Talk of ‘Plateau-ization’ fosters wedge politics

Let’s have traffic debate without pitting neighbourhoods against each other, Christopher Holcroft says.

There is that word again, Plateau-ization. Lobbed as an attack line in last fall’s municipal election, it has resurfaced as a tool with which to criticize the Valérie Plante administration. The latest response involves opposition to a proposal by executive committee member (and also Plateau borough mayor) Luc Ferrandez to eliminate through vehicular traffic on Mount Royal.

I happen to adore the Plateau. It is the neighbourhood my family chose to settle in when we moved to Montreal last year. In part, it is the pedestrian-friendly, child-safety transportation planning that attracted us to the community.

But the Plateau does not require defending from me, not with a thriving Main, its grassroots advocacy to preserve public green spaces, and the increasing number of families calling it home as evidence of its success.

What should concern all of us is when one neighbourhood — and by extension, its citizens — is used as a wedge issue in political debate, and what the ramifications of that are for our democracy. However unintended, in the era of Donald Trump, such a tactic poses a dangerous risk.

The governance of modern Canadian metropolises is already challenged by urbansuburban differences. This is a byproduct of a premature pairing of more dense communities with less populated, car-dependent neighbourhoods in the supposedly costsaving municipal amalgamation drives of recent decades.

With such large and diverse constituencies, it can be difficult to find consensus on specific policy issues. Exacerbating those differences for political gain ignores the opportunities for common ground. Consider, Montrealers in the outer areas of the island, just like those in the central part of the city, support climate mitigation strategies (particularly following last spring ’s floods) and great public spaces for their families to enjoy. Those closer to downtown are concerned about congestion and ensuring tax dollars are spent responsibly, not unlike their fellow citizens in the suburbs.

Leaving the impression that policies in one neighbourhood are at once threatening and unworthy to other parts of the city puts us on a slippery slope. The use of a phrase like Plateauization also ignores the fact the Plateau is a community of individuals, prompting the question then, which individuals within the community are threatening and unworthy?

Would it be the 40 per cent of the population, according to the 2016 census, that is under 30 years of age? The 24 per cent who are immigrants? The 14.5 per cent who commute to work by bicycle? The 10 per cent whose major field of study was the arts? See where this can lead? We do not need to look far to find examples of opportunistic voices of division in politics. Backed by the megaphone of social media channels, a tag line can become a convenient rallying cry for anyone feeling angry about their circumstances and seeking something, or someone, to blame.

This formed the core of Rob Ford’s strategy to attack the “downtown elites” and their “damn streetcars” that resulted in his 2010 mayoralty election victory and the destructive years that followed for Toronto.

Further afield, and more consequently, we have witnessed Trump single out constituencies for verbal attack to make his point.

This is a trend in political discourse Montrealers should have no part in.

There are plenty of issues facing the city that demand substantive and vigorous debate, from housing to policing, protecting our most vulnerable citizens to preserving our most valuable natural asset, Mount Royal.

Surely we can have these debates without pitting neighbourhoods, and residents, against each other. Failure to do so undermines the health of our democracy.

At a time when distrust and disengagement are dominating societies, identifying and nurturing spaces that facilitate equity, civility and joy are critical to our social stability and collective wellbeing. Through our words and deeds, let us ensure Montreal is such a space.