The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 2

A-2 Montreal, Sunday, July 17, 1988 ''if Green yields to greed as farms policy goes round in a circle Bantey BEAU DIMANCHE Vh courage to undertake the battle against vested interests that had paralysed his predecessors. The law establishing green zones throughout Quebec was enacted in 1978 and a young, idealistic lawyer named Pierre-Luc Blain was named chairman of the commission set up to apply it. Speculators who had sunk millions into farmland In the hope of reselling it at a fancy profit were furious. The land was now worthless for anything except farming. They pressured municipalities to lobby Blain and his commissioners for exemptions.

But Blain said he had a mandate to apply the law rigorously. He did so with a zeal many people Peouistes then in power as well as Liberals considered unreasonable. Blain, however, would not be moved. The Liberals promised to relax application of the law if they came to power. When that took place In 1985, they quietly named new members to the 15-member commission to fill four vacancies.

The new commissioners, including Louis-Rene Scott, a long-time power-behind-the-scenes in Liberal In the Lanaudicre region, for example, the MRC wanted 3,588 hectares. Stc. Marthc, near Cap dc la Madeleine, wanted nine hectares dezoncd. It got 200 times more, 1,800 hectares. The commission's generosity pleases the municipalities and landowners.

Camille Robillard, president of the Quebec Union of Municipalities, says it's clear the commission "is now sensitive to the needs of economic development." Much of the land in question is said to be rich farmland that might have contributed to the achievement of the dream of self-sufficiency, now roughly an estimated 70 per cent. When the zoning law was passed 10 years ago, Laval tried to limit its green zone to 32 per cent of its territory. The request was turned down and 43 per cent was set aside for agriculture. This time, Laval is taking no chances. It has gotten local farmers, fearing the worst, to endorse its proposal to reduce the green zone to the 32 per cent it wanted in the first place.

Laval's proposition seems likely to get the stamp of approval this time from chairman Blain and his more liberal inner cabinet. circles, evidently were determined to make Blain see the light because pressure was mounting from tax-hungry municipalities eager to cash in on the Greater Suburbia bonanza. Three of the new commissioners, including Scott, now sit on a special "negotiating committee" to deal with dezoning requests. Blain himself chairs what amounts to an inner cabinet. The committee these days Is pursuing its task with frightening purpose.

Garon's successor, Agriculture Minister Michel Page, got cabinet approval recently for the dezoning of 24,000 hectares in 19 MRCs, the county councils that can each comprise a dozen or more municipalities. Blain's commission reportedly is now studying propositions that would unfreeze green zones in all of Quebec's 92 MRCs. When that operation is completed, some 250,000 acres are likely to have been "liberated." Not all of the land being freed from zoning is suitable for farming, but much of it apparently is. Ironically, Blain's commission is being more generous than the municipalities expected. Less than 10 years ago, Piorre-Luc Blujn looked like the valiant, uncompromising knight riding roughshod over the temple vendors as he (ought the good fight to keep Quebec green.

Today some people think the knight Is twhaving more like a bulldozer run amok, a bulldozer threatening to dig up the lush countryside to make way for the bungalows and split-levels that contribute to the glory and the coffers of Greater Suburbia. Call it progress, call it folly, but Blain and Quebec seem to have come almost full circle from greenbacks to green fields and back. Not exactly to Square 1, but close to the threshold. 2 In 1976, when Jean Garon was "appointed minister of agriculture, he knew more about law and economics than about farming. But the former Universite de Laval professor quickly grasped the significance of agriculture for Quebec's economy.

Garon set himself one major objective: to increase Quebec's self-sufficiency in food production. Notwithstanding Quebec's immensity, only 3 or 4 per cent of its territory Is really good farmland. Yet, year after year, huge chunks had been falling prey to speculators. They bought up large tracts from hard-pressedfarmers ill-equipped to compete with Imports that flooded and still flood our supermarkets. Garon figured two things had to be done.

First, farming would have to be rationalized. The little family farm would have to make way for bigger units run on an industrial basis if Quebec hoped to market its produce at competitive prices. Second, a clear delimitation of arable land was needed to prevent speculators and revenue-hungry municipalities from spoliating farmland. Garon wasn't the first person in Quebec to recognize the need for farm zoning. But only he had the political Dave Dombrooski Introducing Decisions, decisions, decisions but this one was easy to make YY- Garry Steckles ASSOCIATE SUNDAY EDITOR "IIILI 11 111 11 7T (f.

My II i.sy.;v ti mm rJr -r 1 1 1 1 1 i fi: I Gazette, Pierre Obendrauf 1 Yf i -y famtM Dave Dombrowski couldn't shake off the baseball bug when he was in high school. Expos' boss really wanted to play but his job's still dream come true Making decisions are as much a part of the newspaper business as writing stories and headlines, taking Ehotographs or designing pages, undreds of them, big and small are involved in every edition of every newspaper you pick up. Today's Sunday Gazette presented us with a decision-making problem that was both difficult to resolve and a pleasure to tackle: choosing the picture most appropriate for launching a new feature by the celebrated Montreal portrait photographer, Gaby. Every week, we'll be running a Gaby portrait, along with a column reminiscing about the individual and about the actual photo session. Our dilemma: Gaby photographed virtually every major personality in Montreal, across Canada and around the world, in politics, in entertainment, in business during the '50s, '60s and '70s.

Should we run Cecille B. de Mille or Samuel Gold- wyn? Bette Davis or Duke Ellington? Sir Anthony Eden or Gen. Charles de Gaulle? The Queen and Prince Philip or Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia? We tried to make our choice based on fame (they're all famous), the quality of the pictures (they're all first-class) or on Gaby's personal recollections (they're all fascinating). That was too difficult So we made things simple on ourselves and decided on a new yardstick: which of Gaby's hundreds of subjects had done the most good with his or her life? Gaby's portrait of Albert Schweitzer, musician, theologian and mission doctor, 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of history's great humanitarians, appears on Page D-7. We hope you agree it's an appropriate way to launch a series that will rekindle memories for many of us and introduce a younger generation of readers to household names from the recent past When we launched the Sunday Gazette in March of this year, one of the innovations we were most excited about was the Fridge Door a children's page with a difference, in that it's written and illustrated by the children themselves.

And we were pretty pleased with the mascot for the page Noodles the raccoon. So, it turns out, are the arbiters of what looks good and what doesn't on the printed page the Society of Newspaper Design. The society's 19 judges have awarded Noodles' creator, Gazette artist Gamboli, an Gazette photo Gamboli says Noodles decided to enter competition. where his mother works, and graduated with a degree in business administration from Western Michigan University. He was an A-student Status: He's single and lives alone in an apartment on St Marc St.

He's shopping for a downtown condominium and hopes to get married someday and raise a family. Sports: He plays racquetball and is learning squash at the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association on Peel St. He plays basketball every week at various local gyms. He goes for a 30- to 40-minute afternoon jog five days a week, usually on the Olympic Stadium track. Last movie: No Way Out starring Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman.

Last play: Cats. Books: Robert Ludlum spy novels. Music: Contemporary. (Whitney Houston, Phil Collins.) Restaurants: Gibbys on Place d'Youville and Restaurant Da Vinci on Ste. Catherine St.

W. Pet peeve: rudeness. Pet please: "A win at the ballpark and going out for dinner afterwards." Salary: Wouldn't say, only that "the job pays well." New dream: To own a baseball team. ing to happen around here every day," Dombrowski said after his second deal in as many days. Should we believe him? "We're happy with our club at this point," he smiles.

"But we're always in contact with other clubs." Despite his youth, Dombrowski has been in the business for a little more than 10 years. He spent eight years with the Chicago White Sox, climbing from man Friday to vice-president of baseball operations. He joined the Expos in December 1986 as director of the team's minor-league system and became assistant general manager last summer. The 6-foot 3-inch, blue-eyed Dombrowski sees pros and cons to being a young general manager. "The advantage is it puts you more in the age bracket of the players you're dealing with," he says.

"The disadvantage is some people look at you as being, well, young." Childhood: He was born on July 27, 1956, in Chicago. His father works in the parts department of a Chevrolet dealership in that city, and his mother is a high school secretary. He has two younger sisters, aged 21 and 28. Education: He attended Harold L. Richard's High School, By WALTER BUCHIGNANI of The Gazette Like many boys growing up in the United States, Dave Dom-browski's childhood dream was to become a professional baseball player.

And like many boys, he abandoned that dream in high school when it became evident he wasn't major-league material. But while most students aspired to careers in medicine or law, Dombrowski was unable to shake the baseball bug. "I was just fascinated by the thought of putting together a baseball team," he recalls. "People who know me know that it's been my dream to become a baseball manager." His dream came true this month when the Expos named him vice-president of player personnel in effect, general manager. Dombrowski, who turns 32 next week, has been touted as a whiz kid who goes in swinging when negotiating trades.

"Don't expect a blockbuster trade tomorrow," he cautioned on the day of his appointment and then proceeded with a five-player deal with the Cincinnati Reds. He did it again the following day, landing a one-for-one swap with the Chicago Cubs. "It's not indicative of what's go "And he had the audacity to tell me that he expected to be recognized because he knew that he's just so terrific and is especially loved by so many children." Gamboli's uppity raccoon was one of 655 award winners from 7,884 entries in the prestigious design competition. Finally, a word to those of you who look forward to reading the world profiles and features, and the-World Digest page, in the Section, of the Sunday The configuration of the paper has been altered slightly this- week, with two world pages moved to the front, section of the paper. You can find them on Pages A-6 and A-7.

And our-Classified section starts on page B- award of excellence in its annual design competition. Speaking on behalf of Noodles, who declined to be interviewed, Gamboli commented: "When Art Editor Luci Lacava asked me to enter some of my work in the competition this year, I replied, as I've done in the past, that I'm not really interested in competitions. After some cajoling, I relented and selected some of my feature illustrations and political stuff. "Going through the rules, I discovered there was a section called "miscellaneous." That's when Noodles said 'Hey, send wonderful me "So I sent the portraits of Noodles off to the competition Noodles prefers the term 'portraits' and he won an award. So much for my other stuff.

Watering your lawn today The week's lotteries Throughout the summer, In collaboration with the Asso-tion quebecoise des techniques de I'eau will publish daily lawn watering recommendations for communities where water shortages occur. Based on a mathematical formula, the recommendations will take into account the amount of water necessary for maximum growth of your lawn and the soil's capability to retain moisture. These recommendations are valid if it has not rained in the last 24 hours. A ban means that a municipality forbids watering today. 250 St.

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