Mayor Jim Beis

Pierrefonds Mayor warns Quebec cuts threaten school programs

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By Chelsey St-Pierre and Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Montreal borough mayors are mounting strong opposition to recent provincial funding cuts that could jeopardize access to school sports facilities and after-school programs across the island.

The “Reflex Montreal” agreement, established in 2018, had enabled schools to offer their sports facilities free of charge during evenings and weekends to community organizations. While the initial notification indicated that the funding would end on January 11, the province extended the funding until this past Saturday, February 1, according to Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.

At a January 23 press conference, Plante strongly criticized the Quebec government’s decision, stating that they were “not respecting the deal” made with municipalities. The announcement comes amid broader educational budget constraints, as the Quebec government recently announced cuts of more than $200 million to Quebec’s education system for the period ending March 2025.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis warns that these cuts could force local organizations to either cancel activities or significantly increase registration fees. He estimates the financial burden would reach hundreds of thousands of dollars for affected communities.

“We’re facing a situation where children might be priced out of structured activities,” Beis explained. “Instead of participating in supervised programs, they could end up spending more time isolated at home with electronics or wandering neighbourhoods without proper supervision.”

The Quebec Education Ministry maintains that school service centres can continue the facility-sharing agreement beyond February, though without provincial funding. Education Minister Bernard Drainville took to social media to assert that there is no reason for school boards to terminate the facility-sharing arrangements, despite the funding cuts.

Borough mayors have emphasized that these cuts could spell the end of weekend swimming lessons and soccer matches at school-owned facilities. Mayors continue to push for a resolution that would preserve these vital recreational spaces and maintain affordable access to school facilities during non-school hours.

With the deadline past, municipalities and school boards are scrambling to find alternative solutions to maintain essential community programs without increasing costs for families. n

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Pierrefonds has highest increases in 2025 budget

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Dan Laxer and

Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Projet Montréal tabled its 2025 budget, along with its ten-year capital expenditure program, at a council meeting last week. The document, released last Wednesday, November 20, boasts “the city is able to invest more in the immediate needs of Montrealers, whether in housing, fighting homelessness, maintaining its infrastructure or for the vitality of its downtown, all while minimizing the tax burden on residents.”

Ensemble Montréal, the Official Opposition, is warning residents not to be misled.

The budget promises to cap the increase in property taxes for an overall increase of 2.2% for the residential sector, and 1.9% for the non-residential sector. That’s the city average. The rates vary depending on the borough. The Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough’s increase, for example, is slightly higher, at 2.9%. The lowest in the city is Ville-Marie at just 0.2%, whereas Pierrefonds-Roxboro gets hit with the highest at 4.1%.

Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis said, “they don’t know how to budget and manage Montreal. They are running a city into disarray—it’s dirty, transit is a mess, one issue follows another, all while there’s a gridlock to make way for bike path construction. They fail to prioritize their spending. Beis also says that the administration’s mismanagement of funds has compelled communities like his to raise borough taxes. “They make it appear as though they are implementing only minor tax raises, yet since taking office, they have increased taxes to fund Plante’s pet projects. This has led communities like mine to increase borough taxes.”

By way of comparison, Mayor Valérie Plante pointed out that …Montreal’s tax rate is far lower than both Vancouver and Toronto and in line with inflation.”

Opposition leader Aref Salem disagrees, however, that the tax hike is equal to inflation, telling the mayor in council, “you broke your promise four times during your mandate. Four times you raised taxes over the rate of inflation. Taxes have gone up 38% during your administration.”

The new budget comes with investments of $100 million for housing, $12 million to fight homelessness — which Salem points out is only a $3 million increase from the last budget – and $10 million to deploy the city’s Downtown Strategy.

Ensemble Montréal says the administration would do better to get their spending under control. “We need to spend not more, but better,” says Alan DeSousa, St. Laurent Borough Mayor and Official Opposition spokesperson on financial matters. “Projet Montréal’s administration has failed to meet its responsibilities. Apart from bike paths and greening initiatives, its record is practically non-existent and demonstrates a flagrant lack of sense of priority.”

The new budget is Valérie Plante’s last as mayor, and the party’s eighth since they came to power. Last month Plante announced that she will not be seeking a third term. In tabling the new budget, she said “I am proud to leave the house in order.”

When her term ends, Salem says, she will have left the city “in really bad condition, at least fiscally.” n

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West Island Mayors demand cars be permitted on REM boulevard

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis is calling on the Montreal Agglomeration to revise the urban boulevard plan for the West Island that was shot down by the Plante administration.

With traffic congestion at an all-time high on the three north-south corridors, St-Jean, Sources and Saint-Charles Boulevards while development and opulation growth has soared in a sector that was orginally designed for farm land until the late 1950’s, the plan for a new urban boulevard was designed to ease traffic flow in the West Island.

The boulevard was planned to span from Gouin Boulevard in Pierrefonds-Roxboro to Highway 40, in Kirkland near the new REM station.

Last year, the Plante administration decided that cars would not have access to the road planned in collaboration with and approved by the provincial government.

The administration turned the plans into part of its bike-path and public transit plans that all West Island Mayors say makes no sense, as the road was planned originally to alleviate traffic. According to the new plan imposed by the Plante administration, the Boulevard would be reserved for buses and bicycles only. It also reframed the route to span between the western tip of Antoine-Faucon Street in Pierrefonds and Ste-Marie Road. This entire decision was not only mad without consulting elected officials in the area, but also without consideration of the West Island populations’ needs, Beis says.

Kirkland Mayor Michel Gibson says that the new plan will backfire on itself, causing more public transit users to take their cars in order to avoid more traffic, rather than use the REM or other forms of public transit.

Both Beis and Gibson have called this plan “ridiculous” and “thoughtless”. “This plan does not coincide with the reality of our population,” Gibson said.

“This is another example of how the Plante administration ignores the reality of the population and the reality presented to them by the elected officials who represent them,” Beis has said. n

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No solutions for neighbours of Pierrefonds hoarders

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

A family living on Devlin Street in Pierrefonds has seen their joy of living reduced for the last 25-years due to the hoarding of their neighbour. Numerous complaints were made to city officials in the last two decades and the family has been in direct contact with Pierrefonds-Roxboro Mayor Jim Beis since 2019. Beis even visited the property and spoke to neighbours, promising to do his best to help mediate the situation.

Beis explained to The Suburban that every possible course of action that could be taken by the municipality has been taken. “We’ve issued several tickets (via City of Montreal) and even sent crews to help clean up. At this level, there is only so much we can do regarding private property.” The Mayor also explained that the sensitive intersection between potential mental health involvement and legal considerations is difficult for authorities to navigate. Beis moved the file up the ladder to the City of Montreal and stated to The Suburban that he will look further into the matter in order to come up with answers for the complainants.

“This is a nice neighbourhood, but it is ruined by the ugliness and the stench coming from that house,” The neighbour explained to The Suburban. “It brings in mice and rats. There are things rotting there and it just keeps getting worse.”

The neighbour witnessed the City’s efforts to execute a clean-up of the property in 2021, where the owner kicked the workers off of his property, insisting on keeping his “belongings” in his front and back yard. When asked about this incident Beis said “That’s what I mean (by what was explained earlier) and in that case, all we can do is issue a ticket, which we have many times.”

The Suburban visited the neighbourhood and the putrid odours emanating from the yard were evident. A truck parked on the front lawn was filled with junk and surrounded by junk. The entire backyard had piles of junk, spreading over almost the entire canopy of terrain and reaching just a few feet short of the rooftop in certain spots.

“We understand that there may be some sensitive aspects to this problem, but everyone on this street is forced to live with the consequences. Where is the line drawn? Who is coming up with a fair solution? This certainly is not fair to us,” The neighbour explained. “We are not insensitive people, but its to the point where people are uncomfortable sitting outside on their own properties, at times. The City, or someone, has to come up with a solution. We understand that this is difficult, but for us who are forced to ‘live with it’, is that fair?” n

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