So What Will You Do, Jeff Leiper?

05/29/2025

whopper.watch .12.26

“This is obviously wildly frustrating. I am deeply disappointed. We gave that developer permission in 2018 to do a partial demolition in order to do an adaptive reuse. They were very keen to see that. And then simply didn’t take advantage of the permissions that were provided.”

Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper on the decay of Les Soeurs de la Visitation convent in Westboro

Big words, little fella. Now where’s the follow-through?

Leiper was first elected in 2014 and what has he done about the soon-to-be-crumbling Les Soeurs de la Visitation convent in his ward? Nothing. The original structure was erected in 1864 so it’s not like it’s something especially new.

And Leiper says he can’t see much in the way of preservation of the convent that has occurred in private ownership. Perhaps a walk-through over the years would have noticed some bracing against some walls and the fact that the windows had been boarded up so as to prevent water entering and damaging the structure.

Those words of yours without action and a buck won’t buy you a box of granola, a bunch of kale or a bicycle pedal.

All the while the councillor, who professes to be a man on the left, has punched through expensive high-rises in his ward as chairman of the planning committee that has turned Westboro into an urban jungle rather than the quaint little community that people actually wanted to buy into. Not now. The cache of Westboro has disappeared. The last person to buy some housing there will wonder why they did it. You can buy the same condo you see in Westboro for much less anywhere else.

Big words might make great headlines and look like you are doing something when all you’re accomplishing is uttering big words. Jim Watson lives. But here’s a thought for the great helmsman of Kitchissippi.

What are you going to do about the convent? Surely 11 years is enough time to come up with … what do they call it? … an idea.

So let’s put this to the grand poohbah of all that is trendy in his neighbourhood. What are you going to do about it? You know … work. Not words. Work. Maybe ‘work’ is a four-letter word among the white-wine and canape entitled that doesn’t really resonate.

If words were bricks, the convent could have been rebuilt in no time. So perhaps the time has come for … what do they call it? … action.

Let’s make it simple for the man from Kitchissippi. What are you going to do about the convent? Not what are you going to talk about but what are you going to do? And could you put some finish on those words, you know, complete the project so that the convent is useful and saved.

Then you could put something on your resume of which you could be proud.

Ken Gray