Civic Alert: Normandeau shown that Agglom ‘needs fixing’

There is also a cost for not taking corrective action. Perhaps had MNAs seen the promises they made on video — now available on YouTube.com — they would better appreciate how citizens feel. This new resource for advocacy on local affairs had an effective role in the recent U.S. elections.

Merger fighters have assembled news clips of Jean Charest’s promises made on behalf of the Liberals. It is a dramatic and potentially powerful tool.

There is some sympathy for the mayors’ cases, however. “The Agglom needs some fixing, but it will take time for the government to decide what is do-able,� conceded Francois Ouimet, the Lachine MNA and Liberal caucus chair, who was called in by the minister to preside over the meeting.

Friday morning’s meeting was held in the Minister’s downtown Montreal offices and lasted an hour and a half. It contrasted with one last month, for which Mega-mayor Gérald Tremblay provided an agenda with two dozen points. That one lasted all day!

Karin Marks made a 20-minute presentation on behalf of the mayors’ association. It centered on basic difficulties caused by Montreal protecting its own interests, in preference to those of a “partnership� with the other cities.

“We were very well prepared. I was proud of the teamwork by several of the mayors who researched and wrote the presentation,� Marks commented. “However, it highlighted some of our difficulties in a way I think the minister understood.

“I asked the minister to contrast our personal work that we put into the presentation with Mayor Tremblay’s huge resources — an enormous staff available to contribute to such a project. To make it worse, their efforts would be charged to the Agglom costs so that we subsidize it!�

Thirteen association members were present — Vera Danyluk and Anthony Housefather having commitments out of town. The latter returned early, only to find the minister had rescheduled the meeting even earlier.

Besides the minister, who was accompanied by top department officials and political staff, six Island MNAs attended. A surprising absentee was Yolande James, whose riding includes Pierrefonds, which was content to stay in the megacity, and Kirkland, a demerger hot-spot and home of demerger advocate Michel Gibson.

Before the main meeting, Marks and association vice-chair Bill McMurchie met privately with the minister. “We told her that we had withdrawn all suggestions relating to a reconstruction of the MUC,� Marks recalled.

Westmount MNA Jacques Chagnon, who was instrumental in setting up the meeting, was present only for the second part. He first attended two events in the eastern part of his riding with Premier Jean Charest: the inauguration of the Dawson College theatre and the Old Brewery Mission’s housing

expansion.



Progress on tax rates



Chagnon was also anxious to finalize agreement with the minister and her officials on Westmount’s request to have the freedom to set variable property tax rates for residential and commercial buildings.

So, after the main meeting broke up, the minister convened another one with her officials, Marks and Chagnon to resolve some technical difficulties that have been discovered in attempting to support this request, which would have province-wide ramifications.

“I still believe it could be resolved so that the appropriate legislation could be passed before Christmas,� Chagnon said this week.

In their presentation, the mayors mentioned the ridiculous situation of Dorval water fluoridation recently being denied by Montreal, although the town water has been treated for 50 years, the government advocates fluoride use, and is willing to fully fund a new plant and its ongoing operation.

Ouimet and Geoff Kelley, the MNA for Pointe Claire, which also fluoridates its water, had previously met Normandeau on the issue.

She had promised to find a solution, Ouimet said.



Charest’s broken promises on YouTube



Despite their optimistic post-meeting tone, Liberal MNAs show a lack of concern at the dysfunctional situation that they have created by their broken demerger promises.

The clarity of those promises has been made easily accessible with the video compiled by St. Bruno anti-merger activists and distributed this week by their leader, Ginette Durocher.

You have only to visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTH4bT0OH40">www.youtube.com — it is not even necessary to sign on — to get the entire six-minute promise-fest from five and six years ago.

There is Jean Charest clearly telling a Radio-Canada TV interviewer that the Liberals were “happy to repeat their commitment� to make a law on the forced mergers to “go back.�

And again, that the party would “fight the fusions.�

There is no glimmer of suggesting only part-demerger. There is no hint of making it so difficult, or denying the people of St Laurent and elsewhere their chance to demerge with the 35 per cent threshold.

And to think Charest said last week that they were “keeping an eye on it!�

Reliving the optimistic days of the anti-merger fight is emotional in itself. The media with which it can now be done is even more interesting.

Six years ago, the process of duplication and distribution was costly and complicated. Now that same video can be loaded on YouTube for anyone in the world with computer access to see — and at next-to-no-cost.



Civic studies



• MNA Jacques Chagnon winds up his series of party workshops this weekend. Next Wednesday, he leaves for Turin, where he will spend the rest of the month on parliamentary Francophonie business.

• Keir Cutler found an appreciative audience in Victoria Hall on Monday for his ‘Teaching Shakespeare’ play. “It was witty, profound, original and revealing,� reports Westmounter Mabel Everage!



Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net. His columns are archived at www.westmountexaminer.com,">www.westmountexaminer.com,">www.westmountexaminer.com, go to Opinion.