because of St. Denis - if you go on the date, that's exactly when St. Denis was screaming, screaming, Help us, this is wrong. So I called the city to avoid that," said LaFlamme.
LaFlamme said he was told there was no work scheduled.
Two months after LaFlamme signed the lease, the city sent him a letter about the 3 1/2 year project by the STM that would end up blocking most of the street.
"I called back the city because I was freaking out. I say, Is that real, what's that, I need some details, are you going to close the street - I start panicking, Even then, when they send the letter, they didn't have any information about it," alleges LaFlamme.
Most of the businesses on Bishop have since closed or gone bankrupt. Life is slowly returning there now that the work is about done and the street mostly reopened.
While the city is offering a compensation package to merchants who suffered continuous financial losses due to city roadwork, LaFlamme wasn't eligible because he was just starting out.
LaFlamme put his life savings into his new venture - after closing his business, he had to sell his condo and now has no line of credit.
LaFlamme said he paid dearly for a communication breakdown at city hall.
"We pay taxes, there's big people on top of this that didn't communicate the information and that's wrong," said LaFlamme.
The city said it won't comment on an ongoing legal matter.