Downtown politicians out of touch with West Islanders, McIntyre says

If residents of Pierrefonds-Roxboro want better representation at Montreal City Hall, Justine McIntyre says they need to elect members of her Vrai changement pour Montréal party in the upcoming municipal election.

McIntyre, who is running for borough mayor against incumbent Jim Beis of Équipe Denis Coderre, said she can best defend the interests of the borough from downtown politicians who, she says, are out of touch with the needs of West Islanders.

“The over-arching issue here, I believe, is people are not happy with the Coderre administration,” McIntyre said last Thursday while introducing her slate of candidates for Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

Vrai changement pour Montréal is currently the second opposition party at Montreal city hall, behind Projet Montréal, headed by Valérie Plante, who is running for mayor.

Also running again under the Vrai changement banner is Roger Trottier, who is trying to win a second term as borough councillor for the Bois-de-Liesse district.

In the Cap-St-Jacques district, Manuela de Paoli is a candidate for city councillor, while Domenic Pavone is running for borough councillor.

Eric McCarty is running for the Bois-de-Liesse city councillor, a position held by McIntyre.

McIntyre decided not to run for the mayoralty of Montreal, saying she’d rather focus on building the party at the grassroots borough level than challenge Coderre.

In the previous 2013 election, McIntyre said the party, then headed by Mélanie Joly — now a cabinet minister in Justin Trudeau’s government — invested much time and effort in the mayoral race.

“It was a brand new party and most of the energy was concentrated on the run for mayor, for the (Montreal) mayoralty seat.

“And the result of that is that Mélanie did very well. She came in second, but she didn’t win her seat and very few candidates got in. ”

McIntyre is also critical of the borough’s handling of the 2017 spring flood, which hit Pierrefonds residents hard.

She is opposed to the proposed residential project in Pierrefonds West and l’Anse-à-l’Orme that would see vast swaths of green spaces and wetlands developed.

Other issues are traffic problems, public transit and urban planning.