Jacques Parizeau died this week, and almost instantaneously a petition was launched to rename a Montreal street after the former premier.
As of Friday morning 3,600 people have signed a petition calling on Montreal to quickly rename a street after Parizeau.
The petition was launched on avaaz.org by someone named Stephen-Guy S., and it targets Amherst St.: a fairly short street that runs from Notre Dame St. to Sherbrooke St.
People who live and work on Amherst St. who spoke to CTV Montreal have no interest in changing the name of their street, and the St. Jean Baptiste Society agrees that something else should be done.
"It's not a grand enough street. Jacques Parizeau deserves a better, larger avenue," said Maxime Laporte.
Laporte also said there is no rush to name something after the late separatist leader.
Dinu Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal would rather Montreal stop renaming streets, and suggests the city look for other ways to honour the dead.
"If we want to commemorate someone of great stature, Mr. Parizeau is one of those, why don't we have the decency of creating dignified spaces to put their names on? We always try to cannibalize the city's naming heritage," said Bumbaru.
Amherst street has been targeted in the past because it is named after an 18th Century British officer, Baron Jeffery Amherst, who captured Montreal and Quebec City during the Seven Years' War and ended French rule in North America.
He was later appointed Governor General of British North America, and is accused of encouraging military subordinates to distribute blankets that had been used by people with smallpox to American Indians.
