A major political wave is about to hit the West Island.
The mayoral incumbents in three demerged towns and one borough are stepping down, guaranteeing new mayors will be elected this fall.
The Pierrefonds-Roxboro Borough and the towns of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Beaconsfield and Pointe-Claire will all see new mayors elected to the top job.
The incoming mayors will be working with the other, more seasoned, political veterans on the West Island.
The new people taking the top jobs will be forced to deal with many of the ongoing local problems: crumbling municipal infrastructure, inefficient public transit to downtown and keeping a lid on property taxes.
But the group of mayors will also have to contend with a new Montreal mayor. The mayors of the demergeed towns all sit on the island-wide agglomeration council and they will have to defend their local towns’ interests against those of Montreal.
“We have a double tax issue that bugs me. So my new mayor in Montreal is going to have to contend with me on that,” Rhonda Massad, the Beaconsfield mayoral candidate said.
Other candidates echo her concerns.
“We can’t keep financing Montreal’s streets and Botanical Gardens. It’s great to have, yes, but we have to take care of our streets here,” said Paola Hawa, the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue mayoral candidate.
Voters go to the polls November 3rd.
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