MONTREAL -- Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante had some unexepected visitors while announcing the city's COVID-safe Fete Nationale plans on Sunday, as fed up public sector engineers crashed the unveiling.
“We have a responsibility to the citizens to offer them the best services possible and that can only be achieved by having engineers with a certain level of experience to manage the external companies,” said Gisella Gesuale, vice-president of the SPSPEM union.
The engineers did quiet down as the city's Fete Nationale committee president, Minister Chantal Rouleau and other event organizers took to the podium. But the announcement ended without comment from Plante, who was expected to speak. Plante also did not take question from media or respond to the engineers.
“I'm not surprised, she's not very cooperative, she doesn't want to listen to us. She doesn't want to talk to us,” said Gesuale.
The Fete Nationale celebrations that were announced will differ from years past. The traditional parade won't take place, but people are invited to some to streets like Ste. Catherine, where there will be interactive art installations about Quebec culture and history.
“We wanted to create something that would amuse people but make them think about different themes that they have in mind when they think about Quebec,” said Fete Nationale artistic director Ghislain Turcotte.
