When Anthony Housefather was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Mount Royal more than two years ago he promised to make regular communications with his constituents a priority. He has indeed made good on that, holding rotating public assemblies in Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Côte des Neiges and TMR. In addition, he has maintained a steady presence on social media, organized mailings to each home and secured a high profile in the media.

Anthony Housefather surrounded by his guests, including me at the top left.

One of Anthony’s new ideas was to hold regular Summits of Elected Officials. This round-table format brings together elected officials from the municipal and provincial levels, as well as school boards,  with Anthony as chair.

The most recent such gathering occurred last week at Côte Saint-Luc City Hall. I was joined by Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and Councillors Dida Berku, Ruth Kovac, David Tordjman, Mitch Kujavsky.  Also in attendance were:TMR   Councillors Minh-Diem Le Thi and Jonathan Lang; Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg and Councillors Leon Elfassy and Jacky Edery; Côte des Neiges/NDG Borough Mayor  Sue Montgomery; D’Arcy McGee Liberal MNA David Birnbaum and staff members Elisabeth Prass and Chris Savard; Charlotte Thierry from the office of Mont Royal Liberal MNA and Quebec Government Treasury Board President Pierre Arcand; Commission Scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) Commissioner for Côte des Neiges Khokon Maniruzzaman; and Sonny Moroz, Chelsea Craig and Izabel Cujoz-Shulman from Anthony’s office.

It was a most interesting exchange and a great opportunity to dialogue on common issues such as the Cavendish extension.

Anthony began with a look  at federal matters of concern to us  followed by David Birnbaum who spoke about Quebec issues of concern and each Mayor spoke about issues of concern to their city. .Khokon Maniruzzaman and I provided school board updates. Naturally all the discussions were confidential but it allowed us to work together and plan together to resolve issues of common concern.  A highly useful exercise.