Rejected petitions
A petition is one of the few democratic expression instruments available to citizens between elections. In Beaconsfield, petitions are ignored, except when they support the city’s position.
The Beaconsfield municipal administration applies a democratic model that we call a variable geometry. It varies in the way it receives and manages popular opinion. Let’s look at two examples of this model: petitions and referendums.
71 Petitions are allowed if they support the administration, otherwise …
A petition is one of the few instruments of democratic expression available to citizens between elections.
Here’s a look at the processing of petitions by the Beaconsfield municipal administration.
71.1 Petitions for acoustic barriers
Two (2) petitions were presented to the city council in the last 10 years. Both requested the construction of acoustic barriers in Beaconsfield :
2010: 168 signatures
In 2010, 168 residents of Beaconsfield representing 168 dwellings signed a petition asking the city and the MTQ to build an acoustic barrier on the south side of highway 20, from Saint-Charles boulevard east to the limit with Pointe Claire.
2015: 850 signatures
In 2015, 850 citizens signed a petition asking the city and the MTQ to build an acoustic barrier on the south side of highway 20, from the Baie d’Urfé boundary to that of Pointe-Claire. Here is the web version signed by 127 residents (included in the 850).
These two petitions were not followed-up by the City Hall.
Two more petitions are on the way, demonstrating the increased need as traffic and pollution increase. How will the next two petitions be received?
2019-20: 1600 signatures FOR the SOUTH barrier (11+% of voters)
In 2019-2020, more than 1,600 citizens of Beaconsfield signed a petition asking to build an acoustic screen on the south side of Highway 20. This represents 11.2% of the 14,257 voters registered in the last municipal elections.
2020: signatures for the north barrier
In 2020 the ICPB launched a new petition for the analysis of a mitigation solution on the north side. It is, to our knowledge, the first initiative to protect citizens on the north side. No Beaconsfield administration has even raised this issue in more than 30 years.
FACT: The demand for a barrier increases with the noise and traffic levels
71.2 Other recent petitions
In comparison, let us note the reception of the mayor for other petitions:
127 citizens obtain budgets and plan for outdoor pools costing $ 20 Million
In 2017, a petition of 267 names to rebuild four outdoor pools at an estimated cost of $ 20 Million was presented to the mayor.
We see here the weight that the 127 signatory residents of Beaconsfield had on the mayor who welcomed this petition, talked about 10 Millions $ budgeted in the newspapers and included already 3,350 Millions $ into his Parks Master Plan (page 57) despite the fact that 140 (52%) of the signatories are from outside the city, the province and even the country!
We are not against renovating outside swimming pools. We just find that the administration does not have the same attitude. This service is accessible 3 months a year and used by less than the 8,000 different people attacked all year by the highway noise.
400 citizens against a second mayor salary raise in 4 years
In 2018, citizens submitted a petition of 400 names to the city council AGAINST the second salary increase that the mayor voted in 2018.
The mayor rejected the petition on the pretext that it was an online petition and that citizens outside the city had signed it.
Double standards, here again …