Lise Ravary: Will Valérie Plante be more than okay the second time around?

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Montreal has a new administration, building on the old one. Valérie Plante turned out to be an acceptable mayor, even when she overdosed on cycling culture. So she’s back. He earned it, but here are some thoughts.

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Promoting pedal power in a snow-covered city for the middle of the year does not seem incongruous to those in your administration who consider cycling in any weather to be an acceptable alternative to driving on snowy roads. The propaganda has been so successful that more and more people see you as the devil incarnate when you mention, in passing, that cycling in winter is dangerous. Especially for people of a certain age and ability. Or people carrying children in a buggy.

Winter doesn’t matter: Montreal isn’t the safest city when it comes to cycling, period. Six cyclists have died this year on the streets of Montreal , the highest number since 2013.

In the world of Plante, it is as if no one is over 60 and those who reach retirement age run marathons. It seems our insane drive for performance never dies.

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In the world of Plante, everyone lives in the Plateau or Mile End, neighborhoods close to the city center. The truly brave are now colonizing St-Henri to create another cool core in Montreal, where few can afford to live decently. Where financially struggling people can no longer afford their renovated home. In Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, whose working-class spirit has all but disappeared, the Household Finance and Meubles Légaré branches have long been replaced by fancy cafes where lattes cost two arms and four legs.

Moving east, daring city explorers will find places like Longue-Pointe, Anjou, Louis-Riel, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montréal-Est – places no one talks about in the media unless disaster strikes.

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The eastern tip of Montreal speaks French. I will repeat it: the French do not die in the extreme east. People also speak Italian, Arabic and Creole. Journalists assigned a story about the language in Montreal generally visit traditional Anglo-Saxon areas to confirm the popular belief that Montreal now speaks English. They rarely venture east, where “Bonjour-Hi” is rarely, if ever, heard.

Plante, with the exception of transportation projects, hasn’t shown much interest in far eastern neighborhoods. To top it off, REM’s concrete pillars, skyways and overhead power cables will stretch for 25 km at the eastern end. It is not a city-led project, but the mayor will have to deal with the consequences.

I’m afraid REM will be a gigantic aesthetic disaster.

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In fact, I’m not sure that Plante cares much about the way things look, but the beautiful cities of the world have an advantage over the ugly ones. Every time the city council or its constellation of local administrations decide to create a new pedestrian zone, whoever decides on street furniture seems to have a great fondness for recycled wooden drawers and leftover paint cans.

Does eco mean ugly?

We will never be Paris, but we can be beautiful Boston.

Another term, another case of “we’ll see” if Montreal fares better at the end of Plante’s term. I will keep an open mind, but what I am not and cannot agree with is the fashion of achieving parity in government. As a woman, I find this insulting. (Eight members of Plante’s new 14-member executive committee are women, as are the three associate directors.)

I do not agree with the parity vehemently designed in the government. What private companies do is their business, but the risk is that some candidates for high office will inevitably be chosen for their gender, to make up at least a 50-50 ideological quota and not for their competition. That hurts me deeply.

Ideally, a mayoress and her internal team are chosen because they are good, not because they are women.

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