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Municipal woes
May. 17th, 2004 05:49 pmYou know, the thing that really pisses me off about the fusion, aside from the fact that now we're forced to go by the ignominious name of Gatineau, is that not only did no one ask us residents what we thought about the whole business, now the new Ville de Gatineau is distributing anti-défusion propaganda, including, I am not making this up (TM Dave Barry), a thingy to hang on the doorknob that says "Ne pas signer le registre... C'est exercer son droit de vote" and "J'exprime mon droit démocratique en ne signant pas le registre". Also, there was a pamphlet about why a défusion would be such a bad thing, stating over and over again that there would be scary things like a hike in taxes or fewer services! *gasp* I don't see how it could be any worse than it is now, the quality of services has done nothing but plummet since the fusion. To wit, the recycling truck used to come by every week or two weeks, depending on the neighbourhood; now it's a week more between pick-ups, which means they only come by every three weeks at my place.
If they cared so much for democracy, why wasn't there one single chance for residents to vote against the fusion? They're seriously making us jump through hoops to even get a referendum: first they sent us a note in April about a revision board for the voters' list, clearly stating the time and place you could go check the list. I guess too many people showed up, so this week, which is the week we have to go sign the register to express our wish for a referendum ($&%$#@!!!), there was absolutely no news about where to go or at what time. Nothing was delivered at all. Thankfully, the radio stations are doing their duty and keep talking about it. My mother finally found a .pdf file on the internet that announced the time and place to go sign for Hull -- seriously, could they have made it any more difficult? If the requisite 10% of the population signs and they finally have to actually let us vote, they're probably going to set up the booths in someone's attic and only open them from midnight to 4 a.m.
The whole thing about the fusions is that they don't seem to improve anyone's lives, except for the mayors who have more power. It's especially ridiculous in the Outaouais because the cities aren't even touching. Granted, there's a river between Hull and Gatineau, and given time, Aylmer and Hull will eventually meet, but there are whole farms between Gatineau and Masson-Angers/Buckingham! With all the money this has cost so far, and will cost, they could have fixed the roads, which are in seriously bad shape in some places.
If they cared so much for democracy, why wasn't there one single chance for residents to vote against the fusion? They're seriously making us jump through hoops to even get a referendum: first they sent us a note in April about a revision board for the voters' list, clearly stating the time and place you could go check the list. I guess too many people showed up, so this week, which is the week we have to go sign the register to express our wish for a referendum ($&%$#@!!!), there was absolutely no news about where to go or at what time. Nothing was delivered at all. Thankfully, the radio stations are doing their duty and keep talking about it. My mother finally found a .pdf file on the internet that announced the time and place to go sign for Hull -- seriously, could they have made it any more difficult? If the requisite 10% of the population signs and they finally have to actually let us vote, they're probably going to set up the booths in someone's attic and only open them from midnight to 4 a.m.
The whole thing about the fusions is that they don't seem to improve anyone's lives, except for the mayors who have more power. It's especially ridiculous in the Outaouais because the cities aren't even touching. Granted, there's a river between Hull and Gatineau, and given time, Aylmer and Hull will eventually meet, but there are whole farms between Gatineau and Masson-Angers/Buckingham! With all the money this has cost so far, and will cost, they could have fixed the roads, which are in seriously bad shape in some places.
