Robert Bourassa - Parc Avenue Controversy

Parc Avenue Controversy

On October 18, 2006 Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay announced that Montreal's Parc Avenue would be named after Bourassa. On November 28 the Montreal city council voted in favour (40-22) of renaming Parc Avenue after Bourassa. If, as had been expected, Quebec's Toponymy Commission had approved the name change, all of Parc Avenue and its continuation, Bleury, would have been renamed Avenue Robert Bourassa. This would have caused the newly named street to intersect René Lévesque Boulevard, named after a long time political rival to Bourassa. That boulevard, in turn, had been renamed from Dorchester Boulevard in 1987, in a decision that was also not without controversy. This decision by the City of Montreal without any consultation with the people of the city caused an immediate controversy, though many of those opposed to the change considered it a fait accompli. The proposal spawned substantial grass-roots opposition, both because of the lack of prior citizen input and because Parc is itself a meaningful street name, associated with the city's Mount Royal park. In addition to protests and active opposition by a committee of Montreal residents and businesses opposed to the name change, an online petition garnered more than 18,000 virtual signatures against this renaming. On February 5, 2007, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay withdrew his proposal to rename Parc Avenue. However, there is a Robert Bourassa Blvd., located in the Duvernay district of Laval, Quebec.