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Côte Saint-Luc secures $3.94 million from governments of Canada and Quebec to repair and develop Kirwan Park

The City of Côte Saint-Luc will receive $3.94 million in government grants towards the refurbishment and improvement of Edward J. Kirwan Park. 

The official announcement took place at Kirwan Park on April 9 in the presence of Anthony Housefather, Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Mayor Mitchell Brownstein of Côte Saint-Luc, D’Arcy-McGee MNA David Birnbaum, and District 5 Councillor Mitch Kujavsky. 

The funding from the governments of Canada and Quebec—who each will contribute $1,972,050—will go towards building a new playground for 2- to 5-year-olds, renovating the playground for 6- to 12-year-olds, installing new water games, building an athletics track, installing exercise equipment, redeveloping the trails with lighting, building a new main chalet, building a new ice rink, building basketball courts, and developing a dance floor. The City will also contribute to the project, which will bring the project budget to almost $6.5 million.

Kirwan Park is named for Edward J. Kirwan, who was a city councillor from 1923 to 1973. The original park name was Wentworth Park. It was renamed Edward J. Kirwan Park in 1976. Until the creation of Centennial Park (now Pierre Elliott Trudeau park), Kirwan Park was the city’s largest and most important greenspace. It was here in 1967 that thousands of people gathered following a Canadian Centennial parade through our streets. It was here that the late Johnny Elias ran his Grand Slam baseball school and where Montreal Expo greats like Gary Carter and Steve Rogers visited with the kids. 

Quotes 

“We are grateful to the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec for providing this funding, which will allow us to give residents the dream sports and activity park we envisioned together through consultation with the community. We thank local elected officials for their help in obtaining this invaluable funding. Finally, I thank our Côte Saint-Luc staff who prepared an outstanding grant proposal. We have been working on the Kirwan Park plan for a few years. We launched the first steps in the renewal of Kirwan Park at a December 2017 public consultation meeting over at the ACC. About 80 people took part and shared their vision for this space. That feedback was vital to understand what our residents wanted. This newly renovated park is a true collaboration between the city and its residents, and between the governments of Canada and Quebec.” 

Mayor Mitchell Brownstein 

“This project is as close to my heart and as close to my constituents as it gets. This grant application and the planned renovation of Kirwan Park has been a nearly 3-year-long collaboration of City staff, the residents and local politicians that will benefit the entire community for decades to come. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those who participated in the 2 Public Consultations during the planning stages of the park, your feedback helped to shape the final product. Thank you as well to Sonny Moroz from the MP’s office, Associate City Manager Tanya Abramovitch and Marianne Zalzal from Engineering who has kindly postponed her retirement to see the Kirwan Project through to the end. Finally thank you to all CSL staff across every department who played a role in making this project a reality, it’s a true testament to your persistence and teamwork.” 

District 5 Councillor Mitch Kujavsky 

Contact 

Darryl Levine 
Director of Public Affairs and Communications, City of Côte Saint-Luc 
514-485-8905 
[email protected]