It continues to be a pleasure to serve as your councillor for District 4. Thank you for your continued support and the confidence you have shown in me. 

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Over the last few years, the Cote Saint-Luc Council has been working on preparing the Master Plan document. This involves changes to the zoning for several areas in Cote Saint-Luc including the 3 shopping centres, Cavendish Mall, Cote Saint-Luc Shopping Centre and Decarie Square. I recognize that the future of malls throughout North America and the world are changing as the number of online purchases grow. 

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The aim would be to have mixed use developments on the sites of the shopping centres, with commercial, residential and institutional elements.  At the same time, we need to ensure that traffic and density are addressed as to how it impacts the local areas.

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In terms of District 4, the zoning of the Westminster Corridor will be most affected by the Master Plan. This involves changes to the zoning of the buildings along Westminster to increase density. For more background on the proposed changes, please click on the link for the information session held in early 2025.

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Cote Saint-Luc led the charge in terms of resolutions protesting some of the unfair sections of Bill 96, the updated Charter of the French Language adopted by the Quebec National Assembly. We organized 23 other cities to launch a court challenge against some of the key clauses in the law.

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Bill 96 requires cities and other administrative bodies to put in place disciplinary measures for employees who do not comply with the linguistic obligations of the law. City workers shouldn’t be treated like high school students in a French class. English is the first official language spoken by 14% of the Quebec population, yet only 1% of Quebec’s civil service are English-speaking, and Bill 96 will only decrease this number.  This will lead to further reduced services for English-speaking Quebecers moving forward.

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We cannot accept that the Office Quebecois de la langue française (OQLF) could inspect and seize at any time without prior notice, documents or equipment belonging to any city. All this could be done based on anonymous tips and could lead to not only fines, but instability in the workplace. Even the police do not have the right to do this. 

Bill 96 also puts cities at a much higher risk of losing bilingual status. With Bill 96 in place, cities must opt in every few years in a very complicated system that makes it easier for cities to lose the status rather than keep it. This only hurts the English-speaking population in Quebec.

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Among the cities with bilingual status, there are some where 99% of people speak English as their first language. It is absurd that they would have to write all contract documents in French. This will hurt small and medium size businesses in our communities that don’t have the capacity to prepare contracts in French. If a contract is written in English, it would be considered null and void according to Bill 96.

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Finally, Bill 96 allows the Minister of the French Language to unilaterally withhold all government grants if the municipality does not comply with any provision of the Charter of the French Language. We estimate that could involve a potential loss of $25 Million per year for the cities involved in the case. This would leave a city incapable of providing many services that are necessary for the people including road and pipe repairs, environmental initiatives and purchasing library books.

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We understand the need to protect and promote the French language and Quebec’s culture, but believe it should not be done to the detriment of the English-speaking community. In a time when diversity and inclusion are values that have been taken on by public and private organizations, it’s sad that the objective of Bill 96 seems to be the opposite by having threatening clauses like searches and seizures based on anonymous complaints and the potential withdrawal of government funding for non-compliance of the law.  

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The goal of the city has been to maintain or improve the services offered while keeping the tax rate as low as possible. I am proud to hold the finance portfolio and chair the Audit Committee since 2014. For 8 of the last 12 years we have kept the average tax increase for Cote Saint-Luc residents at or below the rate of inflation. There have been a few difficult years where the rate of the central city or Agglomeration of Montreal passed on huge increases. 

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Over the last few years to better prepare for these increases, the Cote Saint-Luc Audit Committee set up a subcommittee to look at the core services we offer. The subcommittee ensured that we are able to continue delivering these offerings while reducing costs or eliminating non-essential expenses.

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In 2025, we set up two additional subcommittees to further optimize city services and the cost for programs. The first subcommittee is examining the cost of snow removal and is comparing the expense for doing snow removal in-house versus outsourcing it to private contractors. The second one is looking at the price for programs and courses for Cote Saint-Luc residents vs non-residents.

 

I am also proud to hold the environment and sustainability portfolio. We have reduced the tonnages of waste going to landfill by 44 percent while the amount of waste diverted has nearly tripled. I can share that Cote Saint-Luc had concerns regarding the way our organic waste was being treated and the restrictions on compostable corn starch bags that many residents use. After adopting a resolution, meeting with employees of Montreal’s environment department and discussions at the compost treatment facility in St-Laurent, there seems to be more openness in terms of accepting the compostable bags.  Residents should ensure that if they are using the cornstarch bags, they are certified compostable (not biodegradable which is a lesser standard).

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Côte Saint-Luc has been forced to cut down more than 2,000 diseased trees since 2013, mostly due to the Emerald Ash Borer. I’m happy to say that Cote Saint-Luc caught up in 2022 to overcome the tree deficit and we are back in a positive situation. As part of the Tree for my Neighbourhood program, we are inviting residents to purchase a tree to plant on your property.

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We are continuing to focus on improvements to city infrastructure. We recently completed the repaving of Arcadian and Smart near Cote Saint-Luc Rd. The City is prioritizing road and water pipe repairs. We have sleeved about 24 percent of the water pipes in the city so far and have reduced the number of water main breaks by 61% over the last few years, through preventative maintenance.

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Côte Saint-Luc has begun switching streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs with roughly 1000 completed including many in District 4. Cote Saint-Luc has been investing $300,000 to $500,000 per year in our small parks budget.  This includes a new bathroom and waterfountain at Fletcher Park, new play structure at Earle Park and a new bike repair station at Schwartz Park. 

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Cote Saint-Luc has been working on an action plan to address lead service lines. Until 2019, the maximum allowable measurement was 10 ppb of lead. That year, the limit was lowered to 5 ppb. We tested about 1700 homes and found that the majority of the readings were between 5-10 ppb. Each year, Cote Saint-Luc is replacing the lead service lines on the city side of the pipe and encouraging residents to replace the private side at the same time.  If you may have lead, we urge you to use a filter and apply for one of the grants available from the city. For more on what the city is doing, click here.

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During the pandemic, the goal had been to ensure Cote Saint-Lucers were safe. Cote Saint-Luc was the first city in the Province of Quebec to declare a state of emergency and the first in Canada to make masks mandatory in public spaces. This was done weeks before Montreal or Quebec took similar actions. We continue to take every necessary step to keep our residents safe and secure.

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Early in the pandemic, we could not predict how the City would be affected financially. As the Councillor responsible for the finance portfolio, my priority was to ensure ongoing budget monitoring. Despite the challenges, Côte Saint-Luc finished 2020 with a surplus.