Letters: Rights group should stick to defending anglos instead of wooing francophones
Re: ' Anglo-rights association QCGN rebrands as TALQ ' (The Gazette, June 3)
With the CAQ government targeting the anglo community in the courts and elsewhere, it seems like the wrong time to blue-wash the QCGN 'to reach out to francophone Quebecers.'
I doubt Quebec nationalist politicians will care. Some years ago the EMSB adopted the slogan 'Être bilingue, c'est gagnant!' The CAQ government still wants to abolish English school boards.
Perhaps the QCGN should spend less time trying to engage Quebec nationalists and more time defending the community it's supposed to represent. Its budget should be focused on the court battles forced on the anglophone community and forging connections with federal politicians instead of paying consultants for a rebrand.
The time for TALQ is over.
Pietro Bucci, Rivière-des-Prairies
Ramp failure not just an oversight
The ramp in Place des Montréalaises designed for cyclists and wheelchairs 'doesn't have a barrier preventing people from falling off and poses a danger,' The Gazette reports.
That sounds like not just an oversight, but more like incompetence or workers not doing their job(s).
Further, the square will be 'impossible for wheelchairs to use during the repair process.'
Mayor Valérie Plante says the work will be completed during the summer. Great, maybe in time for people in wheelchairs to use it in snow and ice?
Looks to me like another example of Plante's failures.
Bob Vanier, N.D.G.
GP blunders are indefensible
Mayor Valérie Plante addressed the lack of organization during last year's Grand Prix weekend, saying the city has learned from its errors and will do better this year. What an inadequate and laughable response.
Any learning curve had long since passed by the time the police closed access points to Île Notre-Dame, and the fire department forced several restaurants on Peel St. to shut their terrasses.
What happened was inexcusable in my view and yet another example of the way Projet Montréal has managed our city.
Ian Copnick, Côte-St-Luc
Lack of parking hurts merchants
Re: ' Hydro work hurts T.M.R. businesses ' (The Gazette, June 2)
Retail businesses all over Montreal have been hurt for far too long by never-ending construction projects.
What if a mayoral candidate in November's election had the vision and courage to announce a plan to enable better parking options for shoppers patronizing those suffering businesses?
Empathetic and business-friendly leadership — what a concept!
Barry Beloff, Montreal
Students' needs must come first
Re: ' Dear Miss Teacher, Why can't I fail too? ' (Opinion, May 31)
A thank you to Maïka Forget for bravely sharing her experience with our education system. My two young adults can certainly validate her story.
After serving for more than 10 years on my kids' school boards, I could see things had vastly changed since I was in school. Everything was now focused on grades, rankings and competition, which leached the fun of learning out of them.
As long as their grades were good and they were impressing teachers, no one seemed to care about the anxiety that was slowly consuming them.
We need to invest sufficiently in our education system to serve students, not bureaucrats. Students are not a product; they are people.
Karen Bleakley, Dorval
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