2021 Élection Fédéral / Federal Election 2021
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The WMA is pleased to announce that Mâitre Beryl Wajsman will be our interim president, effective immediately. We would like to think Antonio D’Amico for his service in this role following the departure of our previous president, Paul Marriott. An upcoming AGM will be announced shortly.
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Full details of this event, to be held on Sunday September 22nd at 19:00 in Victoria Hall, Westmount, will be available shortly.
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On Thursday June 27, 2019 four Westmount residents conducted a tour of Westmount Park, seeking to make a list of elements that need fixing.
The four citizens are: Patrick Barnard, Marilynn Gillies, Michelle Harper, and Brigitte St-Laurent
Emphasis is put on perennials in these notes. A horticulturalist can design attractive, sustainable gardens and plots with blooms throughout the summer. Perennials also have the added benefit of needing to be only planted once, allowing some resources dedicated to planting annuals to be put toward general garden maintenance. We feel that at least one full-time gardener should be hired just to work on the maintenance and care of Westmount Park and the other parks in the municipality.
Almost all trees in Westmount Park need trimming; some are dead. The many stumps throughout (we counted at least 15) need to be replaced by trees of a similar type. Originally, the creators of the park sought to plant trees from a very wide variety of species, some rarely seen in the city.
We have all lived in Westmount for many years and we have seen a constant degradation of the park. Unfortunately, at this point, a serious intervention is required.
In conclusion, we would like to invite city officials to a stroll in the park with us on a day of their choosing.
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Finally a long-awaited English translation of the AGIL report on the revitalization of the Southeast Sector is available. It’s not easy to find on the City website so here is a copy for reference:20190201-RapportAGILSommaireExecANG
This can also be found here: Westmount.org->Urban Planning->Major Projects->Southeast Sector Revitalisation
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The WMA will be hosting a Meet The Candidates Night on Tuesday September 11th, starting at 19:00 in Victoria Hall. Well known CBC Political Analyst Bernard St Laurent will moderate the event. These are the candidates who have accepted our invitation to the debate:
Each candidate will be given two minutes to present their opening position (drawn in random order). After that, a public question and answer session where questioners have 30 seconds to pose their question and the candidates will be given up to two minutes to respond. The questions can be asked to a specific candidate or posed to all, though the moderator will ultimately decide who should respond. Following the end of the public question and answer session, each candidate (in reverse order from the opening) will be given three minutes to present their closing arguments.
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Stan Grossman, an active member of the Westmount community, passed away on August 24, 2018. A former member of the WMA Board of Directors, he was involved with our activities until the end.
A lifelong Montrealer and longtime Westmount resident, Stan was an energetic organizer of a number of musical events in Westmount Park and at Victoria Hall. He was a frequent attendee at Westmount City Council meetings, asking informed questions and/or querying Council policy. His Letters to the Editor of the Independent were legendary; eloquently addressing the matter at hand.
He was a Westmount resident who truly cared for his community; heenjoyed living here and wanted our city to be the best.
A gentleman who was a friend to many, he will be missed. The WMA extends our sincere sympathy to his wife, Anne Dixon Grossman, and to the members of his extended family.
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Westmount is a community which is blessed by many local organizations and groups which call the city “home”. We are further blessed by allowing these groups to use public facilities for their meetings, often at no direct cost (depending on the facility).
Recently, it has been reported that one Westmount organization that has been in existence for twenty three years, has fallen foul of a well-intentioned bylaw adopted just before the start of the current Council’s mandate – this bylaw specifying, in black and white, that any group wishing to use a Westmount facility must be comprised of 50% Westmounters.
After consultation with our members, the WMA received a unanimous mandate to state a position on this news, but to also address the more general aspects of the current situation. Therefore, the WMA notes that there are essentially three types of Westmount-based groups:
The three types of organizations could further be classified into
It is worth noting that cultural organizations bring intangible benefits to our community that are beyond just their membership composition. The WMA believes that an arbitrary “50% Westmounter” policy is ill-advised and, if that test were to be used on all organizations that currently use Westmount facilities, many of the above-listed would fail that crude test.
A more important aspect is how can the current facilities be better utilized to support all of the organizations’ needs. At the moment, there is no simple booking system that is transparent to the potential user. Different facilities must be booked through different City departments and it is essentially impossible for a potential user to know what availability there is. Furthermore, there are facilities which could be made available that are currently not used at all. These include, but are not limited to
The WMA has made use of the General Committee room in the past and the other locations had been suggested to the WMA as usable by the previous Director General. However, following discussions with the Director General this week, some of these extra facilities are probable not suited to general use but might be available for special occasions.
The WMA would therefore like to suggest that all facilities are made available in a transparent manner with a simple booking system (or, at least, a means to verify availability) for all organizations based in Westmount, irrespective of their make-up. With some creativity, all current organizations can be accommodated for benefit of our community and the wider society we share.
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We are honored to invite you to our one hundred and tenth Annual General Meeting. We will present the slate of directors for 2018-2019, our financial report for 2017, membership information as well as this year’s recipient of the Derek Walker Volunteer of the Year Award, Angela Murphy.
First of all, I would like to thank Megan Durnford, Allan Kobelansky and Dr Markus Martin who retired from our boad this year. Your service, together with the current board, is greatly appreciated. We are fortunate enough to have had several new board members join this year, following last November’s municipal election and we are excited that this renewal of our organization has brought.
Speaking of the November election, I am proud that the WMA organized two immensley successful “Meet The Candidates†evenings. Given the large number of candidates running for municipal office this time, this was no mean feat with sixteen running for position of councilor and five running for the office of Mayor, this was a logistical challenge. We were fortunate enough to have renowned Quebec political analyst Bernard St Laurent moderate the candidates for council meeting and well-known CBC Daybreak Host, Mike Finnerty, moderate the mayoralty debate. Both meetings reached the maximum capacity for Victoria Hall, which I believe is a first for this type of meeting, at least in recent memory.
The WMA has been active on other files during this past year, including working with the Westmount Urban Planning department on modernizing their permit process. We were also able to bring to closure, with the help of council and the City administration, several outstanding issues during this past year and I would like to thank all those who were involved.
A new municipal council was elected in November and we congratulate all those who won their seats and I commit the WMA to working collaboratively with both the elected and administrative officials who so influence our daily lives. The WMA is a steadfast participant in every council meeting where we do our best to bring issues to the attention of council in order to improve the lives of all residents.
To that end, we organized a public meeting to discuss the future indoor pool and provided detailed feedback to Council on the wishes expressed. We look forward to this project coming to life.
The topic of tonight’s Round Table discussion was brought to our attention by the new Commissioner for Sustainability and I believe we will have an interesting and stimulating discussion on how we can work together to make Westmount a more accessible community.
Finally, I’d like to remind everyone that we rely on your support for all the work we do. Our strength and voice over these past one hundred and ten years has come from our membership. If you are not already a member, I commend you to consider joining our association, the oldest of its kind in Canada. Please enjoy your evening.
Dr Paul Marriott – President
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