Civic Alert: Council explores the sustainable future

“We were not there to make decisions,” said Mayor Karin Marks, “but instead to develop common goals and especially to create a process for getting maximum public involvement—from individuals and groups.

“Sustainable development only works if there is very, very strong grassroots support.

Council, which was guided by two specialists from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, also examined how its own practices might need to be changed.

‘We aim to make this a priority for the next three years,” Marks went on, “so when we are making budgets, developing things and/or evaluating an issue, this underlying position is considered.”

Their conception of sustainable development was not limited to environmental issues.

“We have a much broader view, involving keeping a demographic mix, the availability of facilities and services to suit different age groups, and maintaining their value in the long-term.”



Demerger benefit



Coupled with these ambitions, dealing with the ongoing problems of the agglom and Jean Charest’s deviously incomplete demerger promise provide a great challenge. Such a concept would not have been possible at all, of course, but for the opportunity to restore our own City Hall.

Local concerns can be dealt with locally, which is not quite the case in NDG and the remaining Montreal boroughs.

Two of the three subjects I identified earlier in the year that everyone should consider are nearing decisions—whether the ADQ is worthy of support in the election, and the installation of artificial turf on the soccer field in Westmount Park.

The latter is a topic that seems to find more objectors each week, even as the requirement for facilities grows and the need for clear public hearings increases. This issue will give Council a chance to demonstrate the new philosophy it was studying last weekend.



Could election bring Montreal reforms?



There have been so many pre-election moves in recent weeks, how different will it seem once things really swing into action! Jean Charest and his government colleagues have been seen daily on the TV news handing out grants and other benefits.

On Monday for instance, Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau was in the spotlight. She left aside all the problems of Montreal—as she has done so many times during her term—to fly to the Îles-de-la-Madeleines (population: 13,991) with a government cheque for $1,050,000.

Karin Marks, as chair of the suburban mayors’ association, is still hoping that a meeting with Jean Charest will take place before the election.

The mayors have said that they are interested in a meeting with some substantive issue on the table and “not just a photo-opportunity.”

With mayors maintaining individual views toward the election, it is still notable that there is a great unity on the main issues involving need for reform.

However, if a Charest meeting is arranged, it a likely to be restricted to a delegation only. This would avoid the embarrassment of his being expected to receive the ADQ supporters while in electoral mode.

Four Island mayors are supporting the ADQ as a protest against the Liberal mishandling of the demerger promise.

While there is no clear signal that any of them might actually run for a National Assembly seat, there is support on the West Island—if radio call comments on Tuesday were genuine. One of the ADQ mayors, Maria Tutino of Baie d’Urfé, was a guest with Tommy Schnurmacher on CJAD.

None of the callers aired had a good word for Montreal, Gérald Tremblay, or the forced mergers. Schnurmacher was a strong critic of Charest’s demerger process.



Chagnon’s testing task



Westmount’s outgoing representative, Jacques Chagnon, has drawn what might turn out to be a hot-potato job—defending Charest’s decision to increase university tuition fees, which surprisingly was announced on the eve of the election and triggered a storm of student protest.

Chagnon, of course, chaired the Assembly commission that has been hearing the universities on the underfunding issue. As a former education minister, he was very supportive of the need to overcome the lack of funds.

While a little surprised at the timing of the government’s announcement of the increase, Chagnon told me that it could be good politics to be so upfront on the issue.

Nevertheless, he anticipates some strong and probably noisy encounters during the campaign. He expects first to visit the Gaspé CEGEP, where the student organization is particularly strong and noisy!



Coffee shop campaign



Meantime, he will continue his sixth campaign for election in the riding, which spans Westmount and downtown. He has opened new campaign offices at 1538 Sherbrooke near Guy.

This is on the opposite side of the street from the premises he used for his 2003 campaign. His electoral workers are now housed in a medical building in the former coffee shop space.

There are no fancy lattes or cappuccinos, he confessed. “Just a conventional coffee pot.”



CJAD’s gang of mayors



Municipal issues are getting the spotlight on CJAD’s Gang of Four for a week. A string of mayors will be guests on the 9 a.m. feature with Tommy Schnurmacher.

Westmount’s Karin Marks was scheduled for yesterday morning and planning to talk about benefits of small cities.

Maria Tutino (Baie d’Urfé) launched the series on Tuesday, discussing how her disenchantment with the lack of an alternative to the Liberal federal option led to her electoral support of the ADQ.

Others from the demerged cities are Bob Benedetti (Beaconsfield) this morning and Anthony Housefather (Côte St. Luc) on Monday. Tremblayites Alan DeSousa (St. Laurent, Tuesday) and Michael Applebaum (CDN-NDG, Wednesday) complete the series.

Applebaum will discuss “reasonable accommodation” issues. “It will be a challenge,” he admits, “but it seems appropriate to come from a borough that has a stable, harmonious mix of races.”

Schnurmacher’s producer, Susana Mas, says that both Big Mayor Gerald Tremblay and opposition leader Noushig Eloyan have also been invited to be part of the series.



Civic Studies



Planning: Westmount Council and city managers used the Dorval Hilton for their annual retreat again this year. Montreal Team Tremblay councillors have a similar event tomorrow (Friday), when they are due to spend all day in discussions on future party plans.



Installed: Westmount’s Lucie Tousignant former Legal Services Director and City Clerk — she also held the same position in Outremont — has made a big career change. She is now Treasurer of Montreal-West. The town also has a new Clerk, Claude Gilbert.



Moved: The Jane Goodall Institute, which supports the famed primatologist, has closed its headquarters on Sherbrooke St. in NDG and transferred staff and offices to Toronto, base of its major donors and new executive director, Jane Lawton.



Moving: Jared MacSween, who has been running the Tag Teen Centre, left last week and is also moving to Toronto. He had been named Director of Walmer House, a new YMCA facility for young adults. Marianne Knai succeeds him at TAG.



Helpers: Liberal volunteers from Westmount and downtown will assist colleagues in the Taillon riding, which is part of Longueuil. The two associations shared a bus to Quebec City at the weekend for the party rally.

Spokesman: The ADQ has again named Jean-Francois Plante as its main spokesman in the Montreal metropolitan region. A former two-term Montreal councillor, Plante was an associate of Pierre Bourque. He is running in Deux-Montagnes, where the ADQ got 21 per cent of the vote in 2003.



Speechless: Émile Loranger and Marcel Coriveau, mayors of the two suburban cities that demerged from mega-Quebec, have said they will boycott that agglom. Their moves follow Big Mayor Andrée Bouchard hiring retired Municipal Affairs Deputy Minister Robert Cornoyer to advise on the future structure.



Speaks up: The mother of a Marianopolis student went to last week’s STM public board meeting to alert directors that Route 66 The Boulevard would need augmenting when the CEGEP moves into its new home near Villa-Maria this summer. Vice chairman Marvin Rotrand made notes. At present, Route 66 is prone to rush-hour delays, she told me afterwards, but the Route 124 Victoria is even worse.







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.