Held last Thursday at the St. Raymond Centre by the

NDG Community Council, the meeting was attended by all the candidates for council seats: Philippe Godley (Ind.), David Hanna (Vision Montreal), Marie-Josée Mastromonaco (Union Montreal), David Riachi (Team O’Sullivan) and Peter McQueen (Projet Montréal), as well as the borough mayoral candidates, Brenda Paris (VM), Carole Dupuis (Projet Montréal) and Jacqueline Sommereyns (Team Louise O’Sullivan) and incumbent Michael Applebaum (Union Montréal).

In some of his remarks, Hanna recalled how Applebaum’s personal attaché, Hugo Tremblay, called the rector of the university where Hanna teaches, complaining that Hanna had written a letter complaining about a series of public consultations and demanding that the rector discipline him. “We had a good laugh over the lack of understanding or the banana republic approach,” Hanna said. “It was at that point that I began to think about entering politics.”

One resident, Marlo Ritchie with the Head and Hands youth organization, said she had the opportunity to work with Mastromonaco on the Table de concertation des jeunes and she had “some major concerns” about Mastromonaco’s “approach and your integrity and I would like to hear more from you in particular how you would work with youths and families in this neighbourhood that is non-judgemental.” At the same time, she wanted to hear the thoughts of one of Mastromonaco’s rivals, Peter McQueen.

Mastromonaco, a CSDM school commissioner since 2003, defended her integrity, citing her accomplishments on the school board and insisting that her “acts speak louder than the words of others.” McQueen said “clearly there is a lack of facilities for community groups. I think that clearly to find a large facility for a number of community groups in NDG is a top priority for Project Montréal NDG.”

Mastromonaco was again questioned about her stated intention of remaining a school commissioner if she is also elected a city councillor. “You don’t perceive any conflict of interest,” said Sharon Leslie, herself a former city councillor, noting that conflicts can arise when an individual is serving on both the school commission and city council.

“I think as much as a school commissioner and a city councillor we have one thing in common, we have the best interests of the residents and the citizens at heart and that’s what I intend to keep on doing,” Mastromonaco replied. Leslie responded, “Thank you for not answering my question,” to which Mastromonaco said, “You’re welcome.”

Applebaum was booed when he criticized Louise Harel, Vision Montréal’s leader, calling her “a unilingual French mayor running for the City of Montreal. I don’t think that a mayor like that represents our borough of Côte des Neiges-NDG, who refuses to get into any English debates.”

Applebaum was later booed again when he continued speaking beyond the time limit imposed for each candidate, despite the moderator’s repeated warnings.