Montreal's Non-Urban Renewal: Why?

The webzine, The Atlantic Cities, has an interesting series of aerial shots of downtown Montreal between 1947 and the present.  The striking thing is that the city's center hasn't changed all that much.

The reasons for that are complex, and have nothing to do with Jane Jacobs, and a lot to do with inertia on the part of Montreal administrations.  By the time more "progressive" governments replace Jean Drapeau, a lot of the shine had worn off the urban renewal idea.

Good.  But I wonder how this fits into our current orgy of dirty linen washing about corruption in the construction industry,  Would things gone differently if there had been more hanky panky?