By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
In the upcoming Quebec wide municipal election taking place Nov. 3, two Pierrefonds-Roxboro councillors, Dimitrios Jim Beis of the Bois de Liesse district and Cap St. Jacques’ Catherine Clément-Talbot, will be running as candidates in Montreal mayoral hopeful Denis Coderre’s new party, Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal. Coderre made the announcement recently when he announced eight new candidates for his party and like Beis and Clément-Talbot, most were former Union Montreal members.
The Suburban spoke to Clément-Talbot and Beis about their choice for joining the former federal politician’s team.
“My decision to support Mr. Coderre was not without serious reflection of not only who would be best suited for Montreal but who could be most effective and supportive in my borough,” Beis told The Suburban via e-mail. “His extensive political experience as a Member of Parliament for many years, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, his involvement in Amateur Sport as well as many other files and responsibilities he’s held through the years made it easier for me to associate myself to him.
“I believe that this extensive political understanding of many diverse issues will bring positive results to the city of Montreal as well as the boroughs,” Beis said.
“Coderre is a man that Montreal needs as he is very invested in cultural communities which is what Montreal has become and he is someone who will work closely with and for the people,” said Clément-Talbot.
With scandals seen in all levels of government lately, both councillors were asked what were some of their ideas to get faith restored in politicians for voters who are losing faith.
“Cynicism is alive and well among the population and we have a responsibility to our residents to at least associate ourselves with individuals who work for the citizens,” Beis said. “We also need to collectively find solutions to strengthen our communities as a whole, something I am confident Mr. Coderre is prepared to do.”
Clément-Talbot doesn’t believe that people are completely cynical as “there is not an epidemic of scandal as many politicians across the country work very hard for their constituents.”
“Transparency is critical in order to move forward and beyond this turbulent time affecting public perception in all levels of government,” said Beis.
Two term Councillor Clément-Talbot praised the province of Quebec for setting up the Charbonneau Commission and UPAC to go after community leaders trying to steal from the public purse.
She wants to work in the coming mandate to make sure that the 440 extension comes to fruition “for the development in the west of the borough that will add 5,000 to 6,000 new doors to our population.”
Clément-Talbot is also content that the new development will also preserve 60 percent of green space in the Cap St. Jacques and L’Anse à L’Orme eco corridor. She also wants to create a library for the 21st century and to augment the borough’s more than 70 parks as well as encouraging more public activities on the water such as the recently held and well attended Route Bleue.
In the coming weeks and months, priorities will be outlined and not necessarily be a party platform but specific common goals which we will all work together to accomplish for the betterment of our communities,” said Beis who will be running for mayor of the borough in the coming election race.n
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’ga’);
ga(‘create’, ‘UA-45892555-1’, ‘robertfrankmedia.blogspot.com’);
ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);
