Safe and exciting living environments

To improve the Montreal experience and the quality of life of its residents, the Ensemble Montréal team wants to make our city cleaner, safer, more beautiful, more accessible and more dynamic.

Vision Zero Accidents

Let’s be clear: the top priority of our Vision Zero is the protection of the most vulnerable road users – pedestrians. During the mandate of the current administration, nearly 70 pedestrians have been fatally struck on Montreal streets, including 24 in 2019, the highest number in a decade. This record shows that there are still many measures to be put in place in order to reach the target of zero fatalities and serious injuries. 

The Vision Zero Action Plan, started in 2016 by the former administration and continued under the current administration, is a step in the right direction, but remains incomplete due to lack of ambition. A series of new measures must be put in place to protect pedestrians: whether they are seniors, young people, with a stroller or with reduced mobility. 

Ensemble Montreal will work to give pedestrians top priority, to make the city quieter and to reduce the danger of trucks on our streets.

When there is a conflict between traffic flow and protecting the most vulnerable, we will always choose to protect the most vulnerable.

To make our streets safer, the Coderre-Gelly administration will propose to:

Putting pedestrians first

• Make Montreal’s 100 most dangerous intersections safer and more secure;
• Ensure better snow and ice removal on sidewalks: sidewalks should be the first and best to be cleared of snow during winter storms;
• Secure the many dangerous overpasses that pass under Montreal’s railroad tracks;
• Make our sidewalks safer in winter and summer by implementing a sidewalk maintenance program;
• Improving our streets to ensure pedestrian safety: redesigning and widening sidewalks, building protrusions, sidewalk overhangs, safer crosswalks, etc.

A Cleaner City

One of the City of Montreal’s core services is to provide a clean environment for its citizens. Walking through the parks in the summer or on the street at any time will convince even the most skeptical: the city is dirty. Ensemble Montréal has concluded that the current administration’s plan is unsatisfactory, and the future administration will reverse this trend. It is the quality of life of all citizens that depends on it.

To achieve this, the Coderre-Gelly administration will set up a fund to help the boroughs in their mission of cleanliness. This fund will aim to finance the following elements:

• Increase the number of enclosed garbage cans in all parks and major arteries and increase collection during the summer months in the parks;
• Create a system of on-demand bulky item pick-up;
• Deploying full-time cleanup brigades to all boroughs;
• Adopt a plan to control the presence of rats in public places;
• Reducing the time limit for removing hateful graffiti to 24 hours from the time it is spotted or reported;
• Removing wild deposits within 48 hours of detection or reporting;
• Increase the number of public ashtrays to address the environmental and cleanliness issues posed by discarded butts.

A city that clears snow, properly

A responsible administration has the duty to provide basic services to its citizens and snow removal is part of that duty. More than a service, proper snow removal ensures safety and freedom of movement at all times for all Montrealers. A Coderre-Gelly administration is committed to :

• Increase the budget dedicated to snow removal activities;
• Make our sidewalks safer by implementing a sidewalk maintenance program;
• Prioritize sidewalk snow and ice removal (over streets and bike paths) in the winter to protect pedestrians and the most vulnerable first;
• Replace the noise of the alarms of snow removal trucks and snow plows for less noise nuisance; 
• Requiring all City of Montréal snow removal contractors and subcontractors to be trained to operate snow removal equipment;
• Improving the universal accessibility standard in all snow removal contracts and doubling the amounts dedicated to the snow removal program for people with reduced mobility;
• Increasing the number of incentive parking lots in the city during loading periods and signing agreements with private parking lots to make more free spaces available at night during snow loading operations;
• Develop a geolocation application for snow loading operations.

An Animal-Friendly City

In order to live together, openness and vigilance also apply to animals. We want to make life easier for pet owners, for example by not eliminating dog parks, while ensuring that animals are treated properly in Montreal. Therefore, the Coderre-Gelly administration will propose to:

• Create two new animal shelters in Montreal, one in the East End of the city and one in the west end;
• Allow dogs on leashes on public transit during off-peak hours and in a predefined wagon for the metro;
• Create a central fund to help boroughs create or redevelop dog parks;
• Do not regulate dogs according to their breed;
• Extend the ban, already in place for dogs and cats, on the sale of all animals not from shelters, except for fish;
• Put a moratorium on the keeping of chickens in urban areas;
• Promote all programs related to animal population control;
• Increase the number of watering holes available for dogs.