JasonParis
Moderator
Down with Montreal's 19 kingdoms
LYSIANE GAGNON
January 7, 2008 at 8:01 AM EST
How many mayors does a city with 1.8 million people need? In Montreal, no fewer than 20.
Mayor Gérald Tremblay chairs city council. Nineteen "smaller" mayors chair the conseils d'arrondissements; these municipal districts have become responsible for zoning, housing, parks, street maintenance and so on. The arrondissements often collide with the central administration, and some of the mayors, riding on their inflated status, behave like feudal lords.
To understand why Montreal is plagued with such an expensive and inefficient system of government, one has to go back to the Bouchard government, which forced municipal mergers throughout the province in 2001. This was done without consulting the smaller cities. On the island of Montreal, anger was especially acute since the merging of the on-island municipalities stripped the anglophone minority of the only political jurisdiction (apart from the school boards) of which it had total control.
Then-opposition leader Jean Charest saw a huge window of opportunity. Once he took office, he said, he would hold a series of referendums and allow the former municipalities to reclaim their status.
Meantime, in a desperate move to accommodate the voters of the former municipalities, the enlarged city of Montreal divided its territory into arrondissements (some carved out of the main city, and others corresponding to the former suburban municipalities) and delegated massive powers to them in hopes that their quasi-autonomous status would dissuade them from breaking away. Alas, most former municipalities reclaimed independence, and Montreal was stuck with 19 cities within the city.
The absurdity of the system was emphasized in Ville-Marie, which covers the entire downtown, including the city's commercial heart. Benoit Labonté, the "mayor" of Ville-Marie, came to see himself as responsible for all of the major downtown projects, including the building of a university hospital on St-Denis and the creation of a large arts complex on Ste-Catherine.
Mr. Tremblay, a rather shy and passive individual, accepted this power grab until city columnists pushed him to react. Now, Mr. Tremblay is asking the Quebec government to amend the city's charter to make the central city responsible for the downtown area.
More and more, Montrealers complain about the disintegration of services. They don't even know who to blame because there is no tangible political accountability.
This was especially obvious in the wake of two consecutive snowstorms that descended on the metropolitan area before Christmas. Since boroughs are responsible for snow removal, the clearing operations varied from one district to another.
In Côte-des-Neiges, the streets surrounding two hospitals were still clogged days after the snowfall, while the quiet residential streets of Rosemont were thoroughly clean. The worst was in Ville-Marie. Sherbrooke, Montreal's major east-west artery, was still lined with giant snowbanks when the second snowfall hit. On Ste-Catherine, Montreal's major commercial street, the Ville-Marie workers never managed to spray salt or sand on sidewalks covered with black ice. "It was the worst performance in memory," wrote Gazette city columnist Henry Aubin, who believes that snow clearance, like firefighting and policing, should be subject to a unified policy.
Actually, Montreal is ready for more: The city should be recentralized and its little kingdoms abolished.
LYSIANE GAGNON
January 7, 2008 at 8:01 AM EST
How many mayors does a city with 1.8 million people need? In Montreal, no fewer than 20.
Mayor Gérald Tremblay chairs city council. Nineteen "smaller" mayors chair the conseils d'arrondissements; these municipal districts have become responsible for zoning, housing, parks, street maintenance and so on. The arrondissements often collide with the central administration, and some of the mayors, riding on their inflated status, behave like feudal lords.
To understand why Montreal is plagued with such an expensive and inefficient system of government, one has to go back to the Bouchard government, which forced municipal mergers throughout the province in 2001. This was done without consulting the smaller cities. On the island of Montreal, anger was especially acute since the merging of the on-island municipalities stripped the anglophone minority of the only political jurisdiction (apart from the school boards) of which it had total control.
Then-opposition leader Jean Charest saw a huge window of opportunity. Once he took office, he said, he would hold a series of referendums and allow the former municipalities to reclaim their status.
Meantime, in a desperate move to accommodate the voters of the former municipalities, the enlarged city of Montreal divided its territory into arrondissements (some carved out of the main city, and others corresponding to the former suburban municipalities) and delegated massive powers to them in hopes that their quasi-autonomous status would dissuade them from breaking away. Alas, most former municipalities reclaimed independence, and Montreal was stuck with 19 cities within the city.
The absurdity of the system was emphasized in Ville-Marie, which covers the entire downtown, including the city's commercial heart. Benoit Labonté, the "mayor" of Ville-Marie, came to see himself as responsible for all of the major downtown projects, including the building of a university hospital on St-Denis and the creation of a large arts complex on Ste-Catherine.
Mr. Tremblay, a rather shy and passive individual, accepted this power grab until city columnists pushed him to react. Now, Mr. Tremblay is asking the Quebec government to amend the city's charter to make the central city responsible for the downtown area.
More and more, Montrealers complain about the disintegration of services. They don't even know who to blame because there is no tangible political accountability.
This was especially obvious in the wake of two consecutive snowstorms that descended on the metropolitan area before Christmas. Since boroughs are responsible for snow removal, the clearing operations varied from one district to another.
In Côte-des-Neiges, the streets surrounding two hospitals were still clogged days after the snowfall, while the quiet residential streets of Rosemont were thoroughly clean. The worst was in Ville-Marie. Sherbrooke, Montreal's major east-west artery, was still lined with giant snowbanks when the second snowfall hit. On Ste-Catherine, Montreal's major commercial street, the Ville-Marie workers never managed to spray salt or sand on sidewalks covered with black ice. "It was the worst performance in memory," wrote Gazette city columnist Henry Aubin, who believes that snow clearance, like firefighting and policing, should be subject to a unified policy.
Actually, Montreal is ready for more: The city should be recentralized and its little kingdoms abolished.
