Mayor Plante

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

CDN-NDG council question period is often a tame affair but at times spirited and animated, as when council regular Sharon Freedman didn’t mince words taking Projet Montréal’s borough and center city administrations to task over housing, anti-Semitism and mobility.

“In six years neither this council nor Mayor Plante has achieved anything our community wants or needs” Freedman told February council. “Plante has done nothing for social housing, but will spend $1.8 billion to renew downtown… She refuses to allow cars at Blue Bonnets, Hotel Dieu has not been built and you have not renovated Walkley, Project Chance (a property housing young single mothers that closed after flooding but was never repaired sits vacant), Somerled, Fielding, Queen Mary, all these streets. You have done nothing with the Empress Theatre but allow it to rot.”

“We want freedom of choice for mobility, we don’t only want bike paths. Our community drives cars and that’s not going to change. Where is the promised Cavendish?” (where millions are already set aside) she said. “Plante promised it and you (Borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa) have not advocated to alleviate the congestion.”

“When will you start to build housing and Cavendish as promised, and you have the money…” she asked, sporting a t-shirt emblazoned with “When will Walkley be renovated?”, a reference to a vacant, city-owned building in disrepair for years in the heart of CDN-NDG amid the worst housing crisis in recent memory. Snowdon councillor Sonny Moroz pointed out “If we were to be sincere about the list of projects that CDN-NDG hasn’t accomplished over the last 6-7 years, then you might be wearing a very long dress.” He said Freedman’s points “need to also be made at City Hall. We need to do a better job in CDN-NDG of showing that we’re paying attention and that we care about these issues because when people bring issues to downtown, they get addressed.”

Freedman continued, slamming the Projet Montréal administration and Plante over the repeated flaunting of Agglomeration council rules on display last month, when activists harangued Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi after being encouraged to attend by Plante at a previous city council meeting.

“My community stands with Israel and Jeremy Levi” she said. “Neither you nor Plante have any jurisdiction over Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself as per the International Criminal Court. The agglomeration council is supposed to deal with money, transportation and housing, and not foreign affairs, and not in the way they did it. Mayor Plante was out of order” she said, allowing people to make numerous anti-Israel speeches, and attack the only Jewish mayor present with repeated, aggressive questioning with zero relevance to agglomeration business.

Plante was recently served with legal notice on behalf of some Jewish Montrealers alleging her failure to intervene and enforce all laws, by-laws and regulations governing unlawful assemblies, and allowing Montreal “to become a territory for extreme groups who assemble with the view of spreading hate and interfering with the daily lives of Montrealers under the guise of freedom for terrorism.”

Freedman says Plante allows “anti-Jewish rhetoric” and asked council to ensure security for the community by allowing off-duty or retired armed police officers at all Jewish institutions as threats to Montreal’s Jewish community have hit record highs since the terrorist massacre of Israelis on October 7. “Please, we need your help because this is not going to go away!”

Moroz said that specific request was made by all local Jewish institutions dealing with security, and a community action plan is in the works with “a group of elected officials in the western part of Montreal that is growing, so if there’s anyone here on council wants to add their name to that list, we’re working on it.” He says after a draft version of the plan was leaked last month, Quebec Public Security Minister François Bonnardel gave that measure “an unequivocal ‘no’, adding “all representatives must articulate the concerns of our community, especially the most vulnerable,” and it is not only the Jewish community that needs more protection.