Next year will see the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Agglomeration and the official re-constitution of 15 suburban cities. Their mayors soon formed the Association of Suburban Municipalities (ASM) to “Defend and promote the interests of demerged municipalities on the Island of Montreal and their citizens.” The ASM has been attempting that for almost 20 years to very little effect because the law that created the Agglo rigged its ‘democratic’ structures to empower Montreal and to effectively disenfranchise everyone else.
On the surface, the Agglo Council would seem to respect the democratic principle of representation by population. Council votes are evenly weighted by the number of voters they represent. In reality, 87% of the vote goes the way just one person decides. That is Montreal's mayor who appoints that 87% and the 15 salaries that go along with it. And to concentrate power even further, the Montreal Executive Committee that manages Agglo affairs behind the scenes, buries the monthly Agglo Council business, and any organized opposition, in thousands of pages of documentation giving just three days’ notice for the 15 ASM mayors to digest, discuss, and determine how to direct their combined 13% vote.
ASM mayors recently decided to protest to the courts a borrowing bylaw that passed by Montreal’s 87% versus their 13%. This by-law will enable Montreal to borrow up to $20,000,000 to purchase land for the Cavendish Extension project. The ASM mayors support the Cavendish Extension but fear that the money will actually be spent on something else, the details of which will be deliberately obscured in thousands of pages of documentation.
On its own this initiative will only encourage Montreal to bury things even deeper. But the law provides another little-known angle than can be pursued at the same time. More to follow. Stay tuned.
Brent Cowan
City Councillor, District 8
Pointe-Claire
One game that can't be put down is Subway Surfers Online. Stay one step ahead of the law enforcement agencies for as long as possible.