Montreal Gazette

Behind the scenes as Train de l’Ouest coalition makes its pitch

- BILL TIERNEY Bill Tierney is a former mayor of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. billtierne­y@videotron.ca

If you closed your eyes, you could imagine that it was a bit like the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, except there were no Beatles and there was no mystery. It was just 13 elected and ex-elected officials being driven to Quebec City in a municipal minibus to back Clifford Lincoln as he once more lobbied for that mythical beast, the Train de l’Ouest.

Is it coming or is it not? That was — and is — the question. Would we see those trains pull into Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue on their own tracks before we all died? Or would we have to leave it to future generation­s to dedicate a monument to Lincoln by the side of newly dedicated tracks? “In memory of Clifford Lincoln, the Trainman.”

A former MNA and ex-MP, Lincoln has been lobbying on our behalf since the 1980s for better train service.

Of course, it was 50 years late for the gang of boomer coalitioni­sts on board last week’s minibus. There were no hallucinat­ory drugs, no funny costumes, no John Lennon music, no walrus, just blood thinners, beta-blockers, ace inhibitors and other assorted life preservers and pieces of medical apparatus. Luckily, the 23-seat bus had a low step and there were no wheelchair­s to heave up. And the driver, the youngest person on the bus who drove six hours on the highway without flinching, looked like he might be trained as a first-responder. It was like an Age d’Or outing. Whatever, there was definitely something magical about it all. Starting with a dawn departure. Then, the imposing figure of Pointe-Claire Mayor Morris Trudeau greeting us by the bus, usually used by the Pointe-Claire Canoe-Kayak Club, stamped with Pointe-Claire’s windmill logo. In the great Pointe-Claire tradition of generosity and hospitalit­y, Trudeau himself served coffee, croissants, doughnuts and muffins. That’s the kind of leadership we love from our West Island flagship city.

And this group was genderbala­nced: six women, seven men. Five mayors, two of them female. The Senneville mayoress couldn’t come.

And there were the TV cameras, even at this early hour. And wherever there are cameras, you might find ex-Beaconsfie­ld mayor Bob Benedetti, who still looks like he is about to break into a CTV news story with all the intensity and drama of early TV journalism.

And there at the front of the bus is Baie-d’Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino, hostess and organizer of this expedition, supported by two of her councillor­s. She is the elected spokeswoma­n of the Train de l’Ouest Coalition. She will share the presentati­on duties with Lincoln in the famous Salon Rouge at the National Assembly.

Six hours on a bus with 13 train dreamers, none of them actually commuters, just passionate West Island representa­tives who want a better travel deal for their West Island constituen­ts. And then, four hours inside the National Assembly, inside those gilded hallways and legislativ­e rooms where our towns can be merged and demerged without reference to a single municipal taxpayer. This is where real power is palpable.

And so, finally, we stumble into the Salon Rouge, where the legislativ­e commission that might just push the Train de l’Ouest onto the track meets. A quick scan of the room is discouragi­ng: only three women in the group of maybe 20, two looking very secretaria­l and one fetching coffee for wilting MNAs.

This is not the experiment­al gender-balanced world of Jean Charest. But one shouldn’t be surprised: The massive 1927-29 painting by Charles Huot hung up in the Red Room (which, by the way, has no crucifix) shows nine men sitting around a table listening to another man reading a list. Not a woman in sight. Maybe Charest’s balanced cabinet was an aberration.

Luckily, we have a very capable minister from our area, Carlos Leitão, who is both powerful and a leading voice on the commission. Tutino leads off, followed by Lincoln. Then, a question period with the members of the commission follows. Lincoln is in soaring rhetorical form. It is amazing how respectful the MNAs are of this political legend, still performing at such an elevated level in his late years.

The minister of transport who is also responsibl­e for Montreal, Robert Poëti, meets us for 10 minutes. The whole affair is very encouragin­g. But these things take time, lots of time. It took 10 years to get the bike path in Ste-Annede-Bellevue. It’s only reasonable that it’s taken Lincoln 30 years to get close to a decent train service.

But hark! Toot toot! It may be just around the bend. Just maybe.

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