Photo: Martin C. Barry • NEWSFIRST
Opposition politicians and Two Mountains residents shared their views with NSN on the recent
Citizen’s Summit.

While the opposition at Two Moutains city hall is less than pleased with the Citizen’s Summit the Lauzon administration held on June 1 and 2, a sampling of opinions expressed by residents would seem to indicate there is at least some satisfaction with the consultation, which city officials want to use as the basis for future planning.

Opposition reacts
Aided by opposition councillors and candidates from the last election, former mayoral candidate Robert Landry held an informal press conference in the parking lot next to the municipal pool on June 7, to deliver a statement on the two-day focus group held at the Olympia which was attended by at least 600 people.
While praising the administration for undertaking the consultation, Landry said he was disappointed that Lauzon wasn’t more forthcoming with numbers on Two Mountains’ financial situation. “I want him to come clean,” he said. “I want him to give the real numbers to the citizens. Not a number picked out of a hat.”

Former Two Mountains mayoral
candidate Robert Landry says
he wants the Lauzon administration
to “come clean” on the city’s financial situation.

Numbers questioned
Landry claimed there were inconsistencies in the numbers presented on video screens during the summit. “If they cannot even have the right numbers in their presentation, how do we expect the citizens to understand what’s going on?” he asked. Landry and his supporters are accusing Lauzon of exaggerating the city’s situation so as to covertly encourage the idea of merger with St-Eustache.
In response to the latter accusation, the mayor has replied in an open letter published in this North Shore News edition. While some residents who had come out to hear Landry speak were clearly not fans of Lauzon’s leadership, most had at least something good to say about the Citizen’s Summit. “It was not a waste of time in the sense that people were coming up with ideas for Deux-Montagnes going forward,” said Ralph Piché.

Intelligence factor
“I think something we need to understand is that Two Mountains people are maybe a little more intelligent than people gives us credit for,” he continued. “I don’t think any of us would have taken at face value that what he was telling us was correct.” While insisting on the one hand that he and others are “relying on Mr. Landry and other people in this town to now come back and give us the real facts,” he added that “the fact is there was some great ideas” at the summit.
“There were some ideas that you could tell were more conducted or arranged. But in the sense of the growth of Two Mountains and how to keep it up without paying more taxes, I think there were some really good ideas. Was it a waste of money? We probably could have done without it.”

Stupid suggestions
Jean Shelley said, “It was well organized, but I got nothing out of it. Nobody was allowed to talk out of turn, nobody interrupted anybody. It was fine, but it came up with stupid suggestions, like putting Starbucks on Oka Road, McDonald’s, Second Cup, and somewhere very close to Oka Road a big industrial building to bring in revenue. Where the hell are they going to put any one of those?”
Rick Waters said he was familiar with the procedures the group animators used, having had some experience himself with similar methods while screening potential members for  a service organization he belongs to. “We used exactly the same method,” he said. “You don’t insult the people who are commenting. You just write it all down.” Shelley added, “And compliment them for saying it and make them think they did a wonderful job.”