Show me Democracy!

This is democracy in Montreal. This is the process of Gerald Tremblay’s administration. Does it come as a shock to you? Is the community surprised? We know there is no democracy in Tremblay’s party, only hypocrisy.

40 000 petition signatures opposed to the name change; zero petitions for the name change. Yet it has passed. And the mayor has the audacity to say that this is democracy. He has the nerve to say that there was public consultation. A complete and utter lie.

When was the public ever given the right to speak before the proposal? Never. This was a proposal which was forced upon the public. This was a proposal conceived behind closed doors.

And what about the free vote? Well the fix was in right from the beginning. Less than a handful of councilors actually stood up to support the name change, while many councilors voiced their opposition. Yet the vote was lopsided. The councilors were clearly scared to voice their true opinions. The vote was almost completely alon party lines. It should make the people of Montreal sick. The councilors themselves should be ashamed.

So, have we lost the battle for Park Avenue? It seems we have lost a far greater battle for democracy; a battle for the preservation of our history.

They can never take Park Avenue away from us. We know the history of our street, we have the memories, we own houses and businesses which will always be on Park Avenue. And we will continue to fight, tooth and nail, against the name change.

What do we do next?

We are taking legal action against the city. Tremblay’s party mandated in January 2006 to follow rules pertaining to public consultation and transparent government. They are clearly in violation of these rules. We will voice our opposition to the Commission de Toponymie du Quebec, so that they can reject the name change and preserve our beloved Park Avenue. And most of all we remember the politicians in their ivory tower who allowed this to happen.

Je me souviens!

The next municipal elections are a few years away, but we will certainly remember the wounds of Park Avenue. We will recall that Fotopulos initially agreed to change the name of Park Avenue. We will recall that when she and her council flip flopped around the issue and finally decided to oppose the proposal, they did so half-heartedly. She never formally proposed a motion to reject the name change. She never lobbied any councilors in Tremblay’s party to reject the name change. The Plateau councilors, Fotopulos, Prescott and Labrecque abandoned the public. French English, Greek Jewish…all nationalities, all races, were abandoned, and the name change was allowed to pass without strong opposition from our own Plateau councilors. They should be ashamed. They will be voted out at the next election. We the people will show our democracy.

The people of the Plateau had to rely upon Mary Deros and her opposition council from Park Extension to stand up for our community. These are our heroes, and they are not even from our borough. For public consultation we had to rely upon Warren Allmand and Marvin Rotrand who actually had the bravery to stand up against Tremblay and organize an informal consultation in Cote des Neiges. All of these other councilors had to step in and do the work of Helen Fotopulos and her cronies. We will not forget.

Civil Disobedience

And most of all, we will never allow these bureaucrats to change the Park Avenue name. We will post the Park Avenue name over any new street signs. The community will paint over all new signs to preserve the Park Avenue history. We will not change our addresses, or our business names. Park Avenue will always remain Park Avenue.

What the mayor has done has intimately touched the community. He has affected our personal heritage. He is re-writing history and he is trying to change our personal addresses on Park Avenue. His decision will personally affect our lives, and we should not feel afraid to personally affect his. Write him personal letters, and send them directly to his home. He is a person in our community; he is not far above the average person. He is our elected official, and our neighbor, and we should feel free to bring issues to his personal attention. So you can send your mail to Gerald Tremblay’s personal address:

441 Av Stuart
Outremont, QC H2V 3H1

Get Tremblay's home phone number here