Take the orange line and transfer at Oscar Peterson

There is a Facebook movement afoot to rename Lionel-Groulx Metro after the late  jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, born and raised in the South-West borough where the station is located.

The Facebook site was set up by a Université de Montréal graduate law student. Michael Citrome's Facebook page, "Rename Lionel-Groulx Metro after Oscar Peterson," calls the homegrown jazz pianist Grammy Award -winning jazz royalty, a Grammy lifetime achievement award winner and a Companion of the Order of Canada. It then goes on to describe philosopher/cleric Lionel Groulx as a vicious racist who opposed all non-Catholic immigration to Canada and pormoted the eugenic theories of race that inspired the Nazi Holocaust.  It asks who would you rather have Montreal's most important Metro station named after?

Little Burgundy community leader Reverend  Darryl Gray  says, Peterson, hands down. 

 "It would sound a great signal, a great message to people of Montreal, particularly people of colour that our contributions do mean something."

Montreal Transit Corporation spokesperson Mariane Rouette says such changes are rare, adding that the names of stations reflect the names of streets in the area.

"So it would simplify the life of the metro user and also their orientation."

There's also a current moratorium on metro renamings.

Citrome says this doesn't discourage him, adding that if there's enough support, the MTC can't ignore it.