Mayor's message

Since 2003 one of the greatest challenges I have faced as a politician has been trying to save our exemplary Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

While we were part of Montreal, the Montreal Executive Committee ratified a collective agreement with the firefighters union that gave the firefighters a monopoly on responding to Priority 1 (the most serious) emergency calls on the island of Montreal. As a result, when firefighter first response was phased in, our EMS would not have been dispatched to the most urgent calls on our territory.

Fortunately, we were given the opportunity to demerge from Montreal and on June 20, 2004 our residents voted massively to reconstitute our city. As a result, we elected a new council with the power to negotiate and lobby at the provincial level to save our incredible EMS service. As per my election platform, one of my first steps as mayor was to work closely with our council and MNA Lawrence Bergman to secure a temporary exemption for our EMS department, which gave us a three year period to negotiate a permanent exemption.

Over the last year-and-a-half, I have written to all MNAs, met with ministers and worked closely with our council and Lawrence Bergman to obtain a permanent exemption to ensure our service stays in place perpetually. We also launched our Save EMS campaign and I very much appreciate the efforts of residents to petition the government on this issue. With the announcement that the Quebec government would be legislating changes to the island-wide agglomeration, our lobbying activities increased dramatically with the goal of including the permanent exemption in the proposed legislation.

The council and I were overjoyed when the Quebec government proposed Bill 22, which included a permanent exemption for EMS. It was the culmination of a Herculean effort and the council and I will continue to work with Lawrence Bergman to ensure that this provision of the draft bill is adopted when the National Assembly reconvenes in the fall.

At the same time we were busy saving EMS we were also reacting to a proposal from the Montreal police department to shut our Neighbourhood Police Station (NPS) 9 and merge it with NDG’s NPS 11. Through the extensive lobbying efforts by Councillor Nashen, Councillor Kovac and I, and with the firm support of our council as well as the mayors and councils of Hampstead and Montreal West, we were able to work with the police to revise their plans and they agreed to retain NPS 9 in Côte Saint-Luc. We also received a very fair hearing from the Public Security Committee of the island-wide agglomeration, on which I sit as a member, in particular from Mayor Claude Dauphin of Lachine who chairs the committee. I would like to thank him and the members of the committee and the police leadership for listening to our arguments at many meetings and agreeing we should retain our NPS 9. Many thanks as well to those Côte Saint-Luc residents who attended the public hearings on this issue.

The focus of this Courier is on public safety and in addition to the excellent news about EMS and NPS 9, I am proud to say that Côte Saint-Luc is definitely in the vanguard of Quebec municipalities on public safety. Not only have we hired a veteran of the Montreal police force as our Chief of Public Security, but we are investing in the training of our department and they are helping us create one of the safest environments in which to live that can be found on the island of Montreal.

We have also launched our innovative Volunteer Citizens on Patrol (vCOP) program where more than 70 volunteers are already assisting the police and Public Security Department in deterring crime and improving our city through their patrols. I encourage all of you to consider joining one of our volunteer programs whether vCOP or our exemplary EMS service.

As to the state of the city, we are doing well. Our financial position is strong. We ran a considerable surplus last year and were able to establish a working fund that we can borrow from going forward. We were able to keep the average Côte Saint-Luc tax bill to an increase of less than one percent in 2007 and the financial situation of the city is now monitored by your council and staff on a daily basis. We are running the city as a business and are constantly seeking to reduce costs and be innovative. Taking garbage collection in-house this year was but one example of looking at the return on investment and determining that we needed to change the way we did things. There will be many more examples of this to come.

Now that the summer season has arrived, I encourage residents to enjoy the excellent facilities we have in Côte Saint-Luc. Purchase your CSL Fun Card and spend the summer at our beautiful 50-metre municipal swimming pool. Extensive renovation to the facility has taken place and all kinds of fun activities are planned.

Join the Côte Saint-Luc tennis club and enjoy some of the finest clay courts in Quebec. Enjoy our excellent library facilities and the outdoor concerts and activities that will take place this summer. Take advantage of our excellent camps, baseball and soccer programs and leisure activities as well as cultural programming. The summer is the time to get out of your house and socialize and I encourage you to do so!

To contact Mayor Housefather, call 514-485-6945 or send an e-mail message to ahousefather@cotesaintluc.org.