Residents set to rally to save Canada Day parade

A Pierrefonds woman up in arms over the cancellation of the local Canada Day parade hopes to rally supporters before the start of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough council meeting Monday evening.

Penny Michael, a mother and community pool member, is outraged the borough decided to cancel the 2009 edition of the parade without consulting residents and potential volunteers and participants. She hopes enough people show up at 6 p.m. Monday in the parking lot outside the borough hall to convince borough mayor Monique Worth and council members to change their minds and keep the 25-year tradition going. The borough meeting starts at 7 p.m. and Michael is preparing a petition to deliver to council.

“The last two parades were excellent and lots of fun,” Michael said Friday afternoon. “There were about 30 different participants, like the Legion with their drums and piper.”

Despite the borough announcing the parade has been cancelled for 2009, Michael has not given up hope. “It’s not a done deal for this year,” she said. “How could they decide something like this without first asking us.”

If civic authorities don’t want to run the parade, they should let citizens take it over again since they ran it the first 10 years, Michael said.

Michael said if the borough doesn’t change its mind, it will become an election issue this November.

Meanwhile, borough officials said they spent $20,000 on the parade last year and $16,000 on other activities during Heritage Week celebrations (Canada Day and St. Jean Baptiste Day).

In 2009, an amount of $20,000 has been reserved for the activities of Heritage week.

“The logistics and co-ordination, the decreasing number of volunteers and participants, the lack of available floats, marching bands and street entertainers as well as declining citizen participation roadside on the day of the parade all contributed,” stated Yolande Paquette, Worth’s political attachée. “At this time, all aspects of the parade are being reviewed and the decision announced applies to 2009 only; there has been no decision made yet for 2010 or subsequent years.”

In an earlier press release, borough pro-mayor Catherine Clément-Talbot said residents will still be offered events to attend.

“In 2009, citizens are all invited to participate in celebrating Canada Day in Pierrefonds-Roxboro by attending the outdoor concert and the fireworks display that will be held on July 1st at the George Springate sports complex. Everyone will also be pleased to know that the fair will be back with the rides and games of Amusements Spectaculaires set up near the Borough Hall. “

She cited budget restrictions, cost cutting, lack of citizen participation and difficulty in finding volunteers as the reasons behind the borough’s decision to cancel the parade. In light of all this, she said “council decided to favour other family oriented activities in lieu of the parade on July 1."

Chronicle, Jacques Pharand