The Jacques Cartier Bridge will be illuminated in time for Montreal’s 375th anniversary but according to Mayor Denis Coderre, the bridge isn’t the only thing that needs to lighten up.

After people took to social media to voice complaints about the project’s almost $40-million price tag, Coderre did not mince words when asked about the criticism at a press conference on Thursday.

“We are a metropolis, we are huge, we have a great signature, this is a land of opportunity,” he said. “We have three levels of government who are working closely together... So of course you can go on Twitter, you can have some troll pissing in your ear, ‘Oh that's bad and ask that question,’ but the reality is that we are showing that Montreal is a great metropolis.”