Mayoral candidate chats with the Concordian

Louise O’Sullivan’s run for Mayor of Montreal hasn’t been an easy ride. She said she has faced criticism from both the English and French communities. Anglophones became angry when she supported a proposal to rename some English street names in the city- and as for francophones, O’Sullivan said, her name is considered too English.
But recently, O’Sullivan has been dishing out some of her own criticism. She accused the media of ignoring her campaign, pointing out, for example, that no English media were present at her press conference. But she has saved her strongest criticisms for her opponents in the race to city hall.
“He has ludicrous ideas,” she said of Projet Montreal’s leader Richard Bergeron. “Louise Harel has no ideas for business and wants to turn this into a French city. And Gérald Tremblay, well, he hasn’t done very well. Four more years of that? I don’t think so,” O’Sullivan said.
One of her party’s main goals, she said, is to promote economic development in Montreal. “I want university graduates to feel this city has something to offer them,” noting her children left Montreal to pursue better career opportunities.
“The future generation should be confident,” she said. “I want them to know they’ll have a future here.”
O’Sullivan believes that with the right people in control, Montreal can, once again, be prosperous and beautiful.
“I hate that we’re known for potholes,” she said. “We have a lot to offer. Why should we have this reputation?”
The prevalence of potholes are indicative of two issues, O’Sullivan said: Too much money is being wasted on shoddy road work, and Montreal still has a lot of cars on the road.
“I’m pro-car,” she said. “I drive my car. People need to drive cars. So we need more parking spaces. The money generated from that can be used to fix roads.”
But O’Sullivan said she also commutes using public transit. “But I know why more Montrealers don’t,” she said. O’Sullivan suggested putting smaller buses out during slower hours, and dispatching a larger fleet on main lines during rush hours.”We need a better system where buses aren’t travelling half-empty in the middle of the day, and people are crammed in like sardines during peak hours.”

Louise O’Sullivan’s run for Mayor of Montreal hasn’t been an easy ride. She said she has faced criticism from both the English and French communities. Anglophones became angry when she supported a proposal to rename some English street names in the city- and as for francophones, O’Sullivan said, her name is considered too English.
But recently, O’Sullivan has been dishing out some of her own criticism. She accused the media of ignoring her campaign, pointing out, for example, that no English media were present at her press conference. But she has saved her strongest criticisms for her opponents in the race to city hall.
“He has ludicrous ideas,” she said of Projet Montreal’s leader Richard Bergeron. “Louise Harel has no ideas for business and wants to turn this into a French city. And Gérald Tremblay, well, he hasn’t done very well. Four more years of that? I don’t think so,” O’Sullivan said.
One of her party’s main goals, she said, is to promote economic development in Montreal. “I want university graduates to feel this city has something to offer them,” noting her children left Montreal to pursue better career opportunities.
“The future generation should be confident,” she said. “I want them to know they’ll have a future here.”
O’Sullivan believes that with the right people in control, Montreal can, once again, be prosperous and beautiful.
“I hate that we’re known for potholes,” she said. “We have a lot to offer. Why should we have this reputation?”
The prevalence of potholes are indicative of two issues, O’Sullivan said: Too much money is being wasted on shoddy road work, and Montreal still has a lot of cars on the road.
“I’m pro-car,” she said. “I drive my car. People need to drive cars. So we need more parking spaces. The money generated from that can be used to fix roads.”
But O’Sullivan said she also commutes using public transit. “But I know why more Montrealers don’t,” she said. O’Sullivan suggested putting smaller buses out during slower hours, and dispatching a larger fleet on main lines during rush hours.”We need a better system where buses aren’t travelling half-empty in the middle of the day, and people are crammed in like sardines during peak hours.”