Opposition finds new hay to make
TVA’s headline “Montréal accusée de faire du pavage électoral” is, of course, about the official opposition accusing Projet of mostly doing paving contracts in boroughs where it’s in the majority.
I can see two obvious flaws here, although there may be others.
One, Projet’s heartland is in the older parts of town, which are inevitably going to need more infrastructure work than the newer parts and the demerged cities, so it’s a given that more work has to be done there.
Two, if Projet wanted to blandish new territory under its sway, it would trumpet how it’s doing work in non-Projet areas. But instead it’s getting on with business.
Recently Kevin said it seemed I felt Ensemble have, and I quote, pissed in my cornflakes. No. I watch the headlines and call ’em as I sees ’em. The Projet administration does seem to me to be doing its job, in an even-handed, non-flashy, logical manner, but Ensemble has no other game than to find stupid angles to make people hate them – and some media eat it up, notably but not only Quebecor.
Anyway, I don’t eat cornflakes.
Kevin 15:18 on 2019-11-29 Permalink
Kate,
That’s the only angle Projet had for many years too. I recall a certain leader complaining that boroughs had their budgets cut when spending was actually increased.
Kate 09:35 on 2019-11-30 Permalink
Kevin, I’m not sure that’s true. Projet built up grassroots support from people interested in urban livability issues, they didn’t simply sit back and take potshots at Tremblay and then Coderre. They were interested in creating a coherent plan, something I don’t see from Ensemble.
Kevin 08:57 on 2019-12-01 Permalink
While it often did not make headlines, projet spent years sending out news releases denouncing many acts of those administrations. The difference is that Perez’s team does whatever it can to meet the press.
Kate 09:27 on 2019-12-01 Permalink
Kevin, what always bugs me about Perez’s “meet the press” efforts is this: Journalists never seem to challenge him with the question “So, how would an Ensemble administration handle this?” Anyone can pick holes in decisions made by city hall, but coming up with a coherent answer that fixes defined problems while staying within budget is the challenge, and it’s not so easy once you’re actually doing it vs. armchair carping about how someone else is doing it.
But I’m not seeing that question asked – or, if asked, seeing the answers reported. If Ensemble were serious, they’d make a shadow budget showing us just how they’d distribute the money (or, in fact, how they’d fix problems with less money, since in Ensemble-land they’d never, ever increase tax rates). Then we’d see.