Suburban mayors threatened to fight the Montreal agglomeration in 2024, and last month they took their first official swing. The punch landed, but it didn’t even leave a bruise.
And that is how their David-and-Goliath matchup is going to continue until something changes.
That something, according to Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Paola Hawa, is the structure of the agglomeration system of government and, more specifically, expanding the pool of voters who elect the mayor of Montreal.
“That would change a lot of things,” Hawa said, explaining that taxpayers in all the demerged cities should have a say in who is elected mayor of Montreal.
Hawa was commenting after the mayors of the 15 demerged cities, including eight in the West Island, last month voted against nine resolutions at the first monthly agglomeration meeting of the year. Despite the opposition, all nine resolution passed without even a raised eyebrow of concern because the mayors of the demerged municipalities only control 17 per cent of the vote on the council.
“Even if we didn’t show up and not vote, it wouldn’t make a difference,” Hawa conceded, explaining that the big part of the problem is not just the unfair costs being imposed on the demerged cities, but the wholly undemocratic structure of the agglomeration council that effectively disenfranchises taxpayers in the suburbs.
“They can give us a bill – any bill – there is no way for us to contest it,” Hawa said in an interview with The 1510 West.
“It’s not just a question of money,” Hawa continued. “It’s a question of the system we are working under. This is not democratic.”
Voted against $63 million in costs
The resolutions proposed by the agglomeration council on Jan. 25 that were opposed by the suburban mayors totalled about $63 million. They included expenditures for everything from infrastructure work like sidewalk repairs on St. Paul Street in Old Montreal to cycling paths in districts of Montreal and work related to the extension of the metro system’s Blue Line to the east-end Anjou district of Montreal, yet the cost of the work is being imposed, in part, on the demerged municipalities.
“From now on, (the mayors of demerged municipalities) will systematically oppose any expenditure or financial measure proposed by the agglomeration, unless a direct, tangible and equitable benefit is clearly established for one, several or all of the demerged municipalities,” the Association of Suburban Municipalities explained in a statement released following the agglomeration meeting.
The strategy, the mayors say, will continue in an effort “to defend the interest of their fellow citizens and to promote fair financial management within the agglomeration.”
Something has got to give
“The status quo is no longer an option,” said Beny Masalla, president of the suburban mayors’ association and mayor of Montreal West.
The campaign to highlight the inequities at the regional level began late last year, when the suburban mayors voted against approving the agglomeration’s budget for 2024 that imposed 38 per cent of the annual increase in costs on the shoulders of the demerged cities, which only represent 12 per cent of the population on the island of Montreal.
In addition, according to the suburban mayors, the demerged cities pay an average of 65 per cent more for services than citizens living in the city of Montreal while receiving fewer of these services, like policing and public transit.
But Hawa insists the issues with the agglomeration are not simply about money.
“It’s taxation without representation,” Hawa said, pointing to the fact that if the approximately 400,000 residents of the demerged cities had a say in who is elected the mayor of Montreal, the suburbs would not simply be viewed as a cash cow.
A democratic principle is at stake as well, she argues.
The city of Montreal has no incentive to address this, she argues. In fact, it would be up to the provincial government to change the structure. But first, the average taxpayer has to understand that fact.