Helen Fotopulos running as a candidate in CDN

The upcoming municipal election will see four of the borough’s district council seats contested by opposition parties in NDG, Loyola, Darlington and Cote-des-Neiges and Mayor Michael Applebaum hopes to regain each one so his party can win another strong mandate to govern.

Hundreds of Union Montreal supporters gathered at Centre Sportif on Van Horne Avenue Monday June 29 to see the new representatives of the party in the west-end borough and to vote for the one remaining spot left on this team.

Plateau Mont-Royal borough Mayor Helen Fotopulos has confirmed that she will be stepping down from her role and running on the other side of the mountain as a candidate in Cote-des-Neiges, an area she’s called home for many years.

While the candidate replacing Marcel Tremblay in NDG, Marie-Jose Mastromonaco, realizes how important the opportunity is that she’s been given and wants to build strong roots here. “There is a need for community space in NDG. Sadly we’ve lost some of our community organizations,” she said. “As a school commissioner I’ve looked and there’s nothing, as a councillor I’m going to work with them.”

Another new addition to the Union Montreal team in Darlington is Lionel J. Perez, a father and lawyer looking to continue the work done in the district by his predecessor Saulie Zajdel. “I’ve been living in Darlington for three-quarters of my life. As a child my parents settled there. I lived there, played in the parks, swam in the pools there,” he said. “I know the issues, I know the district, I know the people and hopefully I might be able to represent my fellow residents.”

Before the voting even took place it was evident that Susan Clarke, chair of the Community Development Economic Corporation, would be the newest addition to Union Montreal because of the vocal support she received from Applebaum.

And when the results were tallied an ecstatic Clarke took the stage with her new political party and announced her candidacy for Loyola on November 1st. “I’m very proud and I really have to thank an awful lot of people that came out to vote for me,” she said.