Ode to lucre
>> The PQ is spending $281-million on a new
concert hall for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. What else can that kind of cash buy?

by CRAIG SEGAL

The PQ announced last month it will build a $281-million “cultural complex” in downtown Montreal. The project will include a new concert hall for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a permanent residence for the Music and Dramatic Art Conservatory, and a not-so-artsy civil servant office tower—which they’ll plant right on top for good measure. Why? The MSO has apparently needed a new concert hall for decades. And the project is supposed to help Montreal in its quest for “international status,” according to a PQ press release.
With a housing shortage, an ailing Medicare system and a money-strapped education system, Montrealers are asking whether we really need more of “that immortal masterpiece, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,” as MSO literature puts it.

Do most Montrealers prefer the “fiery artistry of the great lady of the piano, Martha Argerich” who “sets the blood racing in masterpieces from her native Argentina,” to a shorter wait in the emergency line-up? Can most Quebecers afford to shell out $40 for these “gripping musical encounters to be experienced first-hand!”? When was the last time you “let yourself be swept away by the whirling waltzes of the great ballrooms of Vienna”? And who is the MSO talking to when they offer “an evening that will transport you to the very heart of the magical soirées dansantes of yesteryear?”

The Mirror asked some locals what they think of the PQ project, and whether they have any other ideas on how to spend $281-million.

James Farquhar, psychiatrist at the Douglas Hospital

“We’re more than $100-million a year behind in mental health resources. So they’re basically choosing to build a new arts centre in Montreal instead of bringing our mental health services up to an acceptable standard. I admire the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. It’s fantastic. But it seems to me there’s something strange about a provincial government giving all that money. Why don’t they go to private industry to fund these things?”
What would he do with the money? Farquhar says he would use the money to make up for Montreal’s annual $28-million mental health deficit. With that kind of money, he says, “You could hire 300 mental health workers and pay them year after year.”

Robert “Bicycle Bob” Silverman, long-time bicycle activist
“Here’s an elitist facility and then on the other side, there’s the ordinary poor folk. I’m not that angry about it being for music. I like music. But it’s for the rich. It’s a subsidy for the wealthy people. It’s always for the rich. It’s always for people who need it least.”
What would he do with the money? Aside from lengthening the commuter train to St-Jerome, Bob would like to finish the construction of the bike path along the east-west train tracks.

Kenneth Deer, editor and publisher of the Eastern Door newspaper
“We could have a free distribution paper—it would educate people about Native people. And we could also print it in both languages.”
What would he do with the money? Deer says he would publish his paper daily instead of weekly for “many, many decades” in full colour. Subscriptions for the Eastern Door, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, cost $68 for one year, or 58 issues. The MSO dough could send a year’s worth of Eastern Doors to 4,132,353 Canadians.

Jake Brown, local spoken word performer
“Culture is important, but if you’re spending $280-million and they’re going to mount plays like the Owl and the Pussycat, then this is just entertainment for the bourgeoisie. Bourgeois art is not art because it does not oppose the dominant culture. And the dominant culture is evil because it helps bolster the credibility of the thieves, murderers and vandals who own the wealth, power, and government. So they can fuck themselves with their $280-million on that!”

How would he spend all that money? “The secret truth is that any money that’s extra should be spent on keeping people alive while you scale back the economy and implement immediate severe pollution controls. Otherwise we’re all going to die soon. How do you have a concert hall when you’re dead?” Brown, who earns $40 an hour as a tutor when he is not ranting before an audience, could also provide 801 years of private courses with the $281-million.

Daniel Breton, communications director for the Quebec Green Party
“I don’t see this like something that’s necessary. They talk about supporting culture, but they’re supporting construction. For me it’s not at all a priority. I know many anglophones in the film business and they don’t get work. We need to develop grants for the English filmmakers.”
How would he spend the money? “Part would go to education, a part would go to sport, a part would go to culture, and a part would go to agriculture/nutrition. To the Green Party it’s all linked.”

François Saillant, coordinator of local housing advocacy group FRAPRU
“For me it’s not absurd to give money to the cultural sector, but it could have been put to support theatre groups and small troupes instead of a big place for the big actors. But if the money was spent in the housing sector I think we could have bought 45,000 affordable and social housing units. In the new city of Montreal there are 124,000 people who pay more than 50 per cent of income for rent. And in the Montreal area, there’s a lack of 11,000 rental units.”

Something else he would do with the money: “We could have a lot of demonstrations.” Saillant says it costs around $1,000 to get a FRAPRU protest bus to Ottawa or Quebec City. So the MSO money could send 281,000 pro-housing protest buses to nearby cities.

Carolyne Doyer, cofounder of the Compassion Club, which sells marijuana to sick people with doctors’ notes

“I’m not sure it will serve the public and the artists. It is always going to be the same productions that are going to take over this building and the smaller artists won’t be able to use it.”

What would she do with the money? “With the money we could build a huge greenhouse and grow our own marijuana.” Doyer estimates the average customer living with cancer or AIDS spends around $500 a month on marijuana. That comes to $6,000 a year. Doyer says around 10,000 Canadians get their pot from the nation’s approximately 10 Compassion Clubs. The MSO money could provide pot to each of those patients for nearly five years each.

Jonathan Kolot, client manager at Santropol Roulant, which provides nearly-free warm meals to people who are confined to their homes
“It seems like quite a lot for a city that doesn’t have enough money to invest in its social programs. Why wouldn’t they just change the acoustical properties of the room? It seems totally absurd to me.”

What would he do with the money? “We could run Santropol Roulant for 1,000 years. We have a constant turnover here and always on hunt for money just to stay afloat. And that’s time we could be spending serving meals to the elderly.” :

Beds vs. Brahms

>> Other things worth $281-million

Nurses: Montreal-area hospitals closed 900 hospital beds in the past few months. This week, they announced they will close another 800 on a semi-permanent basis due to staff shortages. To get into the Dawson College Nursing program all you need is a Diploma of Secondary Studies (DES), Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status, and to have completed Physical Science 436 and Chemistry 534 within the last five years. Tuition is free for Canadian citizens, but students must cover expenses. At $3,600 per degree, the MSO money can produce 78,056 Quebec nurses.

Bus passes for students: Bus passes for students between 18 and 25 who have bought the $8.50 “Carte Privilège” cost $25. That’s 11,240,000 passes. Or 5,620,000 regular passes.

Hockey rinks: According to Michael Applebaum, borough president of Côte-des-Neiges—NDG, it costs roughly $5,000 to install a hockey rink and another $16,000 to maintain it for a year. With $281-million, the Quebec government could build and maintain 13,381 hockey rinks.

Pot: At $10 a gram, the MSO money could buy 28,100,000 grams of pot. Or one gram of pot for almost every Canadian.

Cut albums for budding bands: Low-end studios record for around $50 and hour. Assuming it would take around 30 hours to cut a record, the money could cut 187,333 new records, not including rental, distribution or promotion.

Hells Angels legal aid lawyers: A Quebec judge recently turned down Hells Angels legal aid lawyers’ request for $500 a day to represent 10 of 17 clients requiring legal aid. The lawyers argued that representing the Hells is indefinitely depriving them of other clients. The MSO money could employ 10 legal aid lawyers for the Hells for 56,200 days, or 154 years. :

—Craig Segal