Designer-writer and committed citizen, the author is president of the governing board of an elementary school. She has also taught literature at the college level and contributes to the journal Lettres québécoises.
When Luc Ferrandez was elected mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough in 2009, I gave him my vote at the last minute. Crowned in a wave that had brought 14 members of Projet Montreal to power, including 7 to all seats on the Plateau, he had free rein. As a citizen, I felt at times overwhelmed by the changes in my habits that his policies forced me to do. Like others, I adhered to his green and environmental ideals… on paper. Not necessarily from there to sacrifice my little comfort.
His traffic calming measures irritated me at first. We could have erected a cathedral by piling up the coronations pushed when my routes came up against an unforeseen change of direction, which brought me back on a congested artery and lengthened my transit time. There was a time when I found that he deserved it, his nickname of “wren of the Plateau”: I would have liked more impact studies, citizen consultations, that we better inform the population on the why and the How about the introduction of certain measures which a priori complicated our life.
I weighed the pros and cons heavily before doing my duty as a citizen, in 2013. In the meantime, I had become a mother; the previous winter, I had extended my string of curses again: the sidewalks were not cleared of snow, I often passed close to tripping with the heavy shell in which I was lugging my daughter. “One less snow removal to save the Schubert pool,” he declared. Her arrogant petticoat stuck out. But didn’t the end justify the means?
Thanks to these sacrifices, the budget has returned to balance. Despite these small daily frustrations, I was more interested in the party program. What I read there corresponded to my values, to my life which had gradually changed. From April to November, I was now cycling through the city rather than by car. The sidewalk protrusions, which were starting to grow everywhere, embellished the surroundings, but above all they reduced heat islands, facilitated the retention of rainwater and hydrated the clay soils of the Plateau, reduced the time to cross at intersections, made it difficult motorists to slow down.
It was clear that my neighborhood, where I walked on the ground every day and where I raised my family, had become greener, safer, more welcoming to the people who live there. The village of Lorimier bore its name better and better. I voted for Projet Montréal at all seats that year, and again in 2017 when Valérie Plante, the new chief, was elected mayor.
A city at human level
When Ferrandez retired from politics during his tenure two years ago, his critics gloated, but many mourned. I was not.
Our chats between two doors, at our children’s school, were always nourishing and honest. I have never seen him move around other than by bicycle: “ he bikes the talk “. He saw big for the city, but above all, he saw green. Dark. Failure to act now is to hit a wall in the short term, hence the need, he said, to opt for radical changes. Now is not the time for softness. If we wait for the perfect consensus to act, it will be too late, he made us understand with Facebook statutes which oscillated between poetry and passion, but which always testified to his approach ” no bullshit “.
But why talk so much about Ferrandez if he’s no longer there? Because it was not only during his reign that I met Projet Montréal, but also that the face of the Plateau was concretely transformed.
My district is now managed by Luc Rabouin, whose style differs but whose files are progressing. He is surrounded by a competent and committed team. Under their guidance, the Project effect continues to come to life.
Parc La Fontaine is undergoing a facelift, the Réseau express Vélo (REV) has been established and is enjoying huge success, the heat islands are shrinking like a dream, we have long forgotten the parking lots lost in the heart of Laurier Park. , pedestrians happily tread avenue du Mont-Royal all summer (the project that gave rise to the creation of the party in 2002, I learned from reading the fascinating book Save the city by Daniel Sanger). one neighborhood is more beautiful; its alleys, green; its parks, revitalized or in the process of being so.
Parking there is less and less free, but I have changed too. I have since understood that using your car in town has a price and that too much comfort leads to indifference… People must in particular be discouraged from opting for the solo car so as not to hit the transition wall ecological.
These important actions, taken quickly during the first term of Projet Montréal in power, will have succeeded in lastingly transforming the city – and that was the goal. “If Projet Montréal comes back to power, so much the better because it can continue. But if that does not happen, we will not be able to go back, ”confided the former mayor of Plateau to Sanger. During the election night at ICI RDI, Luc Ferrandez himself was blown away. No one had foreseen a fourteen point difference at the town hall and the majority of the council at Projet Montreal. Bet raised, we can continue to move forward.
Obviously, the last four years have not been a perfect one. But today, I am proud that Montreal has chosen to be led by a mayoress and a party that define the city by the quality of life that permeates its increasingly green and inclusive neighborhoods, and not by signature projects that date from another era. Tourists will follow, Montreal will continue to shine. My former borough mayor told Patrice Roy that in the eyes of citizens of transformed neighborhoods, beauty will always win out over traffic. We had proof of that on Sunday.