Côte Saint-Luc city councilors are asking the province to let them meet virtually amid coronavirus concerns as Quebec compels municipalities to summarize in-person council meetings.
The council unanimously adopted a resolution to make the request on Monday.
In late March, the province gave new directives to return to in-person meetings, but the city’s mayor, Mitchell Brownstein, and city councilor Mike Cohen, both of whom are immunocompromised, asked: “why put people at risk as this sixth wave is seeing case numbers soar?”
“Elected officials with underlying medical issues shouldn’t have to decide whether to put their council job ahead of their health,” Brownstein said.
“While in-person meetings are now required again, the city council believes Quebec law should be amended to allow elected officials to participate remotely.”
After meeting virtually since the beginning of the pandemic, the city said only one person showed up for their first meeting back on April 11.
Reached by CTV News on Wednesday, the Union des municipalites du Quebec said it is now speaking with the municipal affairs minister to see if they can come to some kind of agreement to continue council meetings virtually.
— With files from CTV News Montreal’s Rob Lurie