The opposition at City Hall is asking when the Plante administration will follow through on promises to compensate merchants affected by the seemingly never-ending roadwork on Montreal's streets.
Back in June, mayor Valerie Plante pledged $25 million to assist merchants on streets that were being torn up and rebuilt, provided they open their books and provide solid evidence their businesses were suffering.
But Lionel Perez, the leader of the opposition Ensemble Montréal party, says no plan of any kind has been put forward yet.
"As of today, there is no ability for any merchant to make a claim with this program," Perez says.
Perez, meanwhile, says officials with the Plante administration have been giving him the run-around whenever he broaches the subject with them.
"They're basically just dragging along, saying 'we're working on it, there are lots of technicalities, but in any event, it's retroactive, so there's nothing to worry about."
Meanwhile, businesses owners along affected streets continue to suffer, like those on a one-block stretch of Bishop St. above Ste. Catherine St., where a project to build a mechanical ventilation system for a nearby metro tunnel is now into its third long year, and won't be finished before 2020. Some of the restaurants on that strip are either out of business, or are on the verge of doing so.
Perez believes in addition to getting compensation money to affected merchants sooner, rather than later, they should also get tax breaks on their properties while the work happens.
"Yes, the program will technically be retroactive, but the merchants are suffering now," he says.