Ville-Marie: who will be the boss of downtown?
La Presse’s Maxime Bergeron dissects the governance of Ville‑Marie, the report from experts that lays out three possible ways forward, and his discussion with Louise Harel, who was on the expert panel. Bergeron makes no secret of his preference for keeping the city mayor at the head of its most central borough, but allowing residents to elect a few more of its councillors.
DeWolf 11:45 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
“Les décisions qui se prennent dans cet arrondissement – le poumon économique du Québec – peuvent avoir un impact majeur sur toute la région métropolitaine, voire au-delà.”
That seems like a pretty flimsy reason to deny proper representation to the 100,000+ residents of Ville-Marie, which is also one of the fastest-growing boroughs in Montreal. You can say the same thing about the Plateau, whose local policies have been hugely influential throughout Quebec.
I’m not sure how you can expect downtown to become a place where people actually want to live when you maintain a system that means their needs will always be neglected because the people in charge have no time to deal with local issues.
thomas 12:55 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
I believe that the lack of political representation is a major factor contributing to problems around Place Émilie-Gamelin and the Village. This has led to the ghettoization of social services.
carswell 14:11 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
How is Louise Harel an expert on anything?
Kate 15:13 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
Harel’s a lawyer and was an MNA for 27 years. Then she notably failed to get elected mayor of Montreal. I don’t know either how this qualifies her to speak specifically on city affairs, but there’s no denying she has experience in practical politics.
carswell 16:37 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
Yeah, having been around for nearly her entire time on the scene, I know something about her backstory, hence my semi-rhetorical question.
But to expound: She’s a dinosaur career politician with a less than stellar track record on nearly everything except women’s issues. Sure, she held lots of ministerial positions in various PQ governments but I bet few people, even militant(e)s, could list many accomplishments.
In municipal affairs, she’s favoured a top-down, undemocratic approach, the takeover of municipal powers by the provincial government and the subsequent municipal mergers — all forced on the big cities by governments that mostly owed their election to rural and suburban regions — being prime examples. If she’s shown much interest in urban planning issues other than consolidated administration, it’ll be news to me. She also has a history of next to no meaningful contact with non-Québécois communities that form a significant portion of Montreal’s population (her English is halting at best). All that alone should be enough to disqualify her from having a modern-day soapbox on city affairs, let alone being part of an “expert” panel intended to provide guidance.
Kate 17:02 on 2023-03-16 Permalink
What you say is fair, carswell.