Montreal mayor announces most diverse executive committee in city’s history
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante revealed the 14 members of her new executive committee Wednesday, the most diverse ever in the city’s history. Most of the members are women.
After securing 36 out of 65 seats and 52 per cent of the vote, Plante won a second mandate in Montreal’s Nov. 7 municipal election.
Her new executive team, comprised of experienced members and lots of new faces, aims to tackle the city’s main priorities: ecological transition, economic recovery, sustainable mobility and housing affordability.
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“If we want to represent the entire city, there has to be representation. To me that’s just the right thing to do,” said Plante.
Dominique Ollivier, previously announced as chairperson, makes this the first administration led by two women.
“I know very well a lot of the different dossiers that I have to partake in,” said Ollivier, the former president of the Office de Consultation Publique de Montreal. “The question of systemic racism is the very last issue I tackled as president of the OCPM and I’m very happy to, for once, be able to not only be the person to recommend things, but to be the one to implement the recommendations.”
Among the committee members are some familiar faces in equally familiar roles.
Benoit Dorais returns as VP of the executive committee, responsible for housing, real estate strategy and legal affairs; Eric Caldwell is the chairperson of the board of directors of the STM; and Luc Rabouin is once again responsible for economic and commercial development.
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Some new faces include Josefina Blanco, who is now in charge of diversity, social inclusion, homelessness and universal accessibility; newly elected Ericka Alneus is responsible for culture and heritage; and Alain Vallaincourt, a social worker, has been appointed head of public security.
Mayor Plante says appointing Vallaincourt sends the right message.
“The fact that Mr. Vallaincourt has a social worker background is very helpful,” she said.
“Since the beginning, we’ve always said that when it comes to public security we’re working on three axes: it’s about gun trafficking, criminalized groups, but also giving more support and resources to community groups who do prevention, so this is a great message.”
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The very first meeting for the city’s executive committee is scheduled for Nov. 25.
