July 16, 2001
Subject: The battle against annexation – 5th report
Dear Fellow Citizen:
As most of you are no doubt aware, on June 28 Justice Lagacé of the Quebec Superior Court rendered his judgement in our legal case against Bill 170 – the law that forcibly creates a new Island-wide City of Montreal and wipes out the City of Westmount. The Judge excoriated the Province for ramming this law through with no consultation and for unnecessarily inflaming the language debate. The latter barb had to do with the stipulation in Bill 170 that the new City of Montreal must be unilingual French. Unfortunately, the judge did not follow through and declare the law unconstitutional. We are appealing this judgement, but more on that later.
The political front
Since it is unlikely that the legal battle will be ended before the planned November 4 elections for this new megacity of Montreal, we are being dragged into these elections whether we like it or not. And I always said that I would wait for the Superior Court judgement before deciding about my involvement, if any, in the megacity. Whatever I did, it had to respect my overriding goal: to stop this annexation through court action, or, in extremis, to work for the de-merger of Westmount if ever the megacity were created. I was faced with two choices: either run for the mayor of the megacity, or run for the president of the arrondissement (“borough”) of Westmount. But how could I run a city I don’t believe in, to seek a job I wanted to eliminate? How could I lend my name to the creation of this misbegotten enterprise, the very existence of which I am trying to have dissolved though the courts, or through the Liberals’ promise of de-merger? It was an impossible contradiction.
So I am not running for any position in the megacity. But we could not just boycott the election process. We could not leave this flank exposed. Instead, we needed brave volunteers, unshakable in their desire to keep Westmount independent, who would work from within the megacity, leaving me unfettered to continue to lead the fight from outside. We needed people with experience on Council, people who know how things are run now, people who share the corporate memory, people who know the local issues. The strategy will be for them to assure that, as far as they can, nothing irreversible happens to Westmount that could make any de-merger that much more difficult.
Councillor Karin Marks has agreed to run for “borough” president, who will sit as our only representative as councillor on the megacity Council. She has 10 years experience on Council, is bilingual, and is available full-time – all of these qualities will be needed, as she will be essentially running the “borough” of Westmount. Councillor Marks has consistently fought to preserve both the physical appearance of Westmount and its sense of community. Two other members of Westmount City Council have agreed to run as the two local councillors: Cynthia Lulham and John de Castell. While all three are committed to the idea of de-merger, they are also committed in the meantime to ensure – to the extent the megacity structure allows – that services remain at their current level. They will also fight for maximum political and managerial decentralisation.
Karin Marks, Cynthia Lulham, and John de Castell have the unreserved support of the entire Westmount City Council.
The legal front
Before I describe where we are going on the legal front, please indulge me by letting me tell you about a bit of recent Westmount history. In 1987, the Montreal Urban Community produced a valuation roll for Westmount that was full of egregious errors. The MUC admitted they were wrong, but forced us to pay our share of MUC expenses based on the faulty roll. Westmount’s mayor at the time, May Cutler – along with her Council - refused to pay that portion of the bill based on clearly-inflated numbers. The MUC had to have Westmount put into trusteeship for the time it took to write a cheque to them. We took legal action against the MUC, but lost in Superior Court in 1995. By that time, I was mayor. Against all outside advice, Westmount City Council decided to go to appeal. In 1998, we won. Our perseverance paid off – to the tune of $1.2 million. Significantly, that’s about what it will cost us for all our present and future legal bills in fighting the forced merger with Montreal. Here endeth the lesson.
Bill 170 requires that the City of Westmount cease to exist as of January 1, 2002. Sensitive to this deadline, the judicial system has been moving with relative haste. We already have a date for the appeal: the 4,5 and 7 of September. At least 13 other cities have joined us. Interestingly, in a recent poll conducted by La Presse, 55.7% of residents on the Island of Montreal agree that this law should be appealed. Even a majority of people in the current City of Montreal supports the idea of going to appeal. Our appeal is based on the fact that Justice Lagacé failed to consider some of our major arguments. His decision also contains a number of errors of law. Your Council is determined to go to the Supreme Court if necessary to make sure justice prevails and such a discriminatory, undemocratic, and unconstitutional law is overturned.
I wish you all a tranquil and peaceful summer. Things will certainly not be so quiet this fall.
Yours very truly,
Peter F. Trent
Mayor
PFT:eg
Trent Last letter
13 May 2001 4th report
For part I
Continued in The Latest Story part II
"The man behind the mayor"
By Jan Kaluza
Gaszette & other media MergerNotes a please see for Lastest & History
10/Feb/2001 Gaszette Editoral by Peter F. Trent a must see.
The Latest Story part II
"The man behind the mayor"
By Jan Kaluza
And do see his March 13, 2001 Letter
to Fellow Citizen:
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There'll Be No Tavern In This Town
by Peter Trent March 14th 1998 It has a 26mg movie with George Bowser and Peter Trent
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