A Liberal future

A small provincial Liberal majority has settled over Quebec once more, but what that means for West Islanders is not exactly clear at the moment.

"I would like to see the (Quebec) government intervene and just rein in Montreal on the agglomeration business," said Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti.

However, he said he does not expect much to change regarding Quebec's attitude toward settling scores between demerged municipalities and the city of Montreal on outstanding issues.

"I think this is something that Mr. Charest is not too excited on getting his hands into," Benedetti said.

Meanwhile, he said, hope is not completely lost, since a standing committee consisting of representatives from the 15 demerged cities and Montreal has been formed to look at some of these outstanding issues.

Last summer, an agreement signed between the demerged cities and Montreal regarding Bill 22, a provincial piece of legislation looking to revise the division of powers between the cities, seemed to make a lot of involved parties happy.

However, West Island mayors, including Benedetti, were particularly up in arms last week when an expected tax break for their towns did not come through in Montreal's announced budget, meaning they would have to find other ways to finance their increased responsibilities, such as the control of arterial roads.

While celebrating her return as MNA for the West Island riding of Nelligan Monday night, Liberal Yolande James was vague on government commitment to resolve outstanding agglomeration business, such as double water taxation for some municipalities and squabbling over who should pay taxes for Montreal's downtown core. "We have had a pretty strong relationship with our municipal representatives," she told The Chronicle<@$p>.

On other issues of concern to the area, James claimed the Liberal record was defensible. "We've been very active in regards to the West Island and public transit," she said, recalling promises by Jean Charest on the election campaign to improve commuter rail service to the Montreal area.

Last Thursday, the AMT (Agence Métropolitaine de Montréal) did indeed announce improvements to two train lines running through the West Island, but they amounted to a handful of more departures.

"Anything is better than what we have," West Island CLD industrial commissioner Gerry Arsenault, who has been a vocal advocate for better public transportation in the area for years, commented at the time, but he said it is not nearly enough. "It's a much-appreciated first try, but there's a lot more work to be done," he said.



Meanwhile, John Abbott political science teacher James Leeke told West Islanders not to hold their breath. "(The Liberals) made lots of promises about resolving the agglomeration business but they haven't done so," Leeke said, and they would have little reason to do so as a majority.

Though the lack of anglophone representation in Jean Charest's last cabinet was a concern to some over the last few years, with James being the only minister in Cabinet as of 2007, Leeke said that mattered little in the end. "I'm not too concerned by that," he said, calling such nominations largely symbolic.