University of Montreal’s new campus opens in Laval

One of the key pieces of Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt’s overall vision for Laval, the Cité du Savoir, came into place on Sept. 26, when he, along with officials from Quebec and Ottawa were on hand for the official opening of the University of Montreal’s new campus here.
Located virtually next to one of Laval’s busiest hubs, the Montmorency Metro station, the new U of M building is right across the street from Collège Montmorency and also adjacent to the Montmorency public transit terminal, which has a constant flow of buses coming and going.

First building
The U of M’s monolithic building may eventually be complemented by another, for which space on the opposite bank of rue Jacques-Tétreault is already set aside. In operation since the start of this fall’s academic semester, some 2,500 students are registered for courses at the campus. It’s estimated that by 2015, 6,000 students will be enrolled there in health sciences, teaching and psychoeducation.
While the opening of the building means the U of M is now established permanently in Laval, the university had nonetheless been present prior to this, having rented space for the past decade on boulevard Daniel-Johnson. Officials with the university decided to solidify their presence in Laval given their belief that the region is growing demographically and the demand for its services here will continue to be high.
“It’s with great satisfaction and pride that we are taking part in the opening of this institution of higher learning which is the new University of Montreal campus at the heart of the Cité du Savoir,” Vaillancourt said to a large audience of guests that included the area’s Liberal MNAs, federal MPs, as well as the U of M’s two top officials, chancellor Louise Roy and rector Dr. Guy Breton.

A decade coming
According to Vaillancourt, it had been 10 years since Laval first started working on the idea of the U of M coming to set up shop in Laval. He said the completion of the building brought that process full circle and the effort was part of a larger endeavor to provide Laval residents with the best services possible.
“The courses offered to the students on this new campus will help boost the degree knowledge and the quality of services available around here, facilitating access to higher learning,” the mayor added. Laval provided the U of M with certain incentives for coming here. The land the university built on was ceded to it by the city, which also provided a subsidy of $8.35 million.
The strategic location of the campus, making it accessible to students not only from Laval but from Montreal as well, raises the possibility that for the first time people will increasingly be streaming into Laval for services provided here by the U of M, rather than Lavallers going to Montreal, as tended often to be the case before. Many university students are also expected to come in from the North Shore.

‘Good for Laval,’ says Ouellette
“This is good for the future of Laval and the students of Laval, because now you can study in CEGEP and continue your education at the university here,” Chomedey Liberal MNA Guy Ouellette said in an interview with the Laval News. He pointed out that at least 100 new nurses annually are expected to graduate from the Laval campus in years to come.
François Pilon, the NDP MP for Laval-les-Îles, agreed that the university’s presence will mean “big things” for the area. Laval-des-Rapides Liberal MNA Alain Paquet said the new campus, where a number of science programs are offered, is bound to generate convergences with the many technological and bioscience companies that operate in Laval.