Keeping jobs in Quebec

My pride in this city has been shaken. This week, we twice made the news in the United States for reasons that call into question elements of Montreal’s identity.

I have always believed there is nothing Mother Nature can throw at us that we can’t battle with a tuque and a shovel. As I watched cars, vans, buses, police cruisers and, ironically, a salt truck come crashing down Beaver Hall Hill, I wondered: When did we become unable to handle five centimetres of snow in December?

As weather forecaster Al Roker asked on the Today show: If Montreal can’t handle it, who can?

A better question: Why can’t we, anymore? In the past, we made international headlines for the way we survived an ice storm.

If that weren’t embarrassing enough, the Today show also took notice of Montreal’s lamentable attempt to outdo the iconic Christmas tree in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza.

I leave it to others to debate the appearance of our installation in the Quartier des spectacles. What perplexes me is why we would publicly take on the largest and arguably most beautiful Christmas tree in the world if we weren’t prepared to put up a credible contender.

As was noted, isn’t Canada full of trees to choose from?

It seems to me we must get back to basics — maintain our roads and infrastructure, create conditions that attract businesses and cultural events, preserve our rich heritage — and make Montrealers proud again.

Montrealers give this city its personality. When that personality gets buried under five centimetres of snow, crooked trees, lit-up bridges and granite stumps, Montreal’s beautiful patina becomes nothing more than rust on a weathered city. Patrick Botter, Lachine As a Montrealer living in sunny San Diego, I have never felt so homesick thanks to that beautiful and unique Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

For 30 years, that balsam fir provided clean air, shade, beauty and joy. Now, instead of being cut down and sent to a mill, it is being given an honourable farewell.

The tree shows the best of Montreal: acceptance, tolerance, diversity, uniqueness, character, attitude, how to laugh and have fun.

Let other cities have their perfect, cookie-cutter trees. Montreal has shown the world not everything, or everyone, needs to be perfect.

Sure, the tree does not show off Montreal’s amazing artistic side.

Maybe everyone should make a handmade ornament, and place it on the tree. Pierina Ubilla, San Diego Re: “Cookie factory closure a wake-up call, Lisée says” (Montreal Gazette, Dec. 6) and “Maple syrup rebels face wrath of cartel” (FP Montreal, Dec. 6) Why do politicians feel compelled to spew meaningless plans in their efforts to stop the continued degradation of Quebec industries? In their overzealous desire to garner headlines and votes, they always seem to land on the same theme: Government handouts are needed to save business.

That is simply not the way to attract new companies or keep those already here. Rather, we need to understand why a company like Mondelez has chosen to shutter its Montreal cookie factory while maintaining other facilities elsewhere in Canada. It’s not like it is moving operations to lower-cost jurisdictions overseas.

At the same time, practices that are bad for business must be eliminated. A case in point is Quebec’s maple syrup cartel — a powerful lobby that gets in the way of entrepreneurs who want to make a living from a product they produce and process themselves.

A major study is needed on the competitiveness of Quebec vs. other provinces.

Any barriers that make us less competitive must be modified or removed. John De Luca, Pointe-Claire letters@montrealgazette.com