Greenfield Park gears up for a fight

The Montreal Gazette is reporting that Cote Saint-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather‘s initiative to solicit support against the PQ’s Bill 14 has picked up major steam with endorsement by the Longueuil borough of (and former City of) Greenfield Park.

About half of the 86 cities, towns and boroughs that currently enjoy bilingual status have already passed resolutions condemning the proposed law, said Côte-St-Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather, who is co-ordinating municipal opposition to the bill.

They include Hampstead, Montreal West, Town of Mount Royal, Senneville, Beaconsfield, Dorval, Baie d’Urfé, Pointe-Claire, Kirkland and Westmount, along with several towns in the Eastern Townships and other regions, like Ayer’s Cliff, Shawville and Gore.

“There’s nothing good that I can say about this bill,” Housefather said.

“It’s a bill that’s not needed. It simply makes it uncomfortable for the English-speaking community in Quebec,” he added.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Greenfield+Park+gears+fight/7922969/story.html#ixzz2K8kHjItg

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• Bill 14 could affect city’s bilingual status, mayor says (cbc.ca)

 

New law imperils English in suburbs

Henry Aubin: New law imperils English in suburbs

Loss of bilingual status is a devastating blow and a barrier to business

BY HENRY AUBIN, MONTREAL GAZETTE DECEMBER 7, 2012

The Marois government’s proposed law to tighten the Charter of the French Language would deal a truly devastating blow to most of the 65 municipalities in Quebec that possess official bilingual status. The bill would strip this designation from a town if fewer than 50 per cent of its residents have English as their mother tongue.

Six of the 12 suburbs on Montreal Island that now offer services in French and English would lose the legal ability to continue to do so in English. They are Côte-St-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, Kirkland, Mont-Royal and Senneville. (See table.)

Four other suburbs, whose English mother-tongue residents are steadily declining and now represent less than 55 per cent of the population, are on course to falling under the threshold within a few years. They are Baie d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Pointe-Claire and Westmount. Hampstead and Montreal West, both of which are near the 60-per-cent mark, are safer ground. (The island’s two remaining suburbs, Montréal-Est and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, do not have bilingual status.)

Municipalities not on the island would tend to lose their status at a considerably higher rate. Many of these mostly rural towns or villages have aging anglo communities.

(The government would determine whether a city or town is above or below the 50 per cent bar on the basis of Statistic Canada’s census. However, it is unclear how the government would define people with English as their mother tongue. Most people have only one language as their mother tongue, but others list two or even more on the census form, depending the circumstances of their infancy. The table gives figures for both options.)

The proposed law, Bill 14, tabled this week by the minister responsible for language, Diane De Courcy, comes completely out of the blue. It’s been a long time since language has been a notable issue in the island’s suburbs or in the more distant places. You have to wonder what the problem is that De Courcy set out to fix.

To be sure, the presence of English has become a hot political issue, but that controversy has been confined do Montreal’s central core, especially the shopping areas. De Courcy’s measure gives the core a free pass — the bill can’t revoke Montreal’s bilingual status because the city doesn’t have one.

Removing the suburbs’ bilingual standing would also be curious because it would reduce the attractiveness of Montreal for knowledge workers from English-speaking countries. When they move here, these workers often choose to live in a bilingual suburb where — as is only normal — they feel more linguistically hospitable.

The Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Index of cities — an annual ranking to help multinational companies and organizations make decisions — came out the day before De Courcy tabled the bill. It rated Montreal well behind Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. If the minority government succeeds in making Bill 14 law, it’s not going to help the economy.

Peter Trent, the Westmount mayor and leader of the island’s suburban mayors, is a moderate on language issues. He calls the measure “completely unacceptable” to anglo communities. As well, he notes an additional curiosity about the bill: “It wouldn’t help the cause of preserving French one jot.”

Trent notes a final curiosity about the bill: Those suburbs whose majority of English mother-tongue residents are rapidly shrinking might have no interest in attracting those newcomers who would further dilute the English mother-tongue presence. The law might thus have the perverse effect of making francophones unwelcome.

This measure might make short-term political sense: Riling the anglos is often a surefire way to boost the PQ in anglophobes’ eyes.

But as a step to advance the interests of francophones, the bill shoots itself in the foot. In the end, it would harm everybody.

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Henry+Aubin+imperils+English+suburbs/7669480/story.html#ixzz2EUfHTkUV

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• Bill 14 could affect city’s bilingual status, mayor says (cbc.ca)

 

CSL mayor favours right on red

By Joel Goldenberg, The Suburban

June 6, 2012

Côte Saint-Luc mayor Anthony Housefather, speaking for himself and not his council as a whole, supports allowing right turns on red lights on the island of Montreal. “I favour it because it is simply logical,” Housefather says. “There is no reason the island of Montreal should be different than everywhere else in North America. If there are downtown arteries where right on red should not exist or other arteries where it should not be allowed because of danger — perhaps Kildare/Cavendish for us — each city should just put up a sign saying no right on red at that intersection. If it ever came up for a vote at the agglomeration council I would certainly vote in favour of allowing right on red.”

But Montreal West mayor Beny Masella does not believe Montrealers are ready for right turns on red. His town, with perhaps one exception at the border with Côte St. Luc, does not even have a traffic light — not even the busy part of the commercial district of Westminster near the rail crossing.

But in terms of right on red in general for the island, “not yet. I don’t think we’re at the point where we can deal with it properly. “We’re not even stopping at pedestrian crosswalks yet, so if we think we can go when we have pedestrians crossing, that makes me a little nervous. I’d like to see us a bit more conscientious about stopping at the crosswalks when there’s a pedestrian there, and then we’ll go to the next step. Off the island might be a different story — there’s a lot less crosswalks. I’m not there yet to say I support right on red.”

In terms of other big cities, Masella said he was recently in the U.S. and saw how a car automatically stopped when a pedestrian was crossing a crosswalk. “I’d love to see us enforcing the rule about stopping for pedestrians on crosswalks, and then we could take the next step.”

In my opinion:  Mayor Housefather certainly speaks for me too.  It is ridiculous that a motorist may turn right on red in Laval, Quebec City or for that matter St. Sauveur, but cannot in Cote Saint-Luc, Hampstead or Pointe Claire.  Put up a “No turn on red” wherever city’s determine those intersections are too congested and leave the other 99% to flow freely.

As for Mayor Masella’s point about not stopping for pedestrians in crosswalk, police should start ticketing. Our lax enforcement on pedestrian safety in Quebec is nothing short of shameful.

What do you think?  Click on LEAVE A COMMENT.

Let paramedics save lives

1988-03-31 TMR Post paramedics

Conference of Suburban Mayors endorses paramedics, CSL opposes flouridation

1988-03-23 flouridation, paramedics Suburban Newspaper

Westmount supports paramedics

1988-03-10 Westmount supports paramedics

Paramedic quest will need outside support

1988-01-24 Paramedic quest will need outside support1, Suburban

Recognition of paramedics in Quebec may be closer to reality

1988-01-24 Recognition of paramedics closer, Suburban

Paramedics must be accepted, Leckner says

1988-02-17 Paramedics must be accepted, The Chronicle

DDO may push for paramedics

Click here for a PDF of the article:  DDO paramedics 1988-01-27

D.D.O may push for paramedics, EMTs prominent in ’87

By LAWRENCE SEVERS, The Suburban Newspaper, January 27, 1988

Dollard des Ormeaux, in the forefront of providing residents with superior emergency medical service, may soon put pressure on Quebec in an attempt to make it legal for paramedics to practice in the province.

Since 1980, a majority of Dollard’s firefighters have been trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). EMTs provide first level medical intervention (advanced first aid) and are usually on the scene before Urgences-Sante personnel arrive. In 1987, just over half of the 1,100 calls to Dollard’s fire department were for EMT assistance, according to Fire Director Georges Villemaire.

Eighteen of Dollard’s 24 firefighters have EMT training. And over the past few years the requirement has been mandatory for those seeking to join the force. If not taken beforehand, new personnel are required to take the training as soon as possible.

Dollard des Ormeaux Councillor Rick Leckner pushed strongly for the EMT program and says while it costs the town a few extra dollars, “it’s an insignificant amount of money for a very significant service.”

The EMTs still play a major role even though they’re restricted in their powers. Leckner points out that Urgences-Sante is not always on the scene within the four-minute period they strive for.

However, an EMT on the scene can isolate the problem and play a key role in stabiling the individual while the ambulance is on its way, with the stabilization playing a vital role in pre-hospital care.

According to Villemaire, the EMT can provide mouth to mouth, administer oxygen or give a heart massage in the case of a heart attack. But that’s where the care stops. And this is what concerns Cote Saint Luc resident Glenn Nashen, who is attempting to convince Quebec to change its rules and allow paramedics to practice.

Nashen feels paramedics could generally be on the scene before Urgences-Sante doctors.  This he claims would save more lives as the first few minutes in a serious medical emergency are the most crucial. Nashen, who already has the support of Cote Saint Luc, Hampstead, Ponte Claire and Montreal West councils, is hoping to add Dollard and others to the list.

Leckner said he is prepared to bring Nashen’s proposal to council and speculated it could be put on the agenda for the February meeting.

One of Dollard’s firefighters is already trained as a paramedic but he can’t practice. Quebec feels the current system, a combination of Urgences-Sante ambulances and strategically stationed Urgences-Sante doctors. on call on the road is the better system.

CSL residents urges municipalities to support paramedics

1988-01-12 support paramedics (The Monitor)

CSL resident urges municipalities to support paramedics

1988-01-12 CSL resident urges support of paramedics, The Monitor