Alan DeSousa’

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

Opposition efforts to get the Cavendish extension back on the front burner of the Hippodrome development took a hard turn at city council last week. Saint-Laurent Mayor Alan DeSousa’s motion to prioritize the long-promised connection was defeated after meeting harsh pushback by CDN-NDG Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, who vaunted the Plante administration’s green vision to build 20,000 homes in Montreal’s most populous neighborhood, while criticizing Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz for supporting the motion, suggesting his priorities lay outside his own district.

The motion speaks of a yet-to-be produced environmental impact study required for Quebec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement to hold consultations, further delaying any action, and called for Cavendish to be included in Montreal’s 2025-2034 capital investment program. DeSousa said putting 20,000 units in Namur-Hippodrome in the short- and medium-term without transportation and mobility measures in place will create a “nightmare… Just look at what is happening in this sector: the development of Westbury, de la Savane; Décarie Square; Royalmount which opens this fall… then add Hippodrome to this mess? Congestion will be unbearable.”

Katahwa says Projet Montréal believes development begins with the Hippodrome and “then Cavendish to Cavendish,” the two not mutually exclusive and listed pressing housing needs of CDN residents, suggesting Snowdon residents should know Moroz supports saying “no, it’s not right, you shouldn’t have done it like that; you should have made sure we develop Cavendish to open up Côte-Saint-Luc before taking the opportunity to develop so many homes for Montrealers, for the people of Côte-des-Neiges.”

Characterizing Ensemble Montreal as a “pale representation” of Projet Montréal, she prompted Montreal North councillor Chantal Rossi to tell council president Martine Musau Muele “the councillor (Katahwa) is not responding to the motion and directly attacking a fellow councillor.”

“I’m not a councillor,” Katahwa replied from across the chamber, “I’m a mayor.” Rossi responded: “Here, you’re a councillor.” Katahwa apologized to Rossi then denied insulting Moroz, saying she “just pointed out” his priorities, prompting Muele to ask all to “stay on order and avoid attacks.”

Moroz replied, speaking of broken promises, monies not earmarked, and new plans every few years. “They continuously promise every election to the west end that they’re going to build this necessary infrastructure link. You keep promising it. Why bother promising it to people if you’re never going to build it? if you’re going to keep changing the name of the project, keep pushing issues down the road?” He also rejected accusations “of not caring about Snowdon residents, when I get up every day and think about how I can serve them. I don’t think anyone can take that away from me and accuse me of not caring about this project.”

He replied to Katahwa’s housing comments, saying “the last time I checked, there are 2,800 people in CDN-NDG waiting for social and affordable housing and there’s 121 units down the street from Blue Bonnets that has yet to get prioritized by this administration. There’s another 50-something down on Bates, so those are two projects in the largest borough that we have in our great city of Montreal that have yet to be put on the priority list, and yet we’re promising 10,000 ‘off-market’ units.”

DeSousa insisted including the extension plan for transport to open up the area as quickly as possible, reminding council that Montreal would never have acquired the Hippodrome without Cavendish being part of it. “This is a requirement. It’s not a choice.” n