The decline and fall of the once great City of Montreal, which for a time housed and became the Capital of Canada and where the Parliament of Canada sat at d'Youville Square, Montreal.
All that left of the once great City of Montreal are the ruins of Expo 67 and the Stade Olympique, from which huge chunks of concrete fall every so often, is now destined to become a something like the ruins of the great cities of the past in Europe and Asia.
As long as there was an English-speaking community that invested in the make-up of the city, Montreal grew and was for a time envied by other cities in Canada. But now that allure that once gave Montreal its joie de vivre is gone, and with it all those offices of the multination companies that gave the city the look of that charm that Toronto had long competed for, has now become a reality and given Toronto the impetus to reach the greatness it had so long desired.
But the sad part is that the infrastructure of Montreal has collapsed. Roads, highways and the raised sections of the overhead roads now fall in pieces or chunks on to the roads below, causing serious damage. The roads are now somewhat like an obstacle courses that one has to learn how to negotiate, or do damage their cars.
On has only to visit Toronto to see its magnificence in plain sight, when one drives through it. Gone are the days of Toronto the dreary, in its place is now a world class city with all that goes with it. It is a multicultural city with ethnic districts which make it cosmopolitan. Here people have used common sense to over ride any ethnic differences and have worked together to make this miracle of Toronto's greatness shine as a beacon of tolerance, which does not exist in Montreal, Kebec today.
In Toronto one can meet people of all nationalities, including Joual-speaking expatriate Kebecois, who have now made it their home. Many Kebecois too, are abandoning the sinking ship called Kebec, and relocating in Toronto and nearby suburbs. Even what was once called Toronto Township, the suburban City of Mississauga, is now part of the Greater Toronto Area. Here too are new corporate offices and factories going up a steady pace.
While one can go to down town Toronto's many restaurants, and one can and order Tripe Bearnais, or a Filet Mignon steak, one cannot be very choosy these days in most Montreal restaurants , because at the very top of the list on the Menu is, Pouding aux Chomeur, which has now become Kebec's National Dish. After all with such a high unemployment rate as Kebec, one cannot afford to be a connoisseur. The endemic corruption of the Kebecois has made Montreal a sort of Crime zone, and mobs rule the roost. Toronto has nothing on Montreal when it comes to outright corruption, in which every part of Kebecois society takes part. And it is where chantage (bribery) has become an every day occurrence for people who live in that once great city.
In time Montreal may become a backwater town much like the cities that dot Louisiana, sans the Catfish, Filet Gumbo or Crawfish Pie.
Of course I will end with an elegy for Montreal, the City that died of neglect at the hands its very own Metis (Kebecois) population which had no desire to work and make it any better than a slum to live in. The racist fanatics of ethnocentrically based groups have only worked towards driving out nonKebecois from the province by racist laws that have not only dehumanized people, but ostracized them to the point that they have pulled-up stakes and left for other parts of Canada to live in peace, harmony and prosperity, and to raise their families in a civilized society.
While Toronto has gone on from the Town of York to become a World Class City, Montreal has gone from great city to become the cesspool extraordinaire of Canada.
Kenneth T. Tellis
