Civic Alert: Better snow clearing shows wisdom of demerger efforts

You only need take a step outside our borders to realize the difference, just as has been the case for decades.

It is a vivid reminder of what might have happened if we had been fully absorbed into the dysfunctional Montreal that PQ Premier Lucien Bouchard hoped for in 2001!

We escaped, badly in debt, but free to direct our resources to local priorities, thanks to superhuman work by elected people and determined citizens.

The suburbs were wronged by Jean Charest’s Liberal government with the rules it made for the demerger. But they were written largely at the downtown mayor’s bidding. They were unfair and impractical. There is need for adjustment.

Unfortunately Big Mayor Gérald Tremblay has difficulty in accepting the situation in public, as was shown in his interviews with the Gazette this month.

While it was the PQ who created the confusion with the unjustified forced mergers, it is the Liberals who have botched up the reforms.

Liberals’ mess

They have a duty to clean it up. To be fair, they tried last summer with the proposals advanced by the new Montreal minister Raymond Bachand, the MNA for Outremont.

This included several, but not all, of the measures the suburbs wanted to make the situation fairer. In return Big Montreal would get its dream — the ability to raise local taxes.

Montreal objected despite the sugar-coating, and the Liberals were unable to push the required legislation through the National Assembly because the ADQ never supported it. With a minority government, every bill needs the support of at least some of the Opposition.

Political duplicity knows no bounds. ADQ leader Mario Dumont promised at the last election that he would abolish the Agglom, yet did not do so when he had the chance. Don’t ask my rating of politicians like that!

Meantime, Tremblay doesn’t get his taxes and the suburbs don’t get their reforms. Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau expects the two sides to agree on reforms between themselves. It will be difficult.

The Big Mayor told the Gazette that he has concerns about endorsing any change in the Agglom because “I convinced 600,000 people to stay in Montreal… If I cross the line the ten (borough) mayors and their citizens are going to say, ‘If I had known, then maybe I would have voted differently’”

Tremblay’s remarks illustrate his bloated ego. Of the boroughs that stayed in Montreal, citizens in four actually voted to demerge, but were disqualified because of the unjust threshold he asked Charest to impose.

Democratic cheating

It was a kind of democratic cheating and Tremblay should be keeping his head down and not raising the issue.

Besides, it is extremely unlikely that any of the ten mayors would say boo to Tremblay. Most were appointed to additional well-paid positions in the administration, and many of their councillors were named to grace-and-favour jobs at taxpayers’ expense, too!

Westmount’s mayor, Karin Marks, who also speaks for the suburban mayors, has a litany of criticisms of Tremblay’s false positioning, not least over his inflated self image.

“He sees himself as the Mayor of the Agglom, but he is not. He is Mayor of Montreal and President of Agglom,” she reminder me. “He sees himself responsible to the city, not the agglomeration.

Among the amendments the suburbs have asked Quebec to legislate is to change the name to the Agglomeration of the Island of Montreal, not the City. Call a duck a duck for best results!

Urban myths

Marks is also critical of two “urban myths that Tremblay has created, which the government should challenge so that there can be fair debate.”

Tremblay contends that the MUC, which united the 28 Island municipalities, “didn’t work and was a terrible thing.”

“In fact,” Marks retorted, “the MUC worked a whole lot better than the Agglom.

“He talks about not repeating the MUC’s double voting. We have never asked for anything like that, so it is very disingenuous of him.”

“Secondly, he falsely maintains that to change the demerger law would upset those who voted to stay.

“In reality, it has been changed many times, usually at Tremblay’s request. Besides some of the problems were not contained in the law, but in the additional government decrees.”

The National Assembly did not give the power to his Executive Committee — that was added after the laws passed, the mayor pointed out. Financial assistance to several Montreal organisations is charged to the Agglom account, but was never included in the law.

Probably most of all, the suburbs want to stop being treated like an opposition and be accepted as partners.

“Although 13 per cent of the population, we represent 20 per cent of the tax base. That is a very substantial minority which would be fully protected in the corporate world,” Marks said.

“Besides, many get fewer services than Montreal. There is a good deal less transit for people on the West Island, for instance. Arterial roads in the suburbs are short changed.”



Two job searches end



Monday’s Council meeting was dismissed in advance as being dull. True, there were no Save-the-Park battles, but there were some interesting results from work in the committees, especially in personnel selection.

Quietly and largely through retirement, the City’s management team is being renewed. Monday’s nomination of the new Public Security captain was another example.

Richard Bourdon, who has been hired on a three-year contract, has 36 years with the Montreal Police behind him. For the last ten years he was a station commander!

As Councillor John de Castell said, “His wide experience includes emergency planning, traffic management and enforcement. He will share his vast knowledge with the new, young officers who are replacing the 25-year-veterans of the original crew who are now retiring.”

Bourdon replaces John Everatt, while this month’s other appointment was Brigitte Stock for the new post of Communications Coordinator.

A 25-year veteran of the public relations profession, she was for four years with National, the largest Canadian firm in the field. Educated at UQAM and the Sorbonne, she is a well-known resident who has served on the City’s Community Events Advisory Committee.

Stock is the mother of an adult daughter and two young teenage sons. She is a “Dolphins” Mom and also supportive of her boys’ hockey and soccer in the City’s recreation programme.

There was an odd twist to the two appointments. Both new employees were present, but it was the ex-policeman who was invited to introduce himself at the microphone. He would put his 36 years’ experience at the disposal of the community, he said.

The communicator, however, was not invited to participate though she acknowledged the applause that greeted her welcome from Mayor Marks.

Councillor Nicole Forbes told me that the City had received a good many applications for the position. “The short-list was reduced to two outstanding candidates and in the end Brigitte was chosen.”



How Westport does it

Impatient for Westmount to progress with its sustainable development plans, veteran environmentalist Peter Kohl wrote his own report last fall, helped by four friends who shared his interest.

Kohl, 82 years old, died on Dec. 27 with their work virtually completed. He left word that the team should finalise the report under the leadership of Melville Ave. resident Sheila Mason.

The Concordia professor presented it to Council on Monday and it was enthusiastically welcomed by the Mayor, who promised to give it to the Sustainability Coordinator once that job is filled.

“I’m sure Peter is having a laugh up there,” Mason told me after the report’s encouraging reception.

The authors are working with the Healthy City Project to make an Action Plan based on the ideas included.

They might like to look at a similar effort in Westport, the affluent New York exurb on Long Island Sound. It has about the same population size as Westmount and residents include Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Westport protects its trees and is semi-environmentally aware —, like here. The council just bought three hybrid cars, there are solar panels on the fire station and the environment committee recently became worried about the potential health problems of the town’s four artificial turf soccer fields.

Carbon challenge?

The First Selectman (their mayor) formed a Green Energy Task Force last year. It is headed by a former councillor, is developing a conservation plan, working on greening a school, reviewing zoning regulations and mapping the town’s carbon footprint.

Both local papers run articles on “green energy options for residences” and report on geothermal installations in the town. A brown bag lunch in the Town Hall discussed citizen participation and tax incentives for individuals’ carbon reduction.

Half of the town’s carbon emissions come from the railroad and two autoroutes that run through. They are trying to reduce the remainder by ten per cent by 2010.

All have similarities with Westmount! Should we try a challenge?

• Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net.