Wednesday Night Salon # 938

Wednesday Night February 23, 2000 #938

With reference to the Invitation, virtually “ none of the above” was discussed, for assorted reasons. On the other hand, given the presence of His Worship, the Mayor of Westmount and a video portraying his illustrious career and many achievements, we enjoyed a tour d’horizon of the issues of Amalgamation.

“We have just begun to fight”

Starting from the point at which Westmount had led the vehement protest against the Quebec Government’s nefarious Down-loading scheme (an issue which is now before the courts, with judgment expected within two months), Peter went on to deplore the fact that the mega-city debate is overshadowing the very real problems of urban sprawl and transportation. Québec has other priorities/problems such as Healthcare and the Youth Summit – problems they have created for themselves.

It is worth noting that 2 years ago in l’Actualité, Premier Bouchard pronounced himself against amalgamation. Now, however, it has become a political issue with little attention paid to what is good for the region. And yet, it is a politically unwise move for the Québec government to support fusion (only 52% of the inhabitants of a new mega-city would speak French), but the government persists in wanting to emulate the Harris government of Ontario.

It is not a “fusion” – it is a question of annexation, but there is a niggling problem – who, including the Québec politicians – really wants to see Bourque as Mayor of a Super City?

The suburban municipalities are undertaking a concerted and highly public campaign against the mega-city concept including the threat of a Transition Council and feel that they have an arsenal of good arguments.

Yvette Biondi presented a concise summary of some of these arguments, pointing out that for the first time the municipalities of the Island of Montreal are united in their opposition to Mayor Bourque’s concept of “One Island One City”.

C'est un geste de solidarité que le gouvernement actuel attendait depuis longtemps. Sans mentionner les gouvernements précédents … Une initiative qui mérite toute notre attention, et surtout celle des médias.

Trop de médias avancent que les maires tiennent beaucoup plus à leur petite "tour d'ivoire" qu'au développement économique de la Ville de Montréal. À mon avis, plusieurs maires que j'ai rencontrés ont proposé des scénarios très intéressants pour sortir Montréal de sa torpeur.

On oublie que plusieurs municipalités ont signé de nombreux partenariats: pensons à la tempête de verglas, à Montréal International, au programme Opti qui encourage la sous-traitance pour toute l'île de Montréal. Ce dernier, fut mis sur pied par le commissaire industriel principal de Ville de Saint-Laurent, M. Réjean Laliberté. Encore une fois, ce sont des gestes qui demeurent dans l'ombre…

Il ne faut pas oublier également que depuis la création de la CUM, les municipalités ont appris à se connaître davantage et, surtout, à travailler au bien-être commun de la Ville de Montréal.

Les économistes Pierre-Paul Proulx, de l'U. de M., Peter Kresl, de l'Université Bucknell en Pennsylvanie, et Pierre Langlois, qui détient une maîtrise de l'U. de M. concernant les fusions municipales, ont déclaré que le projet du Maire Bourque était en soit une très bonne idée, mais que le débat ne s'arrêtait qu'aux structures et non à des stratégies économiques valables pour la région métropolitaine.

Une étude récente lancée par CROP, révélait les tendances suivantes:

62% de citoyens s'opposent aux fusions;

72% optent pour le référendum pour débattre du sujet

89% se disent satisfaits des services reçus de leur municipalité

82% se disent satisfaits de l'administration de leur municipalité

74% considèrent que leur conseiller est disponible

80% se déclarent satisfaits de leur compte de taxes

95% apprécient leur qualité de vie

62% désireraient que les maires arrivent à présenter différents scénarios pour

sauver Montréal du désastre.

She reminded us of American cities that are successful without incorporating their numerous individualistic suburbs. Among them:

Boston 130 municipalities Miami 55

Atlanta 102 Seattle 88

Cleveland 146

Phoenix 32

St-Paul/Minneapolis 189

And, in comparison, Montreal with 111

Citing a recent KPMG study which compared Montreal with the great cities of Europe and North America, Mme Biondi underlined that Montreal placed ahead of Germany, France, Italy, England and the U.S. – as well as the Canadian average - in terms of desirable levels of operating costs for a company.

The U.S. Presidential election campaign

Opinion was unanimous against George W. Bush, for his brazen tactics in South Carolina, his track record on capital punishment and cronyism in Texas and, perhaps most of all because of his lack of any indication of a thought process.

John McCain is popular among Wednesday Nighters who agree that if he is selected as the Republican nominee, Al Gore has serious worries.

There was, however, a sly reference to the splendid book/film, The Manchurian Candidate….

Youth Summit

What does Youth want?

A better (and free) education.

The government has created the issue of university fees by promising to maintain them. But we should ask ourselves, and the government, why we should maintain weak (failing) students.

While not likely to increase support for the PQ Government, the Youth Summit and its opponents have focused the attention of the media on other issues than Healthcare and the Clarity Bill. The PQ may live to regret this fact!

The Economy

Again the point was made that the new technology stocks are outperforming the old “established” companies, creating some excellent buy opportunities. (see Stephen Jarislowsky on this subject).Alan Greenspan is concerned by the hot economy and is looking to raising interest rates to cool it. There are those who feel that the US economy is the biggest bubble in history and that “ we’re in for a hard landing” due to the excess credits that have been pumped into the system. There are parallels to be drawn with 73-74 – and remember the fantastic buying opportunities in 75. Other historically inclined commentators went back to 1873 and the railroads, reminding us that the only people who made money were the stock manipulators. Friday 18 February 2000 Investors' wall of worry It's getting higher, as fears grow that high energy costs will hammer share prices down by DON MACDONALD

Quotes of the evening

Commenting on the recent primaries in the U.S. South “ we will witness the unique scene of the lions being thrown to the Christians”.
The State of the Union Address – “90 minutes of aerobics”
If Bush were nominated, his ox would be Gored
There are consultants’ studies that prove that if you tied an elephant’s tail to a daisy and pushed the elephant over the cliff, it would not fall.