Ville-Marie borough council

The Ville-Marie borough council is the local governing body of Ville-Marie, a borough in the City of Montreal.

The Ville-Marie council has a different structure from all other Montreal borough councils. Before 2009, the council consisted of an elected borough mayor, two elected city councillors, and two elected borough councillors. Under legislation passed by the government of Quebec in 2008 and implemented after the 2009 municipal election, however, the council now consists of three elected city councillors, the mayor of Montreal (who automatically serves as mayor of Ville-Marie), and two councillors from other boroughs who are selected by the mayor. The current mayor of Ville-Marie is Denis Coderre, who was elected as mayor of Montreal in the 2013 Montreal municipal election.

At the first council meeting following the 2009 election, several members of the public expressed opposition to having a borough mayor and two councillors who were not locally elected.^[1]

Current members

District	Position	Name		Party
—	Borough mayor (as mayor of Montreal)	Denis Coderre		Équipe Coderre
Peter-McGill	City councillor	Steve Shanahan		Vrai changement
Saint-Jacques	City councillor	Richard Bergeron		Projet Montréal
Sainte-Marie	City councillor	Valérie Plante		Projet Montréal
—	Borough councillors (appointed by the mayor from Montreal City Council)	Jean-Marc Gibeau (City councillor for Ovide-Clermont, Montréal-Nord)		Équipe Coderre
		Karine Boivin Roy (City councillor for Louis-Riel, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve)		Équipe Coderre

Former members

• Karim Boulos served on council from 2005 to 2009. He was thirty-nine years old during the 2005 election and had recently graduated from a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at Concordia University's John Molson School of Business; previously, he was a swimming instructor.^[2] On council, he was an organizer for the downtown cleanup campaign "Operation Montreal" and supported the imposition of harsh fines against littering and graffiti in Montreal's downtown core.^[3] In 2008, he promoted a new development program for the Seville Theatre.^[4] Elected as a member of Gérald Tremblay's Montreal Island Citizens Union (later renamed Union Montreal), Boulos joined borough mayor Benoît Labonté in resigning from the party on 17 September 2007 to sit as an independent.^[5] Labonté and Boulos formed an alliance with opposition councillor Pierre Mainville to retain control of the borough council, and Boulos served as deputy mayor.^[6] On 25 November, both Labonté and Boulos joined Vision Montreal.^[7] Boulos resigned from this party when Louise Harel was chosen as its leader in 2009, citing his constituents' opposition to Harel's Quebec sovereigntist views.^[8] He ran as an independent candidate for city council in 2009 and lost to Sammy Forcillo in the Peter-McGill ward.^[9]

References

1. Linda Gyulai, "Two new councillors in Ville Marie get pay boost," Montreal Gazette, 27 November 2009. p. 6.
2. John Meagher, "Ex-Bluefins coach wins new bursary," Montreal Gazette, 23 May 2002, p. 11; Laura Bogomolny et al, "THE MBA ROADSHOW," Canadian Business, 24 October to 6 November 2005, pp. 67-93.
3. Alan Hustak, "No brushing off city cleanup plan," Montreal Gazette, 18 April 2006, p. 8; James Mennie, "Borough's Kleanliness Kops put big bite on merchants but can they hit moving targets?", Montreal Gazette, 9 June 2007, p. 7; Max Harrold, "Whose responsibility is it to clean up downtown?", Montreal Gazette, 2 August 2008, p. 2.
4. "Stores, student residences planned for Seville Theatre," Montreal Gazette, 18 April 2008, p. 7; James Mennie, "Neighbourhood holding out for a hero; Rundown strip neglected during economic downturn," Montreal Gazette, 22 January 2009, p. 7.
5. Katherine Wilton, "Exits force Tremblay to defend leadership; Ville Marie mayor abruptly quits party," Montreal Gazette, 18 September 2007, p. 1; Anne Sutherland and Katherine Wilton, "Boulos, Martinez follow Labont out; 'Our city is in crisis,' councillor says," Montreal Gazette, 18 September 2007, p. 7.
6. James Mennie, "A gust of efficiency blows through borough," Montreal Gazette, 25 September 2007, p. 7; Linda Gyulai, "Labonte dumps mayor's ally; Councillor Sevigny fired from Ville Marie posts," Montreal Gazette, 3 October 2007, p. 6.
7. Aaron Derfel, "Downtown chief jumps Tremblay ship; Labonte likely to run for mayor in 2009," Montreal Gazette, 26 November 2007, p. 1.
8. Jan Ravensbergen, "Two star candidates and a resignation; Menard joins Vision; Boulos to run alone; Purcell joins Tremblay," Montreal Gazette, 26 June 2009, p. 6.
9. Jason Magder, "Tearful Forcillo thanks army of volunteers; Family and friends pitched in to help veteran politician win in a new district," Montreal Gazette, 2 November 2009, p. 6.