Increasingly, city hall seems reluctant to hear opinions that don’t mirror its own.
There have been growing complaints about Montreal’s consultation process lately, and they have a common theme.
There’s too much “con” in the consultations.
Example 1: Ste-Catherine St. After several years of talks with street merchant representatives about the street’s redesign, store owners just learned parts of our downtown drag will be pedestrianized all year long.
But furious merchants say this was never one of the scenarios discussed in their meetings or discussions with the city in recent years. Or when they agreed to downtown construction work that continues until 2032.
The head of the downtown merchants association, Glenn Castanheira, has always been a mild-mannered, co-operative guy open to almost any idea to make downtown more dynamic.
But talking to him now, he sounds angry and upset, like many of the 5,000 downtown store owners in his association.
He says merchants fear pedestrianizing parts of the street permanently will prevent delivery and garbage trucks from getting to many stores.
They also fear it will make our city’s main drag a magnet for drug users, pushers and unhoused people. That’s what’s happened to some other nearby downtown areas recently refashioned into public gathering spots, but quickly becoming no-man’s lands.
Castanheira and store owners are open to temporary summer pedestrian closings — using removable barriers — to test how the closings work and see how they can be tweaked, improved or redesigned.
“This is Canada’s biggest commercial street — you don’t just close part of it for good without gradually testing it first.”
Castanheira feels the new plan is based more on anti-car ideology than any input they got from downtown merchants or residents.
‘”The decision was made entirely behind closed doors, and we feel we’ve been played for fools.”
Mayor Valérie Plante says they’ve consulted on downtown enough. She was elected with a majority, she adds, so “people knew I would go forward on pedestrianizing many roads. That’s what I was elected for.”
Insta-column consultation:If you want me to continue writing this column, say YES! If not, say no. …
You have voted no. Thank you for your valuable input, but I have more to say and if you keep reading I’m sure you’ll see I’m right.
Example 2: There’s similar anger on St-Hubert St., where more than 400 merchants agreed to a one-year “pilot project” to pedestrianize part of that street last summer.
Now the city plans to extend the “project” for three more years — and merchants have rebelled.
Now many agitated merchants regret ever saying yes to the so-called “pilot project” in the first place.
Again, many feel there has been no real consulting in their so-called consultations with the city.
Is there a controversial pattern here, or am I confounded, confused or contrarian? The purpose of consultations should be learning what citizens want and adapting city plans, not convincing citizens to adapt to city plans.
Follow-up consultation: If you still want me to continue writing this column, say YES! If not, say no. …
Hmmm. You have voted no again. I respect your opinion and value your input, but I reject it.
The ultimate CON-sultation symbol was over Mount Royal’s Camillien-Houde Way, when more than 12,000 Montrealers participated in a year of meetings and workshops.
As a result, the city’s own consultation office recommended the road remain open for both cars and bikes. But city hall decided to ignore the consultation because once again they’re sure Montrealers will eventually see the light.
You can argue this is how democracy often works. Decades ago, Mayor Jean Drapeau never consulted Montrealers on how the city should be developed. He built Expo, the Olympics and the métro by personal fiat.
He said if you didn’t like it, vote him out, which eventually happened.
In later decades, new, more democratic city parties brought in more citizen consultation. But increasingly, city hall seems reluctant to hear opinions that don’t mirror its own.
As in Drapeau’s day, the one consultation that still matters is our next city election in November 2025. That’s when all Montrealers will be consulted on whether or not they feel they’re being heard.
But that may be too late for Ste-Catherine St.
Post-consultation consultation: Aren’t you happy I convinced you to keep reading this column? …
No, again? OK, OK, you win. I’ll end it now.