Letters to the editorFlabbergasted! We recently were flabbergasted to discover a monument dedicated to Queen Isabella of Spain, the same Isabella who co-signed the order in 1492 to expel the Jews of Spain, on the NW corner of Macdonald Park, at Isabella and Coolbrook. The monument was unveiled on Oct. 12, 1958 to commemorate, in the name of Isabella, Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. It was presented to Montreal by 18 consulates of Central and Latin America and the Caribbean, listed on the back of the monument. By the time Columbus first set sail, of course, thousands of Jews had already been burned to death by the Inquisition, one of whose backers was Isabella. Isabella Ave. was undoubtedly named in honour of the Queen, and according to the Internet there is another Queen Isabella monument in Parc Sir Wilfred Laurier. We would like to suggest, in the interest of historic justice, that the Isabella monuments be removed. In Macdonald Park, it should be replaced by a small sculpture in memory of the noted Montreal Jewish poet, A.M. Klein, and Isabella Ave. should be renamed “A.M. Klein Ave.” Sheila Cohen & Shloime Perel ••• THE $400,000 NEED A $400,000 bonus for a police commissioner “to keep him in harness” is a waste of our money. Funds should be directed to organizations which work with police to provide the best our city offers to its residents. Recently I went to a modest “no frills” fundraiser for “Project Pride.” I met professionals and heard testimonials from those “helped, redirected and saved” from depression, alcohol and drug abuse. Similar non-profit organizations come to mind such as Sun Youth, Generations Foundation, Share the Warmth, Dans la Rue, endless food banks and shelters, the passion of Father John Walsh, etc… all of which offer help in their area of expertise. Each one is deserving to share this $400,000 and more. Each would serve as inspiration to others while “investing” the funding back into the community! Michael Shafter, Montreal •••
Steinberg is correct
Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg, in his article titled Promises made, promises kept, states that the town has a surplus of “over $1,500,000” while his opponent, Councillor David Sternthal, in his opposite article titled Why I am running, states that the “Town owes over $16 million in debt.” A quick glance at the audited financial statements of the town shows that the “accumulated surplus” of the town is $2,137,602 therefore, the mayor is not only correct but is being conservatively correct. The same financial statements show total liabilities of $16,977,287 which Councillor Sternthal has obviously taken to be the debt of the town. Either Sternthal doesn’t understand the difference between debt and liabilities or doesn’t understand that everyone, every business and every institution has liabilities offset by assets, or he is insulting the intelligence of the town voters. His poor grasp of basic finances makes him a poor choice to be mayor of our town. Syd Cohen, Hampstead •••
A revelation
I have long wondered why, in Montreal, a city that is recognized internationally as a civilized, highly cultural, extremely safe and fun city, people in general or at least a sizable proportion, do not respect the laws of the road and indeed behave rather rudely in this regard. Well, your editorial entitled “People are going to die” seems to have provided me with a good part of the answer. Indeed, you complain about cyclists’ behaviour in the city, and I agree for the most part (except I find that it has noticeably improved as of late, especially at the cycling path traffic lights). But here is the sentence of your piece that constitutes nothing less than a revelation: “instead of hiring cadets to stick their hands in people’s faces to stop jaywalking — a personal choice — they should be used to civilize cyclists.” Well, if you are hinting as you seem to be, that jaywalking is a “personal choice” then we have a long way to go before we realize that the “Code de la route” applies to everyone — pedestrian, cyclist, motorist, skateboarder, etc., and an equally long way before the police do their job, which they are not, because they are the reflection of our society. Andre Nickell, Montreal •••
The real Harel?
I read Sylvie Bourassa’s letter on Louise Harel and noted that the one “cultural” group absent from Ms. Bourassa’s long list of “friends” are anglophones, although this is actually not a surprise. Her statement that Harel deplored violence is belied by the fact Harel often went to “reunions” of old violent Quebec independence grouplets such as Les Chevaliers de l’indépendance as an enthusiastic friend and supporter and, in so doing, earned the disdain and contempt of no less than René Levesque himself. And Ms. Bourassa praised Harel for becoming Speaker of l’Assemblee Nationale but failed to mention how: after being dropped from cabinet, she argued with Premier BernardLandry that she was too old (53 years old at the time) to learn how to drive a car without a chauffeur. She also argued that the big, bad, anglophone demerger activists would take advantage that she no longer had a bodyguard and would try to harm her. Perhaps Ms. Bourassa does not know Louise Harel as well as she thought... Andre Bordeleau, Pointe Claire | 
