BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1510 West

The demerged municipalities are taking the City of Montreal to court over an issue that cuts to the heart of growing tensions between suburban mayors and Valerie Plante’s administration – increasing costs being imposed on suburban taxpayers by the Agglomeration of Montreal.

The focus of the battle is a $20-million loan bylaw approved by the Agglomeration council in January to, in part, finance the acquisition of land in the Hippodrome sector of Montreal just west of Décarie Blvd. to push forward a 20,000-unit housing development. The bylaw, which was approved despite the objections from all 15 mayors of the demerged suburbs on Jan. 23, puts the full financial burden of the loan on the agglomeration instead of on the shoulders of the City of Montreal, where it belongs by law, the suburban mayors say.

“Clearly, it’s a shot across the bow,” said Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Paola Hawa, describing the move by the demerged suburbs to seek a court ruling to nullify the loan bylaw.

Last week, in a series of emergency meetings convened by each council of the 15 demerged municipalities – including eight West Island towns – elected officials gave the green light to mandate lawyers to file a suit in Quebec Superior Court to block the bylaw. The lawyers also filed a complaint last Friday with the Commission municipale du Québec, a quasi-judicial body that oversees municipal matters.

The emergency meetings were necessary because the demerged cities only had 30 days from the day the loan bylaw was approved to file a complaint with the Commission municipale. The suit in Quebec Superior Court was filed on Monday. The law firm of PFD Avocats is representing the suburban municipalities.

According to documents shared among the suburban mayors obtained by The 1510 West, the loan bylaw “is not in accordance with the powers of the Montreal Agglomeration council.” More specifically, the loan bylaw does not outline which lots are to be acquired.

“Therefore it is impossible to determine whether these acquisitions are for projects within the agglomeration’s jurisdiction or a project of the city of Montreal,” said Pointe Claire Mayor Tim Thomas at a special meeting of his council on Feb. 19 to approve the mandate to seek a court ruling to nullify the bylaw.

According to Hawa, the City of Montreal is solely responsible for the land acquisitions for the housing development, while the agglomeration would be on the hook for any costs involving the extension of Cavendish Blvd., which would access the area. But land currently identified for the Cavendish extension is pegged at $3.5 million, well over the scope of the borrowing bylaw.

The demerged municipalities advocated in favour of the court action because the situation involving the financing of land for the housing project on the site of the former Blue Bonnets racetrack is almost identical to how the City of Montreal originally proposed to finance the redevelopment of Griffintown about a decade ago. The suburbs succeed in its opposition to that financing scheme, forcing the City of Montreal to shoulder the entire cost.

Hawa said the Hippodrome plan and the original Griffintown proposal share the “same fact pattern,” adding she is confident the suburbs have a winning case.

“The law is very clear: You have to be precise. You have to be clear, and they have not done that,” Hawa said. “They’ve forgotten the lessons learned from Griffintown.”

Going to court also gives the demerged suburbs an opening in what has become an ongoing battle over the City of Montreal’s control of the agglomeration council. The makeup of the council gives Montreal representatives a large majority, with demerged municipalities representing only 17 per cent of the vote on the council. This means that despite opposition to a number of issues, the demerged cities get ignored.

This situation has created frustration among the suburban mayors. Since the beginning of 2024, the mayors of the demerged municipalities have consistently voted against resolutions put forward by the agglo that have approved millions of dollars in spending on issues they claim focus solely on local Montreal projects. The mayors argue Montreal’s control of the balance of power on the agglo facilitates what they term abuse of taxpayers in the suburbs.

But up until now, this David-and-Goliath matchup has continued with the suburbs being ignored every time they raise an objection. Now, the lawsuit means David is showing up with a stick to fight this next battle.

“We haven’t had a stick in a while,” Hawa said, describing the suburbs ongoing battles with the agglo.

She is hoping this could change the dynamic as the suburban mayors seek a more equitable and democratic approach to managing expenses on the island.

“As long as we do not have a card to play, they’re not going to listen,” Hawa said. “Now, we have a card to play.”