Newly elected Valérie Plante is getting used to her new job as the first female mayor of Montreal.
On Wednesday morning, Plante sat in on the first executive committee meeting of her new administration.
No new sweeping legislative changes were introduced; it was more about the city’s key decision makers getting used to their new roles.
READ MORE: No minorities in Montreal mayor Valérie Plante’s executive committee
But the executive committee brought back a regulation requiring all city hall visitors to register their names when visiting with the mayor.
The regulation was dropped under former mayor Denis Coderre who didn’t think it was necessary.
“Nobody knew who was coming to city hall to meet the mayor, so to us, it was important to bring it back,” Plante told reporters in the foyer of city hall.
Montreal’s 45th mayor also talked about taking on her top priorities, including repealing the pit bull dog ban. Plante prefers a bylaw that isn’t breed specific and that will target the owners of any type of aggressive dog.
Plante also wants more traffic cops added to the streets to deal with the congestion, especially downtown.
And she doesn’t plan to table the city’s $5-billion budget until January — one month later than usual. Plante says she is buying time to get the document right.
“It’s like a puzzle right? But we’re working really hard on closing that,” Plante said.
One piece of non-legislative business the mayor looks forward to is her scheduled meeting with former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden.
“When I heard that he asked to meet me, I was very happy about that. I want to talk about his campaign, his experience. Somebody who has been at the white house. This is quite impressive,” she said.
Plante’s first public test will be Monday when the 100th city council meeting will be held.
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