All visitors (even Joe Biden) must sign in
City Hall register returns as Plante prepares to reveal details of her agenda
She pegs herself as the mobility mayor, but Valérie Plante did not commit to increasing Montreal’s contribution to public transit agencies in the 2018 budget.
“I have always said our administration will be about mobility, and the (Société de transport de Montréal) is the main organ that we work with, so it will be important to review their budget and look at their priorities, and we have already started to do that,” Plante said Wednesday morning.
Plante was equally non-committal when asked about her promised congestion squad, to deal with traffic jams in the city. A major water-main repair began on Wednesday near the Jacques Cartier Bridge and has caused major traffic jams in that part of the city. The work is expected to be completed by mid-December.
“We don’t want people stuck in their cars for hours, so we have to find a solution,” Plante told reporters at city hall, adding that a traffic jam like that shows the necessity of creating the congestion squad, which would help during major roadwork projects.
Plante made the comments on the heels of her first executive committee meeting, and as the new council begins to set its agenda for the next four years.
She said she is facing challenges fulfilling her electoral promises while respecting the ability of Montrealers to pay their tax bills. Plante has promised to hold taxes to within the rate of inflation.
That’s one of the reasons Plante has decided to table the city’s 2018 budget on Jan. 10, 2018, instead of in December, as is customary.
“The challenge is, how do we make sure we respect Montreal’s financial capacity while putting more resources into mobility and housing, which are really expensive?” Plante said. “There are some measures where we would wish to push forward right now. It is a difficult balance.”
Plante said one of the first acts in her mandate will be to make city hall more transparent.
Addressing the executive committee earlier Wednesday, Plante said all visitors to city hall for business with elected officials will once again have to sign a register.
In the last months of Denis Coderre’s mandate, people visiting the mayor no longer had to sign in.
In the next few days, Plante said, she will reveal details of her agenda, and they will be published online.
It will be a busy time for Plante, with her taking several trips in her capacity as mayor. Next week, she will be in Toronto for a meeting of Canada’s big-city mayors.
Next month, she will visit Chicago for a global summit of mayors on climate change, and then head to Paris for the One Planet Summit.
Locally, Plante is to host former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden, who is coming to town Nov. 29 and requested a meeting.
The first city council of the new administration will take place on Monday.
How do we make sure we respect Montreal’s financial capacity while putting more resources into mobility and housing?