2005

News release – for immediate distribution

Peter meets the Press 31 Jan 2005

PETER TRENT WILL NOT BE A CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR

Montreal, January 31, 2005 – After having led the battle against forced municipal mergers and, subsequently, for demergers, Peter Trent announced today that he will not be running to become Mayor of Westmount in the upcoming municipal elections.

Kathy

“Westmount is a diverse city with a strong sense of community,” noted Mr. Trent. “I have enjoyed working with my fellow councillors on a wide range of things, from zoning and heritage legislation to the restoration and expansion of the local library. It has been an honour to serve on Council and as Mayor, but the city thankfully is about to be reborn and it is time for others to carry on.”

Mr Trent, the former and last Mayor of the City of Westmount, has not given any media interviews since the June 20, 2004 vote on demergers. After a six-month “sabbatical”, he decided to make his intentions clear. “I set out to fight mergers to the finish and, then, I wanted to ensure demergers happened. It has been a long campaign, lasting almost a decade. My task is now done,”

“It’s time for a new regional leader to take it from here,” he continued, “preferably a leader from a francophone city.”

Press gang 31 Jan 2005

It will take years to repair the damage done to Quebec municipalities by both the PQ (with their forced mergers) and the Liberals (with their botched demergers). Mr Trent, nonetheless, expressed his satisfaction in knowing at least some cities will regain their independence, stressing they will be far better off. “Those former cities that are now permanently merged with the megacity of Montreal will see their number of elected officials decrease, while their taxes increase – both owing to the inevitable uniformization of the size of boroughs and their allotments. As I have stated from the outset, the megacity concept was firmly rooted in the past, and smaller cities are far better managed and responsive to their citizens.”

In looking ahead, Mr. Trent maintained that unless the government sees the error of its ways, there will be constant pressure to “remerge”. “It is crucial that the reborn cities on the south shore and on Montreal Island work together to combat this tendency.”

VIPs

Mr Trent hoped that in future the provincial government will recognise the municipal level as a legitimate government in itself and begin to understand that urban regions in many ways have become more important than provinces or states. “Cities should not be treated as cash cows, nor be wiped off the map without their residents’ consent,” he concluded.

Mr. Trent was first elected to Westmount City Council in 1983 and was mayor from 1991 to 2001 until the forced merger with the City of Montreal. He served as President of the Conference of Montreal Suburban Mayors from 1994 to 1998 and was Vice-Chairman of the Montreal Urban Community from 1994 to 1998.

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Information: Peter F. Trent Yanik Deschênes (514) 484-8170 / (514) 489-9092 (514) 985-8267 / (514) 247-8267

Will he or won't he?

Peter Trent, will not be the city's mayor. He who successfully spearheaded the fight to take the city back from its forced merger with Montreal.

Trent was acclaimed mayor three times, in 1991, 1995 and 1999, and would probably be acclaimed again. Asked yesterday about his intentions, Trent was coy.

"I am my own man, I will surprise you," he said.

Trent's predecessor, May Cutler, described Trent as "a fabulous mayor. Very few cities have been as lucky as Westmount to have someone of his calibre in the mayor's chair," she said.

Cutler however added she suspects Trent has his sights set on a bigger political future.

"He's an amazing ways-and-means person. I think he's destined for bigger things."

Others agree.

David Nicholson, a retired stockbroker runs a community Web site, wednesday-night.com

"If invited, I believe Trent would go federally, and I think he'd be a good choice as an MP. He's done his job for Westmount. I don't think he'd be criticized if wanted to broaden his political horizons," Nicholson said.

Since the Liberals were reduced to a minority government, speculation in Westmount has been rampant Prime Minister Paul Martin will appoint the sitting MP, Lucienne Robillard to the Senate, paving the way for a by-election in the riding.

Robillard, who is president of the privy council and minister of intergovernmental affairs was just sworn in as minister responsible for Canada's employment insurance system three weeks ago.

Westmount and other demerging suburbs leave Montreal on Jan 1, 2006.

ahustak@thegazette.canwest.com

A MESSAGE FROM (FORMER) MAYOR PETER TRENT

February 3, 2003

Dear Fellow Citizen:

Well, it’s been over a year since our city - and my office of Mayor – have together been wiped out by the PQ government. Without any electoral mandate, parliamentary debate, or public consultation, the provincial government, in an unprecedented abuse of power, had adopted a law forcibly merging all the cities on the island of Montreal into one megacity.

Peter F. Trent

Premier Bouchard promised us in November 2000 that the creation of this megacity would result in lower taxes for 86% of island taxpayers - and that was before taking into account the miracle of “economies of scale” through higher productivity and staff reductions. Interestingly, Mario Dumont of the ADQ came out in favour of one-island-one-city three years before the PQ did, citing the same efficiencies and lower costs - plus our need to be part of a North American merger trend. In fact, there have been no municipal mergers in the U.S. for over a century, and the Boston region thrives with 282 cities. But let’s get back to money: how about those promised savings?

The Montreal megacity’s budget for 2003 showed taxes going up by $65 million (and spending up by $70 million). There are more, not fewer, employees. And the total of salaries paid to the 105 elected officials is as much as all 290 got before. Yet there is zero provision in the budget for wage increases. (Don’t forget the government has effectively given the freedom of the city to the unions.) And the city has to sell library books to the Bibliothèque nationale to raise an extra $35 million. Next year, they’ll sell off Île Notre-Dame park for an additional $240 million. The new megacity has to hold a garage sale that includes the garage. So much for those economies of scale.

In short, the megacity has in no wise delivered on the PQ promises. Are you surprised? But it gets worse. There are already rumblings about more “uniform” boroughs (code for merging the Westmount borough with a bigger borough). So even this weak residue of our city could disappear.

Only the Quebec Liberal Party has promised us the right to vote on our own municipal future, leading to a de-merger if that’s what voters want. A SOM poll last October showed that 46% of megacity residents (58% in former suburbs) want de-merger. Can it be done? Can the eggs be unscrambled? Well, the eggs are not even co-mingled (and, yes, the toothpaste is still in the tube).

Peter Trent click to play | Download Quicktime player

Will Jean Charest honour his promise? He won’t if his party is not elected. The right to choose our city was taken away from us. With the Liberals, it’ll be up to you. Not the government.

If you want to help in the de-merger cause, call the Westmount Municipal Association at 989-9752

Yours very truly,

PETER F. TRENT -

Go Back | Go Forward to 13 May, 2002 letter

OWN 23 may 2002 13 Dec 2002 letter