Split CDN-NDG: Montgomery
Sue Montgomery says that, if re-elected, she’d campaign to split Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce into separate boroughs. She has good arguments, which have been mentioned here on the blog and elsewhere: CDN-NDG is an unwieldy size at 21km2 with 175,000 residents, compared to adjoining Outremont at 4km2 with 20,000. And, as she also says, Côte-des-Neiges and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce have different demographics and therefore different needs.
Kevin 09:50 on 2021-10-21 Permalink
I am firmly in the opposite camp. Our population isn’t large enough, the talent pool isn’t large enough, for 19 boroughs and 100+ councillors, let alone to put forward enough quality candidates.
Although I don’t think anyone in Montreal has come forward and said anything quite so magnificent as the Republican candidate for NYC Council district 4
https://youtu.be/l_u5IBxJbrw?t=162
walkerp 12:46 on 2021-10-21 Permalink
Being very east of the mountain-centric for years, when I finally ventured over to the other side, I was appalled by the geographical reality of CDN-NDG. Look at the map. It makes zero sense that they should be the same borough. They only have one teeny corner that is contiguous. I’m pretty ignorant about city planning and municipal politics, so there may be other valid reasons for making them a single borough,but at least as far as maps go, I am fully for separating them.
Taylor Noakes 13:49 on 2021-10-21 Permalink
Completely disagree with Kevin – we need more representation, not less. The biggest boroughs have populations equal to medium sized cities elsewhere in the country (or in the case of CDN-NDG, roughly equivalent to the population of PEI). Pierrefonds-Roxboro has less than half the population but only two fewer councillors. I say divide it all up by chunks of 40,000 people.
I think they should eliminate the borough/city councillor distinction too.
You wanna live in a big city? Pay for the big government needed to manage it.
That said, I’m not keen on Montgomery’s ‘our demographics are different’ argument as good enough justification. And I honestly don’t think they are *that* different either, despite what real estate agents might say.