The Next Generation

Fair enough, for personal friction is inevitable when groups of people get together, but lately these conflicts have threatened to overshadow the good work undertaken by members.

The most public example is the 3-6 split on city council over the arena/pool project, in which councillors Patrick Martin, Kathleen Duncan and Cynthia Lulham favour considering the Westmount Athletic Grounds as a possible alternative to the current arena site, while the mayor and five other councillors prefer to remain on track with the existing project — at least until all plans and funding options have been fully examined and discussed.

Recently, two deep-throated insiders confirmed that some city councillors are no longer on speaking terms — hardly the conditions for a healthy working relationship, and especially troubling when you consider that individually, each councillor has proven to be a valuable asset to this community. Unfortunately, the whole is no longer an accurate sum of its excellent parts.

That's where Peter Trent comes in, and his tentative plan to lead a renewed, unified council this fall is not likely to fail.

There is also good news over in the WMA camp, where a new president was unanimously elected on Monday.

Now, with Jean-Pierre Picard (not Jean-Luc, all you Next Generation Trekkies) at the helm, many WMA board members are breathing easier and looking forward to a stable period of harmony as they tackle a full agenda of civic issues this fall.

Mr. Picard is said to have the full confidence of the WMA board and, perhaps most significantly, the endorsement of both Stan Grossman and Henry Olders — the two primary adversaries in the WMA presidency debacle that marred the annual general meeting in June. It is one thing to operate without an official president, as the WMA has done ever since Dr. Olders stepped down, but it is even more difficult to function with blatant animosity among directors.

Mr. Picard's election as president could not have come at a better time for the WMA, and considering the current issues at hand, for Westmount itself.