Suburban mayors welcome Bill 104 changes
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Mayors of the Montreal agglomeration's 15 independent municipalities welcomed proposed changes that are part of Bill 104, introduced this week in the National Assembly.
In a statement emailed to The Gazette, the Association of Suburban Mayors welcomed the bill, which reduced the city of Montreal's overall weight in the Montreal Metropolitan Community, while retaining a tiebreaker vote.
'This long-awaited reform responds to a recurring demand from suburban municipalities for more equitable and democratic metropolitan governance,' the statement read. 'For several years now, the ASM has been leading a sustained battle to ensure that municipalities can participate equitably in decisions affecting the metropolitan region. Until now, the status quo favoured an excessive concentration of power in the hands of the City of Montreal, to the detriment of other municipalities' voices.'
Association co-president Alex Bottausci, mayor of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, added that the citizens of the Montreal agglomeration also deserve redress, as the roughly 250,000 residents 'have no real decision-making rights, nor any real capacity to influence the agglomeration's orientations and, more importantly, its spending, which is entirely under the sole control of the City of Montreal. We hope that the Quebec government will show the same sensitivity and concern for fairness on this matter toward the population of our metropolitan cities.'
Bottausci said Bill 104 is a step in the right direction, and his association believes more balanced governance will result in better co-operation between all the representatives of municipalities.
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