By Dan Delmar The Suburban Beryl Wajsman, editor of The Suburban, and president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal (IAPM), says he ?can?t sit back and watch this city being run into the ground? any longer; he announced last night that he wants to add Mayor of Montreal to his lengthy CV. Wajsman gathered a few close friends and colleagues at Chez Alexandre on Peel St. and stunned the crowd of roughly 20 when he declared his candidacy and introduced his new political party, Action Montreal (AM). Wajsman explained the name by pointing out ?there?s no unity in Union Montréal and there?s no vision in Vision Montréal, it?s a time for action for Montreal.? The move comes hours after Wajsman supporters were given a chilly reception at Montreal city hall by councillors who seemed reluctant to ease parking meter tariffs. As head of the IAPM, Wajsman has been pushing for a return to free parking on Sundays, as well as on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings ? as reported in this week?s edition. ?What we?re seeing is the municipal government decimating the citizens; drowning them in extras fees, taxes, laws, bylaws, sublaws?it?s inhumane,? Wajsman said. ?I?m sick of the gratuitous tax grabs. Successive administrations have been slowly killing this city, reducing it to the place where Torontonians come once a year to have a good time ? but God forbid they should invest here!? Wajsman plans to continue to function as editor of this newspaper throughout the campaign and leading up to the November elections. That decision was quickly denounced by Dominic de Villepin, a spokesperson for the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ), who said having an established weekly newspaper push the candidacy of its editor is a clear violation of ethical guidelines.
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Wajsman for Mayor
The Suburban?s editor challenges the City
?What we?re seeing is the municipal government decimating the citizens; drowning them in extras fees, taxes, laws, bylaws, sub-laws?it?s inhumane,? Wajsman said.
Wajsman chucked at the criticism, saying ?the FPJQ is a mediocre organization run by mediocre journalists who wouldn?t know advocacy if it bit them in the ass. They say they are modest. Well, come to think of it, they have a lot to be modest about.? A graduate of McGill Law school, Wajsman has devoted his career to combining politics, public advocacy and media. Until last year, Wajsman was host of the highly regarded ?Last Angry Man? newsmagazine on the now-defunct news/talk station, 940 Montreal. He is heard as a guest contributor on CJAD?s Tommy Schnurmacher Show. He said one of his most rewarding experiences was serving as executive assistant to Mount Royal MP Irwin Cotler from 1999 to 2001. Wajsman was one of this year?s recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award for the promotion of human dignity. His bid to run the city is being supported by Michael Sochaczevski, publisher of The Suburban, who said, ?Beryl has a blank cheque. He has access to all the financial and human resources he needs to become Mayor. He has our full support.? The AM campaign team includes journalists P.A. Sévigny and Dan Delmar, who will act as francophone and anglophone spokespeople respectively, and Joel Goldenberg, who will attempt to improve relations with demerged municipalities, particularly Côte St. Luc and Hampstead. Among the members of the shadow-executive committee are restaurateur and bon vivant Alain Creton, who would be the chairman of the Executive Committee, CJAD?s Schnurmacher, who will head the finance portfolio, King?s Transfer Van Lines spokesperson and Porsche enthusiast Rob Braide for transport, civil rights attorney Julius Grey for public security, Rev. Darryl Gray for cultural communities, emergency preparedness specialist Hal Newman for the new ?GSS? department (Garbage, Sewers and Snow, which need ?emergency assistance?), former hard-hitting labour leader Edward Brandone will liaise with the provincial government and handle labour negotiations with the needed ?force de frappe?, Grand Prix organizer Norman Legault will head sports and recreation, and ?for being an exceptional public servant?, Claude Dauphin will be roving ambassador to the World for this city.? Wajsman hopes Charles Lapointe will stay on as head of Tourisme Montreal. With Julie Couillard handling the file on the EC, Wajsman thinks the city will have an unbeatable tourism team. Rounding out the ?inner cabinet? is former St. Patrick?s parade Grand Marshal Richard J. McConomy who will handle heritage. The buccaneer editor turned heads when he detailed how a Wajsman administration would change the face of Montreal. ?I will abolish any position or agency that caters to political correctness or encourages nanny state-ism; like the operation.net department,? said Wajsman. He would also deal with the city?s blue collars in a Reaganesque manner. ?The potholes are not being filled as it is, and the snow clearing is really lousy, so if that continues let?s just fire all of the city?s blue collar workers and contract out the work to the private sector.? Wajsman said he would also create a red- Beryl Wajsman to run for Mayor of Montreal. light district, similar to ones seen in European cities like Amsterdam, which would finally get the Griffintown project the pick-up it needed. ?I?m sick of the government legislating everything!? he exclaimed, as he made his way down de Maisonneuve Blvd. to the after-party at Wanda?s. puffing on his ever present Gauloises Rouge. ?If the rest of Quebec can turn right on red, we should be able to do it in Montreal too!? Wajsman first considered running for Mayor when he failed to have a municipal court judge overturn a parking infraction he received outside of his Peel St. office. The $42 fine upset him so much, he left a 20-minute voicemail message with Gérald Tremblay?s secretary, quoting Andre Malraux and Bobby Kennedy, which also proved to be ineffective. When asked by a Journal de Montréal reporter if an anglophone with a Jewish name could ever be elected Mayor of Montreal, Wajsman (or Wage-ess-mann, as the reporter pronounced it) pointed out that he spent a portion of his life in Paris and is fluently bilingual. ? THE EAST END SUBURBAN, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2009 ? 3
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