Louise O'Sullivan announces new candidates
Article mis en ligne le jeudi 8 octobre 2009
Photo Christina Grolmuss
The team CDN-NDG from left to right: George Pentsos, Carmen Dan, Francine Brodeur, Jacqueline Sommereyns and David Riachi. Ziyad Almbasher was not present at the meeting.
The whistling and clapping hands almost resembled that of a soccer fanclub when Louise O'Sullivan's team gathered in the Philips Lounge on October 6th, for the announcement of the candidates.
Louise O'Sullivan said she felt a great pride because her team represents “a true alternative to the poor administration that the City of Montreal has right now.” After having lost two of her party members and candidates in CDN-NDG to Vision Montréal this summer, she was now happy and proud to present a complete team for the area. It includes the new candidates Jacqueline Sommereyns (for borough mayor), David Riachi (for city councillor in NDG), and Ziyad Almbasher (for city councillor in CDN). The Party Montréal Ville-Marie now covers all five electoral districts with potential councillors.
The new candidates, except for Mr Almbasher who was not present at the meeting, did not express much criticism towards the work of the actual borough council. Generally, Mrs Sommereyns wants to continue “all the good things” that have been done in the political landscape of CDN so far. “I don't want to destroy anything that has been done”, she says. Her main concerns are new roads and safer sidewalks in winter, more security in the streets, and the integration of immigrants. “Côte-des-Neiges is like a small Europe. We have many immigrants here who need a place to live and who want to be integrated.” Certainly, this is a reason why she thinks of the Namur-Jean-Talon housing project as a project that “we need in CDN.”
Not so in the opinion of Mr Riachi. At 19 years of age, being the youngest of all candidates, he states: “Why not restore old buildings and invest into old churches in order to save our heritage. We have many beautiful old buildings here. The housing project in Jean-Talon brings back a lot of revenue but we have to ask where is it going to and what will the money be used for?” The young and dynamic candidate of Lebanese origin totally disagrees with the project. His goals for the district are rather vague. Generally speaking, he wants to be open to accept everyone's opinion and not to focus on specific subjects too much. “I will be at the service of the people and at the service to what's required in NDG”, he says.
The other candidates in CDN-NDG are Francine Brodeur (Darlington), Carmen Dan (Snowdon) and George Pentsos (Loyola).