Annual Report 2004: Office de consultation publique de Montréal Requests Adoption of Agglomeration Development Plan and Restoration of Obligation to Hold Consultations

Montréal, June 2, 2005 – Jean-François Viau, President of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), made public this morning the annual report of the Office for 2004.

The consultations held by the Office deal with matters pertaining to planning and development, or with City policy projects. In 2004, the main mandates entrusted to the Office led to major consultations on the revision of the Urban Plan, the review of the draft Montréal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities, and the Policy Respecting the Natural Environment.

"Over the course of 2004, the Office dealt with major policy projects. The OCPM reconfirmed its role as one of the City's major democratic instruments. Its reports to City Council faithfully reflected the concerns expressed by consultation participants," said Mr. Viau upon making public the report.

Since the coming into force of Bill 33, in December 2003, the mandate of the Office has been changed significantly. The provisions of the Bill remove the obligation for the OCPM to hold public consultations on all amendments to Montréal's Urban Plan. The number of mandates that must mandatorily be entrusted to the Office is diminishing, if not disappearing. This severely threatens citizens' participation in the decision-making process. An independent organization such as the OCPM should not receive all of its mandates on a discretionary basis, but should be considered a natural step in Montrealers' participation in decisions dealing with issues that affect their natural and living environments. 

Moreover, following the municipal elections next November, the reconstituted cities can amend their planning programs, under the Act Respecting Land Use Planning and Development. They will not be required to comply with the current Urban Plan. In that context, the OCPM recommends that the pan-Montréal elements of Montréal's current Urban Plan become the landuse plan for the agglomeration. Any and all amendments should be made based on common orientations, and the legislation should be amended accordingly.

"The practices of the OCPM being well established, recognized and accepted by civil society, independent public consultation should be re-introduced for amendments to the Urban Plan. The Office shold be in a position to intervene throughout current Montréal territory for anything pertaining to the agglomeration's future land-use plan," says Mr. Viau.

Furthermore, the OCPM should play a statutory role in projects that involve several boroughs or municipalities of the agglomeration, and in the management of emblematic or strategic areas, such as Old Montréal, Mont-Royal and Downtown, for example. Consequently, funding and the appointment of the OCPM president and commissioners should fall under the responsibility of the Agglomeration Council, according to terms to be defined that will preserve the independence of the Office. 

Over the period covered by this annual report, the Office dealt with 12 different projects, requiring 42 meetings attended by over 3,000 citizens. For each of these consultations, the Office published one or more public notices, distributed flyers door to door throughout the area surrounding the project, and made all relevant information available on its Web site at www.ocpm.qc.ca. Over 20,000 flyers and 2,000 posters were distributed and made available at 104 service points throughout Montréal territory. Furthermore, 900,000 Montréal households received an information booklet on the consultation on the Urban Plan. Fifty-one notices were published in 13 different newspapers, and meetings were held in 17 boroughs. The Internet site received more than one million visits, double the figure for the previous period.

The work of the Office continues in 2005 with other projects related to the Urban Plan, and with hearings on policy projects, notably those respecting culture and heritage.

All this amounts to 65 mandates entrusted to the Office since its beginnings, involving more than 10,000 citizens who have attended the 186 meeting held to date.

The mission of the OCPM, created under the Charter of Ville de Montréal, is to carry out public consultation mandates on matters under the jurisdiction of the City of Montréal, notably on landuse planning and development projects, and on all projects designated by the City Council or Executive Committee. These consultations are led by commissioners, appointed by City Council, who are neither municipal elected officials nor employees, thereby ensuring a fair, transparent and effective process.

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Luc Doray
Tel.: (514) 872-3568
Cell.: (514) 977-8365