By Patrick B. Craine
MONTREAL, Quebec, August 7, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Montreal public consultation office has recommended to Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay that a new development project on St. Laurent Boulevard, which would have removed the local strip club Café Cleopatra, be reconsidered.
The $167-million development, currently set to begin in January, would give a facelift to the deteriorating red-light district, where most storefronts are now boarded up. While preserving building facades that date as early as the 1890s, the plan involves construction of a twelve-story Hydro-Quebec building, which will bring in about 1,500 new employees to the area. Currently, the Café Cleopatra is one of the few remaining businesses, hosting strippers downstairs, and upstairs featuring drag-queen shows and fetish nights.
In a letter to the mayor accompanying the report, which was based on months of study and six public hearings, consultation office chairwoman Louise Roy wrote, as reported in the National Post, "This section of St. Laurent Boulevard assumes a mythic character in the history of Montreal because it represents a destination for relaxation and pleasure." Many hearing participants, the panel reports, indicated that for them the area symbolizes "sexuality, and in particular sexual minorities."
Based on their work, the panel concluded, without naming the Café Cleopatra, that current cultural activities, "regardless of their nature," should remain as part of the plans for development.