Move the United Nations to Montreal

If Montreal ever wanted to make a serious pitch to become the new home of the United Nations, now is the time. With Donald Trump going out of his way to make the United States a global pariah, and President Elon Musk saying the U.S. should abandon the UN, I’d argue the basic conditions have been met for Montreal to put together a proposal.

To be clear, I do not think that Montreal deserves to become the new home of the United Nations — plenty of cities and countries arguably deserve that distinction. But I do think there’s a case to be made that Montreal has something special to offer, and that the UN would benefit from being located here over elsewhere (and particularly over New York City right now).

Donald Trump — and everything that is rotten about the United States that he represents — proves with every passing day why the United Nations should no longer be headquartered in New York City. I would argue it was a mistake to locate it there in the first place, and that — irrespective of however much longer Trump remains in office — the United States does not deserve the UN.

I suspect there are at least a few people up at the top of the UN who are probably thinking the same thing.

Montreal has every reason to develop a proposal and lobby the UN to consider it. If the governments of Canada or Quebec want to help, that’s fine, but it should be clear to all concerned that this is Montreal’s effort. At the very least, this avoids getting too wrapped up in federal or provincial politics, and helps Montreal assert itself. We need to be responsible for our own evolution.

The obvious selling point is that Montreal is a cosmopolitan and inherently multilingual city. It doesn’t hurt that we’re close to New York City, meaning the move would be relatively easy, too. We’re a far more affordable city to live in, and this would make participating in the UN less of a financial burden for poorer nations. We also have a well-educated workforce, four major universities that have historically attracted a large international student body and are already home to several international organizations, including a UN specialized agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). 

Montreal’s cultural offering punches far above its weight, and the city enjoys a well-earned global reputation for its superior quality of life. It is an exceptionally safe city that’s unlikely to be targeted by terrorists, which certainly sweetens the deal.

Being a major metropolis fully powered by renewable energy and boasting an excellent public transit system doesn’t hurt either, and is a strong selling point in the era of the climate crisis.

The benefits to us are considerable. It’s not just the prestige, though a rising tide lifts all boats. The presence of the UN would bring a lot of attention to our city, and this in turn would doubtless encourage our institutions and political class to think bigger as well. The economic impact would be considerable, with tens of thousands of UN workers and tens of thousands more new jobs created to support it. The construction of a new UN headquarters building would create even more jobs, stimulate the city’s construction and engineering sectors and provide an opportunity to build an architectural landmark sans pareil.

There are other, perhaps less obvious benefits that should be considered as well. 

On the subject of language, while Montreal’s multilingualism is a major selling point, the relocation of the UN to a majority francophone city would not only bring many more French-speaking people to Montreal, it would likely go a long way towards reassuring language hawks that the future of the French language is guaranteed in Montreal. It’s hard to argue that the French language is in decline in a city that’s home to the seat of world diplomacy. Moreover, I suspect that the provincialism inherent to Quebec’s language politics and policing wouldn’t be very flattering on the world stage.

On a related note, both the federal and provincial governments could be encouraged to reconsider policies that limit the number of international students from attending Canadian universities. That too wouldn’t be an attractive look.

The federal government would likely expand their presence in Montreal to take advantage of the newfound proximity to the United Nations, just as major Canadian corporations would find good reasons to expand their presence in Montreal for the same reasons. And it goes without saying Trudeau International Airport would likely become a lot busier, with many more flights to far more destinations. I suspect the very idea of a ‘seasonal workforce’ would disappear from our tourism and hospitality industry altogether.

And while I don’t normally support the idea of giving land away for free, the potential economic, political and cultural benefits of relocating the UN to Montreal may actually make it worthwhile.

As to where it might go, there are more than a few options. The current UN complex in Manhattan only occupies about 0.07 square kilometres, which is smaller than the footprint of the Palais des Congrès.

Back in 2007, the Port of Montreal floated the idea of moving the UN here as a more cost effective alternative to renovating the existing UN buildings and campus in Manhattan. They proposed the site of Grain Silo No. 5 on Pointe-du-Moulin in the Old Port as a possible location. 

I like the idea of a new Montreal UN headquarters also being located next to the water, but I wouldn’t propose demolishing Grain Silo No. 5. Among other reasons, the silo is an icon of Montreal architecture and the city’s industrial heritage, and should be preserved. Moreover, with Trump effectively ripping up CUSMA and giving Canada every reason to find new international export markets for our goods, it might be prudent for us to hold on to a massive grain storage and shipment facility.

That said, there are still plenty of other locations that could work. I’m partial to the Cité du Havre and Goose Village areas, namely because there’s comparatively a lot of room to work with and it would create a new hub of activity within the greater city centre. Alternatively, if extensively modified, Olympic Stadium could make for an interesting location. Not only would it give the iconic building a new purpose, it would likely ‘pull’ high-density urban development towards the East End (which is what Jean Drapeau had hoped the stadium would accomplish 50 years ago) and provide some serious long-term economic stimulus for the area.

Trump may destroy America, and he threatens Canada in a way we never could have previously imagined, but he is also demonstrating on a daily basis why Canada needs to sever its once special relationship with the United States, and move on. This is a unique situation that provides us with an opportunity to completely reimagine who we are and set ourselves on a new course towards greater sovereignty and a more important role to play on the international stage. I don’t think we should waste it. 
In threatening our very existence, Donald Trump has ironically given us every reason to imagine how great we might become. ■

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This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of Cult MTL.

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Read more editorials by Taylor C. Noakes.