LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Parking woes

It is with great disgust that I encountered first hand Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Bill Tierney’s new bylaw of parking metres on Ste Anne street. I parked around 1:35 p.m. on Monday in front of the Canada Post building at 49 Ste. Anne St. I did not notice the parking “distributor” at the end of the block and completely forgot about the paid parking now in effect on Ste. Anne Street (a new parking rules signs should be posted). I was in the post office a mere five to seven minutes but upon my exit - lo and behold - I had a parking ticket on my windshield.

I know I was in the wrong - but what upset and disgusted me was the amount of the fine: $42. The fine itself as stated on the ticket was the minimum - a mere $30 — but on top of that there was $12-administration fee. Now we are talking about Ste Anne Street at the tip of the island — not Ste. Catherine and Peel at rush hour (incidentally a parking offence in Montreal is $25). I thought that Tierney’s intent was to ensure that people would not hoard parking spots so that the restaurant patrons, shoppers and tourists could equally enjoy the town in the evenings, weekends and summer months. Well that is not the intent at all - it is merely a ruse to put money in the coffers. My infraction occurred on a Monday afternoon in March when there were several parking spots available. Does Ste. Anne really need parking patrols during weekdays?

We often go to Ste. Anne for dinner and/or shopping - winter and summer - but these new ordinances are certainly going to make us think twice before we once again encourage the local merchants.

José C. Beauchemin

Baie d’Urfé

English Quebecers just wounded

The West Island Chronicle published an article (March 21) ‘The Party is over for angry Anglos’ whose registered leader Keith Henderson stated re: the Equality Party, “It’s dead and no one has noticed.” Wrong.

For many years Henderson carried a disproportionate share of the load or cross that loyal Canadians who happen to speak English but live in the province of Quebec have to endure. He is discouraged by the apathy of fellow citizens and their betrayal by all official parties which mouth support of the Bill of Rights which neglects the right for equal respect for the English speaking.

We are wounded but we are not dead and we shall continue to defend our rights in spite of what is called “the Lamb Lobby” whose access to government funding aids political opportunists. One again the need of electoral reform is obvious but that banner is now being carried by Quebec Solidaire. I am sure Equality Party members support them, as well as a fair deal for Newfoundland.

Bob Morgan

Arundel

Perfect setting

What a perfect setting. A minority liberal government clinging to power, a supposedly family friendly provincial opposition party in Quebec City and lots of fresh new federal cash coming in. Now that the election campaign that was one big yawn on the west island is over, maybe we can start to discuss issues other than who’s a federalist and who’s a separatist. How about tackling the issue of our children’s physical fitness and child obesity?

A Commons committee report made public last week highlighted the growing problem of child obesity in our country. The report notes that overweight children are on the fast track to developing hypertension, heart disease and stroke. Bottom line, overweight children are likely to become overweight adults putting extra burden on an already overloaded and increasingly costly health care system.

The report stressed the immediate need for aggressive action to address this complex and, ultimately, very costly problem. One of the recommendations to fix the problem is the designation of federal funds to build or replace aging playgrounds, sidewalks, rinks, pools and other fitness facilities, such as indoor soccer complexes, across the country.

Much of the financial burden of supplying sports and recreational services fall squarely on the backs of municipalities. Given a lack of financial resources, many municipalities have adopted the bad habit of promoting residential development for new tax revenues while delaying additional investment in recreational infrastructure so the money can be spent elsewhere. Now would be an excellent time for the federal and provincial government to deliver extra cash to municipalities to support investment in sports and recreation facilities.

Much talk was spent during the provincial election regarding the state of our health care system. Sports and recreation facilities should be regarded as an integral part of that system for our young and the not so young. As the old saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Now we can find out if our MNA’s think it’s important to try to take action to help fix the growing problem of youth fitness now or if in their minds it’s a non-issue.

Michael Labelle

Pierrefondsꆱ