News

:

,

Tensions flare over budget, parks at CDN-NDG borough council meetings

Five council members sit at a long black table before a projector screen reading the name of a council motion.
Councilors in CDN-NDG became heated in discussions over the budget and city parks last Tuesday. Photo from the borough livestream.
Jules Bugiel - CKUT - Montreal • QC | 12-10-2023
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Share on email
Share on print

The Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (CDN-NDG) borough mayor and opposition councilors found themselves at odds on parks and the borough budget during back-to-back council meetings Tuesday night.

Tensions began to flare during the 5:30 p.m. session, in which council members gathered to pass this year’s budget. Although the budget passed, both Ensemble Montreal councilors voted against it. Snowdon councilor Sonny Moroz said he couldn’t approve the budget in good conscience without more information sooner. 

Moroz and borough Mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa also butted heads over green space. The Snowdon councilor asked about whether the administration assessed the impact of proposed changes to Mackenzie-King Park on the environment and vulnerable populations. The proposal includes a new astroturf field.

Mayor Kasoki Katahwa argued the youth of Côte-des-Neiges are a vulnerable and underserved group, and that to deprive them of an astroturf sport field would demand taking action against the many private schools allowed to have similar fields, inaccessible to the public. “The City of Montreal must be coherent in the way we make our ecological transition,” she said.  

Toward the close of the following meeting, there was another tense exchange between the mayor and Ensemble Montreal councilors, this time over the closure of Camillien-Houde Way to cars by 2027. Moroz’s fellow Ensemble Montreal councilor, Stephanie Valenzuela, proposed a motion asking the city to study the impact of the closure on borough residents.

When Projet Montreal amended the motion to focus more on collaboration with the City to make the surrounding streets more secure, Valenzuela expressed her desire to withdraw the motion, but was overruled. The amended motion passed 3-2 with the support of Projet Montreal councilors.

The mayor justified the decision by saying that impact studies were already part of the city’s process in proposing the change, leading to a heated back-and-forth between her and the opposing councilors.

The next meeting takes place on Nov. 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Centre culturel de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a shift from the regular location at the borough's Accès Montréal office.

Listen to the full story below:

Download Audio