Letters to the editor

Where is Margaret Thatcher when you need her?

To the editor:

Kim Campbell and Margaret Thatcher share a claim to fame. They were the only women to become their state’s prime minister. There the similarities end.

Kim earned a second claim to fame. She was the only prime minister to reduce a majority government to a two-seat rump party in one single election. In a blistering series of policy errors and misstatements, her early popularity was not only eroded — it was vaporized. In the following election, crucible Jean Chrétien emerged as Prince Charming.

While Margaret correctly responded to the British impatience with bureaucratic nonsense, Kim’s playbook for doing everything wrong in the eyes of the electorate now appears to be favourite reading by some Westmount councillors. For everyone’s betterment, this drift in judgement must be reconsidered.

In a city designed as an arboreal gem by its founding fathers, we have witnessed the civic mistake of the clear cutting of Sunnyside Park’s century-old trees. The Westmount electorate recoiled in disbelief and in some instances shed tears. Council now appears to be contemplating a second mistake: turning much of revered Westmount Park into a bureaucratically controlled soccer day camp.

That the electorate is overwhelmingly at odds with City Hall is publicly obvious. At the May16 Victoria Hall town meeting, 90 per cent of the 300 attending voted against the proposal to reconstruct this landmark park. Almost all of the 15 briefs and the scores of verbal interventions strongly opposed this bureaucratic take over of Westmount Park. There were a number of alternative soccer sites proposed, such as a Glenn Yards site or a coordinated use of the King George Park field and the old MAA field behind Westmount High School. And yet there was no change of course. The bureaucratic plan obviously remains on the table.

Kim ruined herself and her party in a 47-day election parade of death-wish errors. The current Westmount administration has two years to recover from the Sunnyside mistake. But the Mayor must think like Margaret and not like Kim. Though the stated objective of the Westmount Park plan is to maximize playing fields, the large north field in the current proposal is to be limited to pee-wee soccer players. This makes little sense as it is the best senior field.

On Oct. 22, council may vote on whether much of Westmount’s landmark park is to be converted into a soccer day camp. They have two choices. They can dismiss this narrow idea as bureaucratic tunnel vision and evaluate other sites. This will protect both the heritage of the park and develop soccer programs in a long-term framework with wide public support. Or they can accept the bureaucratic POV. I know what the woman who privatized British Telecom and British Gas would have done.

Accept the bureaucratic power grab? Never. Retain the support of the electorate? Always.

Yes, we need a long-term vision for our soccer program. But this means one that has the support of the electorate. If the mayor and council vote for the current bureaucratic proposal, which in the electorate’s view will vandalize Westmount Park, they will await the fate of Kim Campbell. Or in the spirit of Thatcher, they can overrule the entrenched bureaucracy. And tell them to come up with a plan that respects both the desire of the electorate to protect its heritage park and look elsewhere to provide for a soccer program.

In that case, they can expect an electorate that will reward them for their shared long-term vision.

On Oct. 22 council may well make this decision.

John Graham

Melville Avenue