“We must agitate to have the federal government preserve the entire 175 hectares for the planned Des Sources Nature Park”
Article content
Re: “Conservationists hail Hypertec deal as exemplary corporate behaviour” (The Gazette, Oct. 18)
Kudos to the city of Montreal and Hypertec for the deal to preserve 11 hectares of environmentally sensitive land in St-Laurent’s Technoparc area.
This is of international importance as the area contains wetlands that attract migratory birds, some endangered.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Yet the federal government controls some 70 per cent of the adjoining land, including 175 hectares north of Trudeau airport.
One cannot agree more with former federal MP Clifford Lincoln when he says we must agitate to have the federal government preserve the entire 175 hectares for the planned Des Sources Nature Park.
Shloime Perel, Côte-St-Luc
Influence resides with PMO, not MPs
Re: “A message to voters in Town of Mount Royal” (Letters, Oct. 16)
I respectfully disagree with the premise behind the endorsement of MP Anthony Housefather by a number of anglophone-community leaders.
While I do not at all deny Housefather’s outspokenness on issues that are of the utmost importance to his constituents, his personal stance on language and on Mideast policy has seemingly failed to sway Liberal government policy, as evidenced by his demotion last year after having voted against amendments to the Official Languages Act.
For better or for worse — and I would argue, for worse — our parliamentary system has morphed into a practice whereby all power seems to be centralized within the Prime Minister’s Office and cabinet, and where individual members of Parliament have little or no impact.
Advertisement 3
Article content
If Housefather’s influence has been severely curtailed even as an MP, and with the Liberals looking like they will almost certainly lose the next federal election, of what influence can he possibly be as an opposition backbencher?
Ian B. Copnick, Côte-St-Luc
Mount Royal more than just T.M.R.
I read with interest the letter endorsing MP Anthony Housefather. However, the headline in the print edition was misleading, as his electoral district of Mount Royal does not cover just T.M.R., but also the municipalities of Côte-St-Luc and Hampstead and part of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Lorraine Bick, Côte-St-Luc
Empathy lacking toward newcomers
Re: “We won’t bus asylum seekers to other provinces, Legault says” (The Gazette, Oct. 10)
Premier François Legault’s heavy-handed handling of the immigration file looks embarrassingly empty of empathy for newcomers to Quebec.
Notably, his defence that most Quebecers favour the forced relocation of 80,000 asylum seekers seems rooted in a conceit that majority authority trumps moral authority when it comes to minorities.
Advertisement 4
Article content
The alarming message this risks sending is that Quebec is a two-tiered society where newcomers are classified as second-class citizens.
Moving forward, for the sake of the future coexistence of all Quebecers, let’s hope Legault finds the courage to make a compassionate course correction concerning the welcoming of immigrants to Quebec.
George McArthur, Montreal
Submitting a letter to the editor
Letters should be sent by email to letters@montrealgazette.com
We prioritize letters that respond to, or are inspired by, articles published by The Gazette. If you are responding to a specific article, let us know which one.
Letters should be sent uniquely to us. The shorter they are — ideally, fewer than 200 words — the greater the chance of publication.
Timing, clarity, factual accuracy and tone are all important, as is whether the writer has something new to add to the conversation.
We reserve the right to edit and condense all letters. Care is taken to preserve the core of the writer’s argument.
Our policy is not to publish anonymous letters, those with pseudonyms or “open letters” addressed to third parties.
Letters are published with the author’s full name and city or neighbourhood/borough of residence. Include a phone number and address to help verify identity; these will not be published.
We will not indicate to you whether your letter will be published. If it has not been published within 10 days or so, it is not likely to be.
Please send the letter in the body of an email, not as an attachment.
Recommended from Editorial
-
Letters: Rerouting traffic from one problem area to another
-
Letters: Replace rage-filled protests with marches for peace
Advertisement 5
Article content
Article content