Montreal Plans Expo ’68

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31585, 24 January 1968, Page 18

Montreal Plans Expo ’68

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter) MONTREAL. After the success of Expo ’67, the Montreal World’s Fair marking a centenary of Canadian confederation, there will be an Expo ’6B. Next year’s fair which will retain the “Man and His World” theme of Expo ’67 will open about mid-May according to the city’s Mayor, Mr Jean Drapeau. He says that it will be extended in 1969 with a permanent winter exhibition. Mr Drapeau has inherited over 40 pavilions from Expo '67 and he says that at least two other countries which

did not take part in 1967 wish to join in a permanent exhibition. Mr Drapeau has apparently abandoned overtures to Canada’s Federal Government for new funds to keep the fair going, and now insists that Expo ’6B must be self-support-ing. He estimates that with the fair on a permanent basis, some 3 million Americans will pay a visit each summer and that the people of Montreal itself will return again and again. Mr Drapeau says that the attraction of new exhibits—exhibits which participating countries are replacing—will guarantee this. Foreign Earnings In a recent television interview, Mr Drapeau answered critics who had doubted the value of a permanent exhibi-

tion and had hinted at a SCan2som. deficit for Expo ’67. He claimed that Expo ’67 brought sCanlooom. in foreign money to Canada and that without the fair, the balance of payments between Canada and the United States would not have improved to the present level. Expo ’67, he argued, put Montreal on the map in a way that no other event could have done, and the good effects would be permanent. Replying to complaints that unemployment in Montreal has risen to nearly 5 per cent since Expo '67 ended, Mr Drapeau said that it was double the figure before the four-year construction of Expo ’67 began. There is a feeling in Montreal that in spite of all

the criticism of Mr Drapeau's plans, authorities outside the province, and especially the Federal Government, are more interested in the project than they are willing to admit. But the cold economic wind now blowing through the country has undoubtedly brought with it a certain caution. Showpiece Homes Meanwhile the fate of Habitat, the ?>Can22.7m. complex with 158 separate homes, which was one of the showpieces of Expo ’67, is still undecided. Now snow-covered and almost empty. Habitat may be bought outright by private interests. It was seen by more than 4 million visitors to the fair and some of its flats were let for as much as sCan7ls a month. Visitors saw 20 different types of flat with accommodation ranging from one to four bedrooms. While 115 of the units were actually completed, the remaining 43 still need finishing touches. Precast Units A revolutionary vision of accommodation of the future, Habitat was put together oy 354 modular construction units, each precast in concrete. They were taken to a “finishing area" where kitchens, bathrooms, and fixtures were installed. Then each unit, weighing between 70 and 90 tons, was lifted into place by a crane. One of Habitat's most original features is that the garden of each home is on the roof of the unit below. Lifts run throughout the complex, serving horizontal pedestrian streets as well as the various floors. All levels have playgrounds for children. Twelve of the units are still under lease and 20 to 30 people are still living in Habitat. Only three tenants, however, have said definitely that they will stay on.