At last week's monthly public council meeting, we unanimously adopted a resolution which will permit electors aged 70 and over to vote by mail in the November 7, 2021 municipal election.

I worked diligently with Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and our Assistant City Clerk Jason Prevost to lobby the provincial government to allow this, in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We must thank  our Liberal MNA David Birnbaum, who worked with his party's Municipal Affairs Critic Marie-Claude Nichols, to push this through. It was a compromise. We felt that everyone should have this right.  Regrettably, the Union of Quebec Municipalities failed us miserably. Initially,  the CAQ government was only going to permit vote by mail for seniors living in CHSLDs or private nursing homes and people with reduced mobility who can’t travel.

During hearings for the bill, the UMQ merely accepted that option and ignored communications from people like me to take a more aggressive stance. Shame on them! You can read their pitiful response below. Essentially it says they accepted that compromise and that there were too many obstacles to go any further. Well lucky we had David Birnbaum to turn to. In Montreal, Mayor Valerie Plante is resisting requests for vote by mail for 70 plus from the opposition.

Here is the UMQ  response to the initial CAQ plan: "This piece of legislation allows the most vulnerable people to exercise their right to vote by absentee ballot while remaining in their homes. This is very good news. In an ideal world, it would have been desirable for this measure to be extended to the entire population. However, there are a number of logistical and organizational constraints that we believe may affect the integrity of the vote, especially with the limited timeframe we have before us. We do not want municipalities to be used as a pilot project for large-scale absentee voting. For the Union, it was essential that the expansion of absentee voting be allowed to occur while ensuring the integrity of the vote. It is this balance that Bill 85 has managed to achieve." 

Clearly, according to the UMQ, a global pandemic is not the time to enact a vote by mail system.

During the electoral period beginning in September, electors will have to request to get a ballot they can mail in. The number of advance polling days will also be expanded.

You can watch our commentaries on the resolution at the 1:15 mark of this video from our council meeting.

Below are the complete resolutions

RESOLUTION TO ALLOW VOTING BY MAIL FOR ELECTORS 70 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER FOR THE 2021 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

WHEREAS the National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill 85 on March 25, 2021 entitled An Act to facilitate the conduct of the 7 November 2021 municipal general election in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

WHEREAS the Act to facilitate the conduct of the 7 November 2021 municipal general election in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic authorizes the Chief Electoral Officer to modify, by regulation, a provision of the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities (C.Q.L.R., chapter E-2.2.) (“Act”) including voting by mail for electors 70 years of age and older;

WHEREAS on April 30, 2021, the Regulation amending certain municipal provisions to facilitate the conduct of the municipal general election of November 7, 2021, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (“Regulation”) was published on the Gazette officielle du Québec;

WHEREAS the Regulation modifies the Act to include the possibility to allow, by request, voting by mail for electors 70 years of age and older where a resolution of a municipality is passed by virtue of par. 2 of section 659.4 of the Act;

WHEREAS the adoption of this resolution by the Côte Saint-Luc City Council will satisfy the requirement of the Act to allow voting by mail, by request, for Côte Saint-Luc electors 70 years of age and over;

WHEREAS it is in the interest of Côte Saint-Luc's democracy that electors have more alternatives to exercise their right to vote given the City’s high population density and high population of senior citizens;

WHEREAS allowing voting by mail is a safe way for electors to exercise their right to vote in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and will increase voter turnout;

It was

MOVED BY MAYOR MITCHELL BROWNSTEIN
SECONDED BY COUNCILLOR MIKE COHEN AND THE REMAINDER OF COUNCIL

AND RESOLVED:

"THAT the Côte Saint-Luc City Council adopts the present resolution to allow any elector 70 years of age or older to vote by mail by request as it is permitted by the Regulation and the Act."

RÉSOLUTION POUR PERMETTRE LE VOTE PAR CORRESPONDANCE AUX ÉLECTEURS DE 70 ANS ET PLUS AUX ÉLECTIONS MUNICIPALES 2021

ATTENDU QUE l’Assemblée nationale du Québec a adopté le projet de loi 85 le 25 mars 2021 intitulé la Loi visant à faciliter le déroulement de l’élection générale municipale du 7 novembre 2021 dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19;

ATTENDU QUE la Loi visant à faciliter le déroulement de l’élection générale municipale du 7 novembre 2021 dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19 autorise le Directeur Général des Élections à modifier par règlement une disposition de la Loi sur les élections et les référendums dans les municipalités (R.L.R.Q., chapitre E-2.2) (« Loi ») dont notamment afin de permettre le vote par correspondance pour les électeurs âgés de 70 ans;

ATTENDU QUE le 30 avril 2021, le Règlement modifiant certaines dispositions en matière municipale afin de faciliter le déroulement de l’élection générale municipale du 7 novembre dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19 (« Règlement ») a été publié à la Gazette officielle du Québec;

ATTENDU QUE le Règlement modifie la Loi afin d’inclure la possibilité pour les électeurs âgés de 70 ans et plus de voter, sur demande, par correspondance lorsqu’une résolution est prise par la municipalité en vertu de l’alinéa 2 de l’article 659-.4 de la Loi;

ATTENDU QUE l’adoption de la présente résolution par le conseil municipal de Côte Saint-Luc permettra de satisfaire l’exigence prévue dans la Loi permettant le vote par correspondance sur demande aux électeurs de Côte Saint-Luc âgés de 70 ans et plus;

ATTENDU QU’il est dans l’intérêt de la démocratie de la Ville de Côte Saint-Luc que les électeurs disposent de plus d’alternatives pour exercer leur droit de vote compte tenu de la forte densité de population de la Ville et du nombre élevé de personnes âgées dans la Ville dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19;

ATTENDU QUE le fait de permettre le vote par correspondance est un moyen sécuritaire pour les électeurs d'exercer leur droit de vote dans le contexte de la pandémie de COVID-19 et qu'il augmentera le taux de participation des électeurs;

   Il fut

                          PROPOSÉ PAR LE MAIRE MITCHELL BROWNSTEIN

                           APPUYÉ PAR LE CONSEILLER MIKE COHEN

               ET RÉSOLU :

« QUE le conseil municipal de Côte Saint-Luc adopte la présente résolution afin que la Ville de Côte Saint-Luc permette à tout électeur de 70 ans et plus de voter, sur demande, par correspondance, tel que lui permet la Loi et le Règlement. »