City council speaker Cathy Wong, elected under the old Team Coderre banner, has crossed the floor to join Projet Montréal. The party’s decision to draw the line with the developer of the old Children’s Hospital site apparently convinced her Projet is on the right path.
Updates from October, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A heavy rainstorm Tuesday flooded Hochelaga Street and caused the closure of part of the 20. Houses were also flooded.
denpanosekai
The Bonaventure was closed tonight as well. Made the trek from Costco back to Verdun a little interesting.
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Kate
In 2017 there was a potential scandal brewing internally at the SPVM, although details were never made clear to the public. Now the force claims that it’s undergone a process of reform.
Alex Norris
Actually, a lot of details were made public in the report of the administrative inquiry led by Michel Bouchard.
Kate
Thank you, Alex.
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Kate
It took more than five years, but the city’s union of professionals has a new contract till 2023.
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Kate
A study is to consider offering the municipal vote to permanent residents as well as to Canadian citizens. People can live here for a lifetime without taking out citizenship, but the law as it stands bars them from voting at any level. Projet promised to look into changing that, although apparently both Toronto and Vancouver have tried the same idea but been blocked by their provincial governments.
mb
As a permanent resident myself (and likely for a long time, since I would lose my original citizenship if I became Canadian, which I’m not ready for yet), I would greatly appreciate! But I doubt Québec will let this happen, since the majority of PRs is in Montreal and probably leans to the left…
Kate
mb, do they? Municipally? I wonder if anyone’s done a study to find out if that’s so.
I’d be pleased to see this happen, if only because the turnout for municipal elections is low. I tell people that it’s actually the city administration that affects us most closely and most often in our daily lives so it’s worth taking an interest, but I’ve been laughed off for this more than once.
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Kate
La Presse has got hold of a report saying the state of the tunnel under Mount Royal will mean two additional years and millions in added costs to bring the tunnel up to modern safety standards.
Like much of the new stuff about the REM, this problem was signalled years in advance. It should not have sneaked up on the project now if every newspaper reader in the city knew about it in 2010.
ant6n
CDPQInfra claims everything is on time. So is this just the struggle between a contractor and the contractee for more money and more time? Or was the tender rushed so that the contractor can now ask more money and more time for issues that were known in advance of making the contract?
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Kate
The MUHC’s computer system crashed Monday, forcing the hospital to postpone surgeries and close its emergency room and clinics. The Gazette says the problem affected the whole network, not only the Glen hospital but also the General, the Neuro and others. The cause is not yet known.
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Kate
A taxi driver was hit by stray bullets from a dispute on the sidewalk as he picked up a fare in Montreal North, but the injuries are said not to be life-threatening.
Joey 17:54 on 2019-10-02 Permalink
When Cathy Wong was named speaker, The Gazette wrote the following:
“As is customary for council speakers, Wong will have to refrain from attending her party’s caucus meetings to maintain her semblance of neutrality, and will vote in council only in the event of a tie.”
I wonder how she will square this now that she has (after years of being lobbied) finally joined up with PM. Doesn’t quite sit right, to be honest.
Kate 19:18 on 2019-10-02 Permalink
I wondered about that too, having just read about how the speaker of the Mother of Parliaments (currently the redoubtable John Bercow, whose name will be familiar to those following the Brexit antics) has to accept to sit as an independent. Evidently Montreal city hall has no such rule on its books.
Joey 22:17 on 2019-10-02 Permalink
It’s less about the rules and more about Cathy Wong’s values and sense of consistency, no? The Voters of her district elected her as a member of another party. She made herself an independent when it was politically advantageous for her to do so, and now has decided to join the party her electors rejected. All of this is kosher and fair within our system, but given her argument about being an independent speaker, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that she is being opportunistic.
Kate 10:57 on 2019-10-03 Permalink
Joey, I don’t think there’s ever been a rule against crossing the floor to join another party, at any level.
I find it actually more irritating when I see municipal councillors “trading up” to run for a seat in the National Assembly or the Canadian parliament. They took an oath to serve, which I think they should feel binding, unless an unforeseeable factor like injury or illness makes it impossible.