My Positions

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For a less wordy version, head over to the platform page!

Housing Policy

It’s no secret that Westmount, much like the rest of Canada, is facing a housing shortage. Westmount needs to play it’s part in developing housing in order to receive federal and provincial money that allows us to upgrade things such as our water infrastructure.

By using infill development patterns and using brownfield sites Westmount can use the South-East of the city to meet these goals without disrupting the rest of the neighbourhood. This influx of housing will not be ready as soon as we need it. To make affordable housing more accessible in the short term, I hope to create a mandatory rental registry similar to rentalregistry.ca that would make it easier for tenants to have access to available housing information.

Additionally, using the city owned lots and ‘Right of First Refusal’ power as a municipality, I hope Westmount can develop its own land in a non-market setting, creating housing dedicated for seniors and affordable housing for our youth. This would be mandated to go with a non-profit developer such as UTILE who have experience with community based projects.

To lower the vacancy rates of built units in the South-East, I would also mandate development of family sized units to make up at least 35% of built units. The current ‘shoebox’ problem of downtown developments is they are overpriced and often only able to fit a single person or couple. The vacancy rate of housing units that can accommodate families (3 bedroom+) continue to have a vacancy rate of <1%. We can fit in more people per unit if we build them to a proper size, even at the cost of city tax revenue.

Environmental Policy

As a member of the Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Committee, my environmental policy is already out there on the city website!

However, I would push even further past this set of recommendations to ensure that as climate change continues to manifest as an everyday problem, we don’t fall behind.

Communication and Transparency

Communication is such a vital part of a functioning society. In today’s day and age, information is more accessible than ever and yet it can simultaneously be incredibly difficult to know what goes on. While the new city website is a step in the right direction, there is still a lack of fundamental communication to the public in many departments.

Many initiatives, such as the city’s Green Grants program (which provides subsidies to households for sustainable initiatives), are not thoroughly explained or are practically hidden away for those who seek to be Indianna Jones in order to find. Focusing on effective and efficient communication training throughout the entire city will be a vital step if I were to be elected. While mandatory communication training for all city employees may not be a promise I can make, it’s something I would love to see and work towards.

As a councillor I would hope to hold a Bi-Weekly lunch for people within my district so that citizens can raise issues they feel are important, or simply to get to know one another better.

Westmount South-East Plan

I have no intention on altering the vote of the South-East PPU. However, with that being said there are things that could be improved upon outside of the PPU.

Architecture is obviously an incredibly important aspect of any development but a PPU is not the tool that dictates these standards.

Any plan to go though the PPU would have sustainable design standards to meet, affordable housing requirements that cannot be opted out of, family housing provision, and strict character standards. I would hope to also mandate green roofs as a measure to prevent Urban Heat Island effects that would be present with concrete or asphalt.

District 2 Projects

District 2 is entirely built up, without much room for new projects. With that being said, we can use our spaces more wisely. Acquirring the Mountainside United Church at the intersection of Lansdowne and The Boulevard is our last opportunity to acquire a community oriented building within the distict that doesn’t take away our built heritage.

Creating additonal community garden space within Murray Hill Park (King George Park) or expanding the Clarremont Triangle for such purposes would be a welcome addition to the city.

Finding a suitable replacement for the Marianopolis field that we have been waiting on would be another priority for district 2, ensuring adequate space for sports outside of Muraay Hill and Westmount Park.

City Services

The public transit within Westmount is a little spotty sometimes, particulary above Sherbrooke. A free city shuttle service would allievate the need for people to use their car within Westmount as it travels anywhere within city boundaries. Say goodbye to looking for parking when getting groceries!

An addtional sustainble services we can provide are a material re-use depot, which would collect useable material from construction sites or otherwise unwanted goods to be repurposeed for residents of Westmount. This would also extend out to a tool loaning program with a workshop! Woodworking (and other) projects can become very costly when factoring in the tools you need and can be a barrier for entry for many. Westmount providing the tools within a dedicated facility with certified professionals would open the possibility for anyone to create projects with expertise on hand at home or in our facilities.

A Westmount digital communication platform will also make information more accessible than digging through the new website or calling 311.

A list of what these uses might be include:

• A mobile app for 311 related services
• Construction updates
• Streamlined pot-hole reporting
• A city events portal
• City shuttle requests and tracking
• Centralized communication platform

Transportation

It’s no secret that Westmount’s roads are in pretty awful shape. As someone who drives only when it is an absolute necessity, I would focus on ensuring our East – West streets are in much better condition, allowing for people to bike or walk in comfort.

Additionally, as per the ESAC recommendations, I would prioritize active transportation routes for repairs and (hopefully) establish the Westmount shuttle service within my first term.

Investing in our transportation infrastructure includes investing in electric vehicle charging for parking spaces and expanding the Bixi network within District 2 past our single station next to Marianopolis.

Community Engagement

As someone who has been an event organizer for close to 4 years, I know what it takes to creating engaging experiences for all sorts of audiences. Interactivity has always been a main focus of mine and Westmount would be no different, despite the audience being different from a university.

Infrastructure

Modernizing city infrasture is important as ever with the growing needs of the population. Electrification and digitalization should be a top priority of the city before we lock into path dependance on outdated technologies that become too expensive for us to maintain. Upgrading city facilities

Private infrastructure such as your home can also be included in my plans for the future in small ways! An easy one to connect the dots with is removing the requirement to replace a slate roof with a new slate roof. Innovations in the last century have removed such an expensive requirement and I hope to remove additional barriers the city imposes on home renovations.

Tax Policy

In Urban Planning the concept of over-taxation is raised quite a bit. With regulations surrounding municipal taxes, Westmount is only able to impose property taxes and user fees (parking permits, Rec Centre cards, etc.) to raise money. Property taxes are already high and with them being tied to the value of the building on you property, are inefficient and punishing for homeowners who are looking to create a nicer place to live. If you improve the place you live why should you be punished with higher taxes for it?

While not currently feasible within the current structures of municipal government in Montreal, I would strongly advocate for a shift to a more ‘Land Value Tax’ based evaluation, as that is where the true value typically lies. This would provide less of a burden for homeowners seeking to make improvements to their homes, providing a more stable income stream for the city. The goal is not to blanket raise taxes but to reduce the tax burden and ensure our land is properly developed (such as with the derelict South East of Westmount)

Local Economy

Our local businesses are struggling, it’s no secret. The on-goings of the digital age have made it incredibly difficult for local businesses to keep up and I would hope to create a centralized directory of businesses in Westmount that makes it easier for citizens to stay informed and find businesses they wish to support.

Additionally engaging in efforts to promote our local businesses would include occasional short highlight videos that showcase each business and how they contribute to Westmount’s thriving sense of community.

Election Reform

Canada’s election systems are not always the most fair. First past the post is outdated and doesn’t produce the best results for democracy. Ranked choice voting is the simplest way to remove these issues and I would hope to make Westmount the first municipality in Quebec to host this process.

There are other voting systems that are possible, but to prevent confusion and the burden of running the elections, I believe ranked choice is the most efficient for the municipal scale.