Misleading remarks in Montreal West’s The Informer;
Residents of Lachine’s Hillcrest-Pominville neighbourhood have filed a complaint with the Quebec Press Council regarding an article in Montreal West’s The Informer about the Broughton Rd traffic barricade erected in October 2010. They feel the article is very misleading about a major matter of public security. The Quebec Press Council defends freedom of the press and the public’s right to quality reporting.
“We realize that The Informer simply quoted Mayor Beny Masella in the minutes of the August 23 council meeting,” notes Hillcrest resident John Symon. “But Mr Masella’s remarks were misleading and this fact has been clearly pointed out to the editor at The Informer. Many people reading The Informer article came to the false conclusion that the fire department and police department did not object to the barricade. In reality, the police department called the barricade ‘unsafe’ and the fire department strongly recommended against erected the barricade. Informer readers need to know this.”
Mayor Masella is quoted in the October 2010 issue of The Informer saying about the barricade that, “The police made a suggestion; Urgences Santé said it did not have objections; the Fire Department gave an answer which the Town has yet to assess.” Hillcrest residents have now obtained the actual letters (in French) from the fire and police departments through an access-to-information request.
“I don’t know which part of the fire department letter that Montreal West has trouble assessing; that letter is crystal clear and lists five reasons why the barricade should never have been built. But Montreal West was able to get away with building it simply because the law gives municipalities the right to do what they want with their own streets, regardless of the danger posed to residents of neighbouring municipalities,” says Maureen Marovitch, another Hillcrest resident. The barricade obstructs the emergency evacuation corridor for Lachine residents among many other considerations noted by the fire department.
The isolated residential area in question, with a total population of about 1,000 residents, is close to the CN main line tracks where toxic cargo is regularly carried, on top of the TransCanada natural gas pipeline, and near to the Anachemia plant where chemical weapons are produced. All this necessitates a clear and unobstructed evacuation corridor for residents. And Lachine Mayor Claude Dauphin notes that, depending on which way the wind is blowing, it might actually be Montreal West residents who need the clear evacuation corridor.
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