The End of an Era
View of the Montreal Cotton Empire Mill during demolition, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, c. 1971.
Ken Lyons Collection.
The Montreal Cotton Co. industrial complex, including the Louise, Empire and La Vieille Mills, permanently shut down on November 30, 1968. All the buildings were demolished in 1971, and sold for a symbolic dollar. A new shopping mall was erected on the vast lot after demolition. Many people were overjoyed by the arrival of the mall, which represented progress, new jobs, but more importantly, a break with the past. The Gault Mill closed its doors on April 15, 1982, and an era came to an end as the headraces were filled in and the urban landscape was redesigned. The textile adventure in Salaberry-de Valleyfield ended with the shutdown of the Beauharnois Finishing Plant on August 18, 1992.
Interview with Rolland Therrien
Video clip
Download the video (WebM format / 8.8 MB)
TRANSCRIPT
Question: Did they give you notice a long time in advance?
Rolland Therrien: They told us they were closing, but wanted to revive the textile industry.
The union took initiatives to revive the industry... I told them it wasn't worth thinking about it. If the company decides to close, there's nothing we can do about it, they're going to close. We, the employees, didn't have the means to say "we'll find contracts"... You need funds to find contracts... I told the guys, "we're doing this for nothing, we're loosing our time, it'll never work. They won't accept". If the company decides to shut down, it’s because they know the factory isn’t profitable enough. Do you think we’ll be able to make it profitable, us, the employees?