2000 signatures against hourly fees

It is known that Verdun Borough intends to impose an hourly fee for the use of tennis courts, but it has not yet defined the details of this plan. Responding to the comments and questions of Gilles Pétel, the committee's representative, substitute mayor André Savard indicated that the Council was studying various options to diminish the impact of this fee plan for various categories of residents. The decision of elected officials should be made public before the announcement of the spring and summer programmes for parks and recreational activities in the Borough.

Mr. Pétel insisted that officials take the petition into account. He reminded officials that in the last few weeks, Minister Line Beauchamp relied, in part, on a petition signed by residents to declare a moratorium against the development of tennis courts in Boucherville. He believes that other sports will be affected if the Council applies its user-payer policy.

The representative of the committee also affirmed that Ahuntsic-Cartierville Borough decided to go against the position taken by Verdun. According to Mr. Pétel, it would have decided to abolish hourly fees completely for the use of tennis courts. To this argument, Mr. Savard simply indicated that each Borough was free to impose fees that it deems appropriate for its various services.

This subject was again tackled at the end of the meeting during the second question period. A young man went to the microphone to ask the Council not to take the filed petition into account.

He said that the persons who filed this petition ignored those people who did not agree with their point of view. “If there were only 2000 signatures on this petition,” he asked, “does that mean that all the other residents agree with the Council's Decision?” The young man considered that the projected fee ($5 per hour and per court divided by two or four players) was quite reasonable.

It is surely a question that we will be hearing about again since Mr. Pétel indicated that he would continue to fight against the planned fee.