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According to the mayor, the Salvation Army wants to be a good neighbour, but its location on George Street is not conducive to that. In what respect is Vanier likely to be more conducive? The mayor challenged opponents to suggest alternatives. It isn’t the citizen’s responsibility to propose sites, but here is one anyway: George Street. According to Marc Provost, executive director of the Salvation Army’s Booth Centre, the site must be near the existing Salvation Army clients and be accessible by foot, transit and car. George Street is a better site than Montreal Road in each respect.

Further, the condo buildings in the immediate vicinity were built long after the Salvation Army opened its centre on George Street. The people who live there now moved in in full knowledge of the problems in that neighbourhood. In Vanier, the new centre would have to be imposed on existing residents who are striving to improve their community.

As indicated in the Montreal Road Transportation Planning and Functional Design Study, the vision for Montreal Road is that it “will become a welcoming, liveable main street where residents and businesses thrive.” Montreal Road is to be transformed into a “destination” for Vanier residents and others but this plan will be futile in the face of cash stores, marijuana shops, increasingly visible street prostitution, and now the magnet of a Salvation Army centre. Vanier residents have been supportive of the larger community: a methadone clinic, women’s shelters, an Ontario Addiction Treatment Centre, motels/hotels converted into emergency housing, et cetera. But enough is enough. Vanier is already doing its share and then some.