Municipal Elections in Lachine : Candidates’ Answers to Citizen Questions

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

Water is an uncompromising priority, especially with regard to drinking water. Faced with flooding, the City and boroughs must act in concert, with prevention and innovation, considering ALL possible strategies. Montreal cannot shirk its responsibilities, particularly when flooding results from non-compliance or derogations. We are fortunate to have numerous water accesses. We must maintain them, as well as our infrastructure, and we must invest in urban resilience in a coherent and coordinated manner. Water must be a valued resource for and by Lachine residents.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

Our party’s priority is to revive the Lachine marina. In my view, its closure is a serious mistake, decided without consultation or study. The Lachine marina, our iconic pleasure port, must reclaim its place and deserves to become a lively and welcoming place again. Once the largest in Quebec, Lachine’s marina carries a rich history and collective pride. Its reopening, a promise for our first term, will revitalize the area, support local merchants and restaurateurs, and offer everyone renewed access to this gem of our heritage.

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

Drinking water: Optimize ozonation to maintain excellent water quality at our filtration plant, awarded best water in Quebec in 2020. Accelerate the replacement of lead water service lines, both public and private.

Flooding: Double investments in sponge parks and accelerate the repair and expansion of sewers like on Remembrance, 25th, 41st, and 44th streets. Create the Reno-Resilience program to protect private buildings.

Access to water: Improve waterfront water quality and multiply access points for water sports and swimming as early as next summer.

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

Road work must be planned and coordinated efficiently, while informing citizens in advance. It is abnormal to mobilize police officers to manage traffic at city entrances. Traffic lights must be synchronized to ensure flow and compliance with speed limits. Pedestrian safety must be addressed before incidents occur. In the Prével development, despite citizens’ insistence, no effective measures regulate speed, although a child was hit. Finally, parking is essential to the vitality of our businesses. Lachine is not the Plateau: our reality must be recognized.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

With the massive arrival of new residential projects in recent years, it is evident that road planning has not kept pace with development. Moreover, a large part of this congestion is caused by non-residents bypassing highways during rush hours. Traffic light synchronization must be reviewed to allow greater fluidity, and/or agents must be placed at stress points to secure strategic intersections.

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

We initiated the installation of speed bumps and are accelerating their implementation. We will continue to secure school surroundings to ensure safer routes for children and reduce speed in school zones. The Ministry of Transportation has retained several of our recommendations to improve fluidity in the future Saint-Pierre interchange, which will be completely redone. Starting next year, we are implementing measures to divert through traffic and optimize construction site management. We will also protect residential parking, especially around the hospital, with a permit system.

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

We will make sustained representations to Montreal, the STM, and ARTM so that structuring public transit in the Greater Southwest finally becomes a reality in Lachine. Our citizens deserve more frequent, better adapted services interconnected with the rest of the territory. Recent years have been devastating; we have lost services. A local shuttle to provide access for workers in the industrial sector will be evaluated with local partners. Sustainable mobility must not be a slogan, but a right of access to the city for all, from downtown to the west end of the island.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

This issue is indeed complex and will require input from the city of Lachine, but especially from ARTM and provincial authorities. It is clear to me that the tramway solution is not one (too expensive and inefficient, especially in winter). The fact that the REM was decided to pass along Highway 40 instead of Highway 20 deprived us of an ideal and permanent solution. The day we extend the green line is far off, but inevitable. Until then, the solution must involve increasing rapid bus service (BRT).

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

Continue to support the tramway project and maintain pressure with civil society on the provincial government for its funding and implementation. The project is ready, the feasibility study is submitted; all that remains is to obtain ministerial approval to proceed with implementation.

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

We will act in concert with the City of Montreal to ensure security and the sense of security. Public lighting must be sufficient; no one should walk with their phone’s flashlight. We will ensure that lights are maintained and functional. We will employ multitasking surveillance agents. In parallel, we will work with community organizations to support the most vulnerable. It is unacceptable for sex workers to be present at all hours or for crack houses to persist in indifference. Prevention, popular education, and community solidarity must become our main levers again.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

I primarily aim to increase the number of peace officers assigned to our neighborhood station. Having myself been a victim of break-in theft, in addition to having my vehicle stolen, I am well positioned to understand the frustration and fears of my fellow citizens.

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

We have established several prevention projects and financially support community actions aimed at social solidarity and inclusion. We will continue to hire more youth workers and street workers who assist vulnerable people. We remain involved in local bodies and will organize more citizen meetings on these issues. With PDQ 8, we have added foot patrols in sensitive areas. New lighting and cameras are being installed at Kirkland Park. We maintain the bylaw promoting social housing: over 400 units built or under construction, including 18 for homeless individuals.

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

The revitalization of Notre-Dame Street must be part of a coherent and diversified commercial vision for all of Lachine. After decades of investment, we must avoid improvising new commercial hubs. Merchants must be at the heart of decisions: they know the ground-level needs. Yes to renovation and a more pleasant layout of Notre-Dame Street, but no to removing already insufficient parking spaces. We must encourage traffic, without forgetting that we have no tramway, no pink line, no metro. Notre-Dame must become the economic and social heart of Lachine again, not a showcase copied from downtown.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

I believe the market will develop on its own alongside the population increase thanks to multiple upcoming real estate projects. We must strongly support the street’s business development corporation (BDC) and also ensure its cleanliness and safety.

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

Our Notre-Dame Street is attracting more and more businesses, including several new restaurants: 81 new businesses have opened since 2021, on Notre-Dame and Saint-Jacques in Saint-Pierre. The redevelopment between 18th and 6th avenues includes buried electrical wires, widened sidewalks, greening, and secured intersections. Subsidies will be granted to businesses during construction. We will renovate public parking lots parallel to the street and ensure efficient management for customers and residents. Our vision: make Notre-Dame a true heart of Lachine life, vibrant, welcoming, and prosperous, reflecting our community.

Julie-Pascale Provost

Ensemble Montréal
Team Soraya

Local media play an essential role in municipal democracy. They must be independent, rigorous, and rooted in the community. Their mission is to inform in a neutral and objective manner, stimulate critical thinking, and promote citizen participation. In Lachine, a media outlet like Nouvelles d’Ici helps bring citizens closer to the issues in their area, circulate reliable information, and encourage public debate. By enabling understanding of issues and citizen expression, it promotes healthy democratic life. This role of education and transparency is fundamental to the democratic vitality of our borough.

Gary Tremblay

Action Montréal
Team Gilbert Thibodeau

A very important role, in my opinion. As long as they give equal visibility to all players, it is one of the most effective means of facilitating communication between candidates and citizens, and giving everyone a chance, not just the “big” parties.

Maja Vodanovic

Projet Montréal
Team Luc Rabouin

Fact-based journalism is essential to democracy. To participate in municipal life, one must be informed about the issues and projects in their municipality. We do our best to communicate, but nothing equals a credible and rigorous local newspaper that shares information on issues affecting our community. A well-informed citizen is an engaged citizen.