In the discussions surrounding the Lac-Mégantic bypass, voices seem to want to limit the railway danger to the lack of supervision and the slope. They rely on transparent information and security measures to promote the recovery of the population. This statement is sensible, but summary. It seems to me that there are oversights in these speeches that change the nature of the portrait.
We are no longer at the slope or the tight turns. We must take into account the constancy of railway accidents, the chemicals transported, the long convoys which obstruct all the level crossings, their frequency, their speed, the weakness of the Ministry of Transport and the arrogance of the railways, and this, not to mention their insensitivity. If they had had a cent of empathy, they would have silenced the howl of their locomotives long ago. Like apologies, it does not ask. To get them in the snatch is to be served with phony regrets.
As each case is unique, it is not certain that all the traumatized correspond to the psychoanalytic evaluation criteria of the DMS (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) based on observable facts: sometimes laughter hides tears and silence, a cry. These find themselves downgraded, therefore in limbo and often left to themselves. Like wounded animals, they hide. Caution must therefore be exercised on both sides.
We forget that tragedy affects the person and the citizen. There have been deaths, orphans, bereaved people, people who suffer from seeing a friend or acquaintance cry. Add to that the collective loss: a city center, a heritage, life in it and our illusions. Papineau Street will never be yesterday’s main street; rue Frontenac will remain inanimate because we will no longer find there what gave it life: the post office, the library, a pharmacy, a grocery store and the joy of living terraces. We are in such a hurry to plug holes that we must fear, in addition, the architectural blandness.
For the city center to be reborn, we must get out of the train planted in its heart, make the necessary bridges to connect Papineau and Frontenac; we must stop going around in circles, more often by car than on foot, to follow each other instead of seeing each other. To restore the meaning of the word downtown, citizens must pass each other when coming and going, greet each other or at least recognize each other. Otherwise, that life too will be sacrificed. If Mégantic declines, we will all lose. We had a city centre, that’s the least we could do to rediscover its promise. Hope is part of healing.
We also forget, and this is essential, that justice has not been done, that the guilty can start again because there are no consequences for their carelessness. The people of Mégantic have learned the hard way the difference between justice and the law. How to look ahead when, in the rearview mirror, this past is stalking us. The mourning will be long. In a certain sense, the bypass is a form of admission of guilt on the part of the main culprit: the Ministry of Transport. That he wants to repair the indifference of justice reassures me about humanity.
Relying on the half-way and safety measures with dubious durability, is to content oneself with putting a muzzle on the pit bull who has disfigured the child who is coldly asked to go walk the dog. I’m not sure it will help his recovery. The regulatory muzzle subject to the diktat of the railways represents a real danger; the other is the brute force of the dog. I’m not sure the child would be able to hold the beast back, especially if it saw a tantalizing prey or profit.
We have paid dearly for the petty lobbying of the railways. We can no longer and we should no longer trust them because they self-regulate, make ministers eat out of their hands, march to profits and fat dividends. How not to worry about what’s next? How are we going to get rid of this anger within?
The Méganticois experienced them, the expropriations, three times rather than once. In 1888, when the International Railway demanded from the City the eviction of the owners settled on the land it coveted and then forced it to give it to it; in 2013, the remaining half of rue Frontenac was expropriated manu militari without forgetting the 17 owners of Fatima who had to give way to “progress”. I believe that we are in a good position to understand and want things to be done with respect and honour.
Convoys of oil and other chemical products in town, it’s like bringing the barbecue into the house to grill a steak. After the fire—recovery or not—I swear no sane person will have the nerve or the madness to bring the cursed stove back into the house, even if the accident was human error. . The bypass would be a naive and unreasonable gesture? To act as if nothing had happened, wouldn’t that be at the same time cruel, naive and unreasonable?