Municipal election campaigns are well underway in Montreal and beyond, with just three weeks remaining before voters head to the polls.
In the lead-up to Nov. 5, Focus Montreal is hosting a series of debates with mayoral candidates — featuring viewer questions.
In the Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (CDN-NDG) showdown, borough Mayor Russell Copeman went head-to-head with former Montreal Gazette journalist and co-creator of #BeenRapedNeverReported, Sue Montgomery; and former president of the Order of Engineers of Quebec and Engineers Canada, Zaki Ghavitian.
Candidates tackled the big issues facing the borough including traffic congestion, public transit, infrastructure work and services in general, from snow removal to park maintenance.
WATCH: CDN Candidates go face-to-face
Following the debates, residents still had questions for their candidates — most centred on safety concerns.
Global News reached out to all three candidates, but at the time of publishing had only heard back from Copeman and Ghavitian.
Below are the viewer questions and answers provided by the mayoral hopefuls in CDN-NDG.
Why are kids and pedestrians at the corner of Clanranald and Dupuis at the mercy of speeding SUVs, with no police presence and no crossing guards for l’École des Cinq Continents?
Coalition Montreal’s Ghavitian said:
The police department is very present at the beginning of the school year near Cinq Continents school. The speed limit in the area near the school and around MacDonald Park is 30 km/h. As I live very close to this intersection, I know it well. In my experience traffic control here is good but I would be open as borough mayor to working with the police department to give greater priority so that there would be more radar operations near schools and institutions such as hospitals, churches, etc.
All Coalition Montreal candidates in the borough support measures to improve traffic safety. We would accelerate the installation of speed bumps. We would work with schools and local institutions to help implement a Vision Zero policy.
Over the past years, the borough has installed speed indicators on several streets. We believe this is an effective strategy and would add such indicators in many locations.
READ MORE: Some NDG residents concerned over the ‘Vendome Danger Zone’
Team Coderre’s Copeman responded:
With Vélo Québec we did a survey of all our school zones in 2015. We identified 11 school zones that required immediate additional safety measures (sidewalk extensions, pedestrian crosswalks, lower speed limits…etc). We are in the process of making these changes.
École des Cinq Continents was not flagged by Vélo Québec and we have had no other requests regarding this school. The corner has stop signs in every direction and overhead flashing red lights for drivers. We have also put in place the five-metre no parking zones on each corner for better visibility. The SPVM (Montreal police) is responsible for cross guards and we are absolutely open to having more of them, not just at that corner. Of course, we would address any other concerns that the school raises.
Chester Street is very unsafe. There are not enough stop signs and crosswalks and the parked cars obscure the view when we try to cross. Are there any plans to do something about this?
Ghavitian said:
Once elected, I will have our services examine Chester to see what measures can be put in place. I believe the city can do a better job with line painting for stop lines, crosswalks, etc. The bylaw says that there should be no parking in the zone that is five metres from an intersection. To make this clear I would paint curbs at intersections with visibility problems yellow, to alert drivers that this is a no parking zone.
As borough mayor, I would reanimate the Traffic Commission that the borough created between 2005 and 2009. I would ask this commission to meet residents in each district in the borough and propose a plan to the council as to how to augment safety.
READ MORE: NDG commuters furious over continuing crowds on 105 and 51 buses
Copeman said:
As part of our Vision Zero accident program, arterial streets like Chester will see speed reductions, five-metre no parking zones on street corners (for better visibility at intersections) and as needed, sidewalk extensions and other traffic calming measures.
Trying to access bike paths in NDG is a problem. To access the Lachine bike path, you have to bravely go through Montreal West and there are no protected bike lanes where I feel comfortable enough with my child. Are there any efforts to address this?
Ghavitian said:
Montreal West is a separate municipality with its own mayor and council. If I am elected, I would be happy to interface with the Town of Montreal West to discuss this matter. I believe the bicycle path network island-wide would benefit from public hearings of a Commission of the Agglomeration Council so that there can be better co-operation between Montreal and suburbs in planning the island-wide network.
READ MORE: Turcot interchange pedestrian overpass disappears from plans, angering Montrealers
Copeman said:
The borough recognizes these issues. We support the building of the Dalle-Parc that was in the original plans for the Turcot Interchange but has since been dropped by the Ministère du transport. This pedestrian and cycling green overpass would connect the foot of the St-Jacques Escarpment to the Lachine Canal. Russell Copeman’s team wants to create the missing link from the top of the Falaise to the bottom of the escarpment and provide a new crossing from NDG to the southwest and the Lachine Canal bicycle path network.
I want to know why the residents of Belmore Avenue’s pleas to do something about our deadly intersection on Côte-Saint-Luc Road between the Côte Saint-Luc shopping centre and Belmore Avenue have gone for months without a proper response and solution. The only answer we were given was that it was ‘not your problem?’
Ghavatian said:
I don’t have any information as to any previous discussions your viewer may have had with Coun. Searle or Mayor Copeman in regard to the intersection of Côte-Saint-Luc Road and Belmore in Loyola district and can’t comment on the remark that there has been no response in months.
However, should I be elected, I would put in place a system that would acknowledge receipt of all dossiers raised with the borough by citizens. I support improvements to the city’s 311 system so that citizens can follow their files in real time.
The intersection mentioned by your viewer is one block west of the corner of Coronation and Côte-Saint-Luc Road which is protected with a traffic light. Belmore is a one way southbound and I presume the problem is westbound traffic turning left onto Belmore. Given this complaint, I would mandate our Public Works department to examine access in the area adjacent the Côte Saint-Luc shopping centre.
READ MORE: Combating voter apathy
Copeman said:
The pleas have been heard and the borough has acted. The SPVM has informed us that two accidents have happened since 2015 due to the intersection. We do not consider this a dangerous intersection. Nonetheless, the borough decided to investigate further and did a car count (number of cars and their speed) on Belmore since a few citizens were also complaining of speeding cars. Over 99 per cent of the cars respected the speed limit and the others who did not were over by less than 10 km/h. The number of cars wasn’t abnormally high either. The borough also decided, after a study by our technical transport division, to force a right turn for the cars coming out of the shopping mall on the north side of Côte-Saint-Luc Road to force them to go west.
WATCH BELOW: Montreal election debates
Have a question for the candidates in your neighbourhood?
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