MONTRÉAL, April 9, 2026 /CNW/ – Although modernization work on Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital is progressing, the cuts required by the government continue to slow the project by keeping it in the planning phase and therefore susceptible to being cut again. “What will the final project look like?” asks the HMR Coalition. It is the “optimization” work required by the government that is preventing the project from moving from planning to reality. Recall that the project had already been subjected to a first round of cuts in 2023 before facing a second round in 2025.

“While development work is carried out on one side, cuts are being made on the other. We must be consistent: we cannot move forward and backward at the same time. If the cuts do not end quickly, the renovation and expansion project for Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital will be reduced to a partial and incomplete project. The government must confirm that the cuts are over and that the project will officially be ready to move to the implementation phase in its current form,” said Dr. Marc Brosseau, pulmonologist-intensivist and president of the CMDPSF of the CIUSSS of East Montreal.

Repeated broken promises
Three years of broken promises have led the HMR Coalition to greet the launch of Phase 2 of the renovation and expansion project for Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital with skepticism, following several government setbacks that have eroded the trust of healthcare staff and citizens.

“The relationship of trust with the government is broken, and until the excavator is actually digging, we will have doubts about the completion of this project, which is nevertheless vital for patients,” lamented Denis Cloutier, president of the Syndicat des professionnels en soins de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (FIQ SPS ESTIM).

As for Éric Clermont, president of the Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs du CIUSSS de l’Est de Montréal – CSN, he stated that this announcement should have been made a year ago. “The delays are attributable solely to purely political decisions.”

“Some profit from compound interest; in the case of Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, cuts upon cuts are being made at the expense of services to users,” worries Patrick Cothenet, president of the HMR Users’ Committee.

In closing, the president and CEO of the Chambre de commerce de l’Est de Montréal, Jean-Denis Charest, calls on the government and urges it to demonstrate greater transparency: “The government must do much more to convince the community. In this regard, we expect from the government and from whoever holds the position of premier a formal, clear, quantified and final commitment regarding the completion of the project as a whole, without further delays.”

SOURCE Coalition HMR