The opposition at city hall says a ski ramp project for the Olympic Stadium has cost taxpayers $230,000 without ever getting off the ground.
The plan was to send create a 'Big Air' event, sending ski jumpers zooming down the inclined tower of the Olympic Stadium, with 80,000 spectators watching below. The event came with $12 million in potential economic spinoffs.
It was supposed to take place this month as part of the city's 375th anniversary celebrations, but it now seems the earliest it will be ready will be in December 2018.
The delay is due to supposed problems with Skying Montreal, the company behind the ramp that received the money to study it.
The event was approved by all municipal parties and a panel of experts in 2015, but since then, several cheques totalling $230,000 have been paid to Skying Montreal for a feasibility study.
Projet Montreal filed an Access to Information request and discovered the company – and the project – is up in the air.
“The program was meant to create jobs in the eastern part of Montreal,” said Projet Montreal councillor Eric Alan Caldwell. “There's none of that yet. We need jobs here and we're waiting to see, but one sure thing is that the money was not spent for the purpose it was voted on at city council.”
Mayor Denis Coderre's press attaché said Projet Montreal's attack is false, claiming the party approved the money for a feasibility study and that's still in the works.
He wouldn't comment on reports the promoter is in trouble, but said work on the Olympic Stadium tower last year will delay any project for the site for a while.
