During a visit to the region last Friday, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, was unequivocal: the Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital will not have a multi-storey car park."

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We want the government to set an example" - Mathieu Miljours

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Accompanied by Vaudreuil-Dorion mayor Guy Pilon, independent Vaudreuil MNA Marie-Claude Nichols, Soulanges MNA Marilyne Picard, the MRC's prefect, Patrick Bousez and the hospital project teams, Minister Dubé visited the construction site of the future Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital.

During the visit, it was impossible to ignore the government's about-face on the parking lot. After ruling out the option of underground parking for the future hospital, the CAQ had committed to authorizing the construction of a multi-storey car park.

However, for budgetary reasons, the government did an about-face and imposed a paved surface parking lot with 1,869 spaces, the equivalent of more than five soccer fields. It's a decision that all the region's elected representatives find hard to understand.

"On the issue of hospital parking, the Minister gave a clear, definitive answer. Referring to the 3% savings generated by his decision, he indicated that his government had no intention of reverting to a multi-storey car park, which makes no sense to me. I reminded him of the government's duty to set an example when it comes to respecting minimum environmental standards, and that this parking lot will be the biggest heat island in the region. I also pointed out that we have already suffered significant consequences from climate change, notably in the floods of 2017 and 2019. He replied that nothing would make him reconsider this decision," laments the Vaudreuil MNA. 

For his part, the mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion said he was disappointed, but reassured nonetheless. "I liked his frankness.He didn't try to pull the wool over our eyes. That closes the file and allows us to move on. That said, we'll certainly continue to work on improving the project. Minister Dubé and Mr. Gribauval (Editor's note: Philippe Gribeauval is President and CEO of the Centre intégré de santé et services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest) have already told us that the parking lot they're about to build in asphalt may well be replaced by buildings in a few years' time.What we've been told is that CISSSMO intends to add services to the hospital.That's when they're going to build high-rise parking lots.At least that's my understanding.It's not perfect, but it's something," added Mr. Pilon.

Finally, on November 21, MNA Nichols tabled a petition at the National Assembly, initiated by the Mères aux Fronts organization, denouncing the changes to the hospital parking lot. Accompanied by the Mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion and Mathieu Miljours, General Manager of the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, she called for the urgent intervention of the Minister of Health and Social Services.