Amalia’s birthday card to Montreal

The following letter by Amalia Mastroberardino, a Secondary 5 student at Villa Maria High School, was the winning submission in this year’s Write for Justice competition (Secondary Cycle 2, English category), sponsored by the Bar of Montreal. The contest theme was “Describe the Montreal of your dreams.”

Happy birthday Montreal!

Three hundred and seventy-five never looked so great! Has it really been 16 years since we first met at the Royal Victoria Hospital? I wanted to tell you how sincerely grateful I am for all of our adventures together and also that I’m honoured to call you home. Don’t listen to what anybody says, you’re way better than Toronto; that said, it wouldn’t hurt if you made a few improvements in the coming years. If I could give you a couple of suggestions …

For starters, did you ever consider a “facelift”? Don’t get me wrong, you’re a beautiful city, but I’ve noticed that lately your potholes are very noticeable, and your bridges are crumbling! The state of your haggard infrastructure is putting your citizens in potential danger, making them suffer from unpleasant congestion and inciting them to covet other lovely cities. Your public transport system could use a bit of a makeover as well, especially regarding timeliness. More often than not, I find myself waiting forever for a bus.

Moreover, you should try to be a little more ecoconscious. Quebec uses almost 97 per cent renewable energy for electricity generation and has done so for quite some time, but don’t let that blind you to the fact that cities are to blame for a substantial portion of carbon emissions. The new hybrid buses are a great choice and I think moving forward with cleaner transportation is a good environmental move for a bustling city like yourself. Go greener still and grow some new trees, you looked absolutely marvellous this autumn; fall colours really do complement your St. Lawrence.

Lastly, embrace your heritage. You are so privileged to be the home to such a large number of cultures and ethnicities. Now more than ever you should celebrate your diversity, and show the world that you don’t fear being different.

All in all, Montreal, you’re a great city; don’t ever think otherwise. I mean, look what you’ve accomplished! You have a rich and influential history, you’ve given life to exceptional artists such as Leonard Cohen and Mordecai Richler; inspired movements like John and Yoko’s sit-in, you’re the home of the Montreal bagel (by far the world’s best bagel), Expo 67, the ’76 Olympic Games, the Grand Prix, the jazz festival and let’s not forget the greatest hockey team in the world!

So blow out our candles, or let the wind blow away some of those unsightly orange construction cones, and have a truly magical 375th; you deserve it!

Love always,

Amalia

P.S. If you don’t mind, could you cool it with the frigid winters, I would really appreciate it!