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The official opposition at city hall says it doesn’t believe Mayor Valérie Plante’s explanation that the closing of several Peel St. terrasses by fire inspectors at the start from Grand Prix weekend was the result of poor communication.
“How is it Ferreira Café and its neighbours were able to obtain permits from the borough of Ville Marie if their terrasses did not conform (to fire code regulations)?” Ensemble Montréal asked in a communiqué issued Monday morning. “Why did the (fire prevention service) conduct such an operation at 9 p.m. (Friday) rather than during the days before the festivities?
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“Were the mayor and her cabinet aware of the operations in Ville-Marie?”
The party is calling for a special meeting of city council to allow it to question the fire department and borough authorities about the sequence of events leading up to the forced shut downs of the terrasses on what is one of the busiest tourist weekends of the year.
Fire officials have said the restaurants had been informed a week earlier that the tents erected to protect their terrasses were in violation of the fire code. The restaurants say they received contradictory information from the city, only to be told in the end they had “special permission” to keep the tents as they were.
“The official opposition … wants explanations from the fire department and the borough of Ville-Marie concerning the fiasco surrounding the shutdowns of many terrasses on Peel St. during Grand Prix festivities.
“This meeting will be crucial to guarantee the accountability of of the city of Montreal and to ensure our city will never again be so discredited. … The events of Friday night have shaken the population of Montreal and tarnished the image of this city.
“Rather than a post-mortem held behind closed doors, the Plante administration must take an approach that allows all citizens to know the truth.”
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