The city announced yesterday a process where only it’s opinion will be explained. Based on some inaccuracies heard in yesterday’s the mayor speech, we find serious reasons to be afraid.
Did you say democracy?
All this for that?
THE MTQ GIVES BIRTH TO A MICE
Some attended the MTQ presentation last Tuesday. Good for you. For the others, you haven’t missed anything.
GROUNDHOG DAY, 7 YEARS OF UNNECESSARY SUFFERING
The solution presented is totally similar to that of the noise pollution study of 2010. Short walls, high walls, depending on the location. The difference is that the MTQ replaces concrete with mineral wool coated with woven willows.
SO, we suffered 7 more years for nothing.
At the next council meeting, the mayor will be triumphant. He will claim that everything has been said and that the project will cost 50-60 Million $ in 5 to 10 years…
OVERESTIMATED COSTS
I didn’t need a $200,000 study to identify the supplier of these willow-covered noise barriers. I contacted them in 2019. I calculated a total installed cost including landscaping of … $33 million! This is the reality!
WE MUST SPEAK UP – TALK TO OUR CITY COUNCILORS
Let’s express ourselves.
Let’s be any to ask questions to the mayor, next Tuesday.
We must be heard by our municipal councilors. Send them letters, emails, call them, ask your spouse and neighbors to do the same. Communicate twice, three times. It is increasingly important.
Please copy me of these emails, to gauge the extent of our response.
And here is a scoop. This will be published in the next Beaconsfield Journal
In English
In French
We want the report NOW
Attached is a formal request for publication of the MTQ report BEFORE the May 17 presentation
WHY 10 M$ for a library, but none for our HEALTH ?
The city announced the IMAGINE project (Taj Mahal on the lake) will cost 15 M$, with 3 M$ in grants and 2-3 M$ in private donations
So, we will pay 10 M$ from ” loan bylaw, as well as from the city’s reserves and available surpluses”. That means one third (33%) from external sources.
In September 2020, the mayor told us that he expected the project to be funded TWO thirds from external sources
SO, the mayor favors :
- 10 M$ for IMAGINE (financed at 33%) for a library that we already have and to cover for office space requirements calculations which are no longer valid in 2022 given the remote offices trend
instead of
- 10 M$, for our share of the soundwall, financed at 75% to protect the HEALTH of one third of the population of Beaconsfield (6,000 residents)
Mr Mayor, WHY NOT PAY THE ANTI NOISE BARRIER from ” loan bylaw, as well as from the city’s reserves and available surpluses”????
Transport noise linked to dementia and Alzeimer
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/09/transport-noise-linked-to-increased-risk-of-dementia-study-finds?fbclid=IwAR1nG9hRVm7J_xqfoO6TwXx1C4gxfYqut1-671U1cmGPcdbqxVhs4FFrGEU
Last week, Mr Bourelle said he didn’t see the sick people resulting from the noise. That is because most damage is done internally.
The following extracts are provided by our friend Caroline Laforest, from the “Beaconsfield Confidential” Group.
Transport noise linked to increased risk of dementia, study finds.“Research has consistently linked transport noise to health conditions including heart disease, diabetes and obesity, but studies on transport noise and dementia were scarce and small, and findings inconsistent. Now an “impressive” study involving two million adults, conducted over more than a decade, has concluded that people living in areas with transport noise face a higher risk of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease. The findings were published in the BMJ. [British Medical Journal](…)“
In this large nationwide cohort study, we found transportation noise from road traffic and railways to be associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia and dementia subtypes, especially Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers wrote.(…)
Possible explanations for why noise may affect health include the release of stress hormones and sleep disturbance, which lead to heart disease, changes in the immune system and inflammation – all of which are seen as being linked to the onset of dementia. The study was observational so did not establish cause, and it had a number of limitations, such as a lack of information on sound insulation in homes that may affect exposure to noise. However, its strengths included its large size, long follow-up time, and high-quality assessment of noise exposure.”
The mayor shows his true colors
Last week-end I challenged the mayor about a statement he made about “keeping the taxes low”. I asked him 3 FACTS-based questions and provided the official documents as a proof.
- How do you justify the two salary raises you voted yourself totalling 85% over 2015 to 2018?
- Do you admit that there is a major health problem along the highway and the tracks?
- Do you agree that the financial situation of the city is mostly due to multi millions$ of welcome tax which poured on to the city for the last 8 years and not your so-called “good management”?
From that point, he lost control and said I was a loser, then a bitter person, and finally, he made fun of me showing a picture of me which showed my belly.
Then, the fire consumed everything. The people’s reaction on that Facebook group was overwhelming. Everybody condemned him and shared his bad taste post.
And then, it went to the news. This topo on Global News was the first on Monday night and Tuesday morning!
Questions & Answers with the candidates
We are voting on November 7, but what do we know about the opinions of the candidates on municipal topics? Not much, to say the least.
Caroline Laforest, the leader of the “Beaconsfield confidential” Facebook group teamed up with Russell Duncan to ask them 6 relevant questions. She sent them to all the candidates.
Here are the answers they received. Question # 1 is of particular interest.
How much for the quality of life of 6,000 citizens?
Beaconsfield needs leadership to solve the major health issue that hurts one third of its population.
Follow this link, this situation is very similar to that of Beaconsfield because, in both cities, the administration hides behind the procedures and refuses to publicly acknowledge the existence of the problems caused by the situation instead of doing its duty : support the mitigation measures to protect the health [or life] its citizens.
Here are some relevant quotes:
“Rather than simply voting to build the sidewalk [anti noise barrier], elected officials decided to adopt a loan by-law. This process opened the door to a referendum.”
“You claimed to follow the path of democracy, but in reality it was to avoid facing your duty. Because you had a duty towards the coroner’s report, the parents of Anaïs and the safety of pedestrians in your village, ”Ms. Larochelle [the mother of the little girl] wrote in a letter sent to elected officials”. Shame on you.”“The municipality and the MTQ are passing the buck a bit and no one is exercising the expected leadership“
That’s EXACTLY what our mayor is doing and, on top of that, he brags that it is a democratic process !!!
HOW MUCH FOR THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF 6,000 CITIZENS OF BEACONSFIELD?
2000 Signatures For The Noise Barrier, But The Mayor Stays Walled Up
PETITION DELIVERED
Monday, August 2021, we delivered a copy of our petition for
- building the noise barrier on the South side, and
- the preliminary evaluation by engineers of the requirements to mitigate the noise on the North side.
[32:00 to 44:30] The petition included 2,000 signatures (and is still open on this web site and in person). This means 2,000/14,000 voters = 14,2% of the voters in Beaconsfield are in favor of those two objectives.
THE MAYOR DOES NOT ANSWER
The mayor (did not) answered with his usual pitch about the procedure to be followed.
Speaking for the councilors, he did NOT answer to our question “do you agree that the A-20 and train tracks cause a major HEALTH issue to one third of the population of Beaconsfield?“
The mayor tried to downplay this issue by saying that only the residents of about 300 houses are hurt were the noise level in beyond 70dBA. The reality is that as early as 1999, the WHO defined the dangerous zone at 65 dBA and therefore more than 6,200 citizens of Beaconsfield live in a zone of great danger to their health
[1:04:30 to 1:12:00] – a very interesting exchange between a citizen and Mr Bourelle
The citizen tried to have the mayor say what is the criteria to have a referendum when we are talking about a health issue. He also added that THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY VOTE ABOUT THE HEALTH OF ONE THIRD OF THE POPULATION. A health issue must be corrected or mitigated. Period.
The mayor answered he is not a doctor (!..!). But the WHO studies clearly demonstrated the major health issues met by those living within 300 meters of as highway and/or a track.
You do not need to be a doctor to understand that!
WE ARE IN THE NEWS
Here are the news clips which covered this event (Credits CBC News and Global News)
CBC Daybreak Tuesday morning (August 24 2021) :
Article on the Global site :
CBC news clip on Monday night (August 23 2021)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BI86CT2ESsf_O5BbR4RMX9L9vFed2Xi5/view
Global news link on Monday night (August 23 2021) :
Reduce the Greenhouse gaz (GHG) without acting upon it’s main source (the 20) in Beaconsfield ??? What a joke!
“the City was able to develop three action plans of the i3P project to make our community more resilient to the impacts of climate change: GHG Reduction Plan, Community Energy Plan and Climate Adaptation Plan.” See the City’s announcement
How come none of these plans even mentioned the biggest source of Greenhouse gaz in Beaconsfield : the highway 20 which splits the city in two?
Building a sound wall also brings a reduction of the air pollution (or GHG) close to the highway. See the Public Health Department’s 2006 report. This is Chapter 2 detailing the air-related health issues along highways.