Mike Pereira, Consulting and Campaign Strategy, Montreal Mergers

On December 20, 2000, the Parti Quebecois government of Quebec forced into law a municipal merger Omnibus Act, Projet de Loi 170. This action was done behind closed doors, without public or opposition party consultation. Furthermore, the research materials and studies the government drew upon to plan the bill have been declared confidential, and are off limits to the public. Through a majority government, and using strict party discipline over its members, then Premier Lucien Bouchard and his executive forced their members to unanimously vote in the law. Employing draconian parliamentary measures of "closure," debate was shut off to the opposition and the bill was passed and signed into law.

The law is several thousand pages in length, and dictates the mergers of several large metropolitan areas and outlying suburbs into single cities, as well as various consolidations at the county level. The greatest forced mergers will occur among the City of Montreal and its surrounding communities on the Island of Montreal. Also of note, Quebec city will amalgamate its surrounding suburbs, as will Hull Quebec. The new merged municipalities and counties will come into being January 1, 2002 should the government hold fast to its decision.

There was a campaign to stop the bill during the short few months when it was announced, however those efforts had virtually no effect on the Parti Quebecois. The protests against the municipal mergers by elected municipal officials succeeded in convincing the Municipal Affairs Minister to issue several decrees (Orders in Council 125-2, 4) forbidding municipal officials from debating the issue at council meetings, from holding official committee meetings where the issue will be discussed, or form holding municipally sponsored public hearings. This in effect constitutes a gag order imposed on disgruntled municipal officials. As a result of this, a plethora of citizens began to organize committees to fight the mergers. In Quebec, many citizens are angry with their government for implementing such changes in this manner.
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The official reason for the mergers, given by the PQ, is an argument of cost savings and the cutting of municipal red tape. Any other justifications have been made secret by the Quebec government. Opponents speculate a number of ulterior motives for the mergers. In Montreal, the English minority in Quebec are very affected by this legislation. The enclave municipality of Westmount, for example, and others like it are English towns in an otherwise French dominated region. The forced merger will, according to opponents, pose harm to the rights of the English minority by abolishing their town halls, in place of one city councilor per town. Other reasons include tax grabs on the suburbs to help pay the cost of running the larger cities. Montreal has a public debt in the billions of dollars, which would be inherited by the suburbs in a new mega-city. Municipal union bosses, traditional backers of the PQ, support the mergers as they will gain considerable power in collective bargaining rights. It is much easier for the union to strike and negotiate a contract with one city than with 28 cities on the island of Montreal. (The Labor movement in Quebec is split on the issue, however.)

[In preparation for this project, I have interviewed several key players in the coalition to stop the municipal mergers. Ginette DuRochet is the president of the province wide Coalition against Forced Municipal Mergers, as well as the local organizer for the opposition to mergers group in the town of St Bruno Quebec. She is the creator of the "Je Me Souviendrai" bumper plate campaign. I also spoke with Douge McDougal, who is in charge of the Westmount Coalition against municipal mergers and the Montreal Island effort. Mr. Kell Warshaw is the website administrator of Democracite.]

In terms of a campaign to stop the mergers, the coalitions as a whole have adopted several strategies. First, they have begun to define the issue as no longer an "English" one, but a province wide campaign affecting both the French and English residents of Quebec. It is a goal of the Anti-Merger coalitions to present the image that it is an issue for all Quebeckers, not only the English in Montreal. For this reason, my mock-up Internet site contains the "Fleur de Lis" and other Quebec "patriotic" symbolism, such as the Blue and White color scheme.

The groups are now focusing on lowering the separatists in the polls, and eventually getting them out of office. The Liberal Party, in Opposition, headed by Jean Charest, are opposed to mergers. They will undo the laws and "de-merge" cities if elected. Charest has a good chance of defeating the PQ in the next election. A key goal of those who oppose mergers are to keep the issue "alive" in the media and public focus, for it to become a usable election issue for Mr. Charest. [There are several more lengthy political reasons why Mr. Charest is not spearheading the anti-merger campaigns at this moment. These go beyond the scope of this memorandum.]

There are special target dates which are important for the various groups. Apart from the implementation date of January 1, 2002, there will be municipal elections held in November 2001 to elect the new city councils of merged municipalities. A provincial election must be called in 2 years – that’s how much time is left in the PQ mandate. Premier Bernard Landry may call an election whenever he wants during that time. The "I will Remember" bumper plate is a message to voters to remember the governments actions regarding the mergers come election time.

The Supreme Court of Canada has yet to hear the court challenges against the mergers. It is likely, however, that the Court will uphold the lower court rulings stating that municipal affairs are wholly in the jurisdiction of the provincial government. Either way it will bring news coverage nationally on the issue. The French media in Quebec were an obstacle at first, as they were initially in favor of the PQ government. As disapproval grows among Francophone Quebeckers, the French media have become more critical of the PQ government. A web page that caters to the needs of French journalists is important.
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Upon analyzing Law 170, the Municipal Mergers Act, those who oppose the mergers deem them to be ill planed out, undemocratic, harmful to taxpayers, and just plain bad legislation. The objective of the campaign against mergers is to repeal 170, or amend it so much so that damage to local communities is avoided. To do so, the coalitions who oppose it will need to undertake a public campaign to appeal to both lawmakers and Quebec voters to rally opposition to the bill. A recommended strategy calls for the accomplishment of several specific objectives:

Educate the Quebec public about the severity of the issue and raise awareness of it.
Keep the issue viable so that it becomes an election issue in a provincial election.
Convince voters in key electoral districts to contact their provincial representatives and urge them to oppose the issue or risk loosing their seat in the next election.
Appeal to MLA’s directly to press their party executive in caucus against the act.
Publicly chastise the government for their attempts to avoid the issue and stifle public discussion/participation in the mergers.
Support key political candidates who are opposed to the mergers.
Lobby for more public input in the implementation/transition process.
Provide research and facts which contradict the Governments rational for the Act.

It should be noted that it is not an objective to design an alternative proposal to 170. The position of the anti merger coalitions are that the current municipal system does not need such drastic change. It is advisable to keep focus on defeating the mergers and keeping the issue contentious and viable with the electorate.