LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A Westmount refuge for Mr. Baby
Re: “Dear Mr. Baby: Yes, Mayor Coderre says you need to be licensed” (Opinion, Jan. 5)
Dear Mr. Baby,
I have read of your plight and wish to help. Your Human, Christopher Curtis, is right: Any act of faunal disobedience is not without risk.
You have been deemed a menace, and the public’s very security is at stake. Your lack of cat licence would surely increase dog attacks; leave your property, and most of those will be fatal.
The logic of Mayor Denis Coderre may not be solid as rock, but it’s at least as dense. And he’s getting frisky about it. Uniformed thugs may descend upon you without warning (or warrant) at any moment.
And so my offer: sanctuary in my Westmount home.
I’m proud to say that in Westmount, which I have been repeatedly assured is an entirely distinct municipality, Montreal’s ill-conceived, science-hating, sure-to-be-disastrous pet bylaw has no force or effect.
It makes for a lovely place: cats in the alley (in broad daylight!), legal goldfish, nary a muzzle to be seen. You could hang out with a fellow off-grid unlicensed menace, my aging kidney-diseased Siamese.
You’d be arriving just in time for Westmount’s 143rd anniversary, which we’ve decided to celebrate lavishly, because that makes perfect sense.
Oh, I should mention: One of your flatmates would be our pit-bull mix, Primrose. Like you, she mistrusts the vacuum. She’s also terrified of doors and ceiling fans. She takes orders from our toddler and falls in love with strangers. But according to your mayor, she’s a dangerous dog, so I thought you should know. Pascal Zamprelli, #WestmountLibre
Hockey Canada blows it, again
Re: “Our city’s reputation as a hockey town takes a hit” (Montreal Gazette, Jan. 5) On Monday, I went to the Bell Centre to inquire about the World Junior Hockey Championships and was told the cheapest seats for a semifinal started at $50, and $90 for the gold medal game. I found these prices too steep.
On Wednesday, the powers that be decided to cut ticket prices to help fill seats that evening. At that point, it was not worth my while to schlep all the way downtown from the West Island to catch part of a game. And had I paid full price, I would have been livid!
Hockey Canada blew it big time. No wonder the tournament was poorly attended. Ed Sears, Pointe-Claire
Organizers, not fans, to blame
Our reputation as a “hockey mecca” did not take a hit, as your article suggests. Fans simply chose to follow basic rules of market economics rather than give in to emotion.
Organizers of the junior tourney priced their tickets at exaggerated, NHL-like levels. They failed to consider NHL teams can charge inflated prices because they hold a monopoly in their respective marketplaces. If other pro hockey teams existed in Montreal in leagues similar to the NHL, ticket prices would drop across the board. Grant Forbes, Île-Perrot