WEST ISLAND – Some big changes are on the way in the West Island.
An unprecedented number of women are campaigning to be mayor in four municipalities.
Senneville, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Baie d’Urfé and Beaconsfield all have women on the tickets hoping to take their respective towns’ top jobs.
“I’m really looking forward to that, we’re moving forward,” Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue mayoral candidate Paola Hawa said.
The town councillor is making her first ever run for mayor.
She says it would be very interesting to all four towns run by female chief executives.
Baie d’Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino is the only female incumbent running for re-election.
But she says her focus is on the issues and not her gender. “I have never defined myself by my gender. I define myself by the characteristics that I have,” she said.
The four suburban towns on the western tip of the island are a long way from the hustle and bustle and big city atmosphere of Montreal.
But people living there are dealing with their own controversial issues.
Those issues include anger over new housing projects on green space in Beaconsfield to spending tax payers dollars to revitalize the commercial district of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.
But some voters are just thrilled that more women are trying to enter a normally male dominant political arena.
“I think it’s about time more women got involved in politics,” one Beaconsfield resident said.
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