Editing Expo 67 (section)

===Construction begins===
[[File:Front of Expo Express train edit.JPG|thumb|Front view of [[Expo Express]] train]]
Construction started on August 13, 1963, with an elaborate ceremony hosted by Mayor Drapeau on barges anchored in the St. Lawrence River.<ref name="Gazette Construction Begins">{{cite news |last=Bantey |first=Bill |title=Pearson Says $50 Million Federal for World Fair: P.M. Calls for Talks to Guarantee Success |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iAwuAAAAIBAJ&pg=6636%2C2028743 |access-date=October 14, 2013 |newspaper=The Gazette |date=August 13, 1963 |location=Montreal}}</ref> Ceremonially, construction began when Prime Minister [[Lester B. Pearson]] pulled a lever that signalled a front-end loader to dump the first batch of fill to enlarge ''[[Saint Helen's Island|Île Sainte-Hélène]]'',{{refn|group="Note"|Although Île Sainte-Hélène was the main island, and would become the name of islands in the [[archipelago]], the earth-fill was dumped on what was then Île Ronde, site of the future amusement park La Ronde.<ref name="Rice IL Ronde infill">{{cite news |last=Rice |first=Robert |title=Magnitude Noted: P.M. Urges Fair Confab |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xWM_AAAAIBAJ&pg=5012%2C4482154 |access-date=October 14, 2013 |newspaper=The Windsor Star |date=August 13, 1963 |agency=Canadian Press |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=10}}</ref>}} and Quebec premier [[Jean Lesage]] spread the fill with a bulldozer.<ref name="Rice IL Ronde infill" /><ref name="Star Who'll Pay What?">{{cite news |last=Scanlon |first=Joseph |title=Who'll Pay What? World's Fair Still 'Bogged Down' |newspaper=The Toronto Daily Star |date=August 20, 1963 |location=Toronto |page=7}}</ref> Of the 25 million tons of fill needed to construct the islands, 10–12% was coming from the [[Montreal Metro]]'s excavations, a public works project that was already under construction before Expo was awarded to Montreal.<ref>Berton, pp. 260,262</ref> The remainder of the fill came from quarries on Montreal and the South Shore, however even with that it was insufficient and so bodies of water on both islands were added (lakes and canals) to reduce the amount of fill required. Expo's initial construction period mainly centered on enlarging Saint Helen's Island, creating the [[artificial island]] of [[Notre Dame Island|Île Notre-Dame]] and lengthening and enlarging the Mackay Pier which became the [[Cité du Havre]]. While construction continued, the land rising out of Montreal harbour was not owned by the Expo Corporation yet. After the final mounds of earth completed the islands, the grounds that would hold the fair were officially transferred from the City of Montreal to the corporation on June 20, 1964.<ref name="p.263" /> This gave Colonel Churchill only 1042 days to have everything built and functioning for opening day. To get Expo built in time, Churchill used the then new project management tool known as the [[critical path method]] (CPM).<ref name="cpm">{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=Christopher |title=An EXPO 67 Kaleidoscope: Ten Scenes from Terre Des Hommes |journal=The Beaver: Canada's History Magazine |volume=87 |issue=3 |publisher=History Society of Canada |date=June–July 2007 |url=http://www.historysociety.ca/bea.asp?subsection=fea |access-date=June 6, 2007 |archive-date=May 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524214032/http://www.historysociety.ca/bea.asp?subsection=fea |url-status=dead}}</ref>  On April 28, 1967, opening day, everything was ready, with one exception: Habitat 67, which was then displayed as a work in progress.<ref>Berton, p.297-298</ref>

Building and enlarging the islands, along with the new [[Pont de la Concorde (Montreal)|Concorde Bridge]] built to connect them with the site-specific mass transit system known as the [[Montreal Expo Express]], plus a boat pier, cost more than the [[Saint Lawrence Seaway]] project did only five years earlier: this was even before any buildings or infrastructure were constructed.<ref name="p.263" /> With the initial phase of construction completed, it is easy to see why the budget for the exhibition was going to be larger than anyone expected. In the fall of 1963, Expo's general manager, Andrew Kniewasser, presented the master plan and the preliminary budget of $167 million for construction: it would balloon to over $439 million by 1967. The plan and budget narrowly passed a vote in Pearson's federal cabinet, passing by one vote, and then it was officially submitted on December 23, 1963.<ref>Berton, p.261</ref>