Olympic Stadium deemed safe after concrete slab falls

The Quebec government is downplaying concern about the safety of Montreal's Olympic Stadium, seeking to reassure people one day after the collapse of a huge concrete slab inside a stadium parking lot.

It was the latest in a series of concrete-related collapses in Montreal — and one of several incidents to have befallen the Olympic site over the years.

But the government stressed Monday that the weekend collapse did not occur at the stadium, but at a parking lot hundreds of metres away.

Tourism Minister Nicole Ménard linked the accident to the ongoing expansion of a nearby soccer stadium. She said she believed construction work at a new Major League Soccer stadium caused the incident.

"It seems to be the cause. Now experts will tell us," Ménard told reporters.

"The stadium .... there's nothing to worry about — everything's okay."

The new MLS team, the Montreal Impact, is scheduled to play its first games at Olympic Stadium until its new building is ready.

Olympic Park officials say they expect the Impact opener on March 17 to go forward at the Olympic Stadium, as planned.

They say other parking areas around the stadium have been unaffected by the incident and will be open for that game.

Nobody was injured in the weekend incident outside the stadium, which is empty most of the year.

An eight-by-12-metre slab of concrete collapsed Sunday, rekindling concerns about the safety of the site that hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics.

There have been several mishaps at the building — most famously a concrete slab collapse in 1991 that forced the now-defunct Montreal Expos to play their final 13 home games on the road that year.