MONTREAL -- Montrealers have until Aug. 23 to fill out an eight-question survey on the city’s budget for the year 2021.
Though consulting citizens for its budget isn’t necessarily new (it was done last year as well), the city says the COVID-19 pandemic – which has significantly impacted the economy – is an opportunity to “review our ways of doing things, to rethink the city and the services offered to citizens.”
On the survey's webpage, the city says, “it is still early to anticipate the full impact of COVID-19,” but that the crisis may be “an opportunity to lay the foundations for a new, more inclusive, resilient and green economy.”
“For a second year, the city of Montreal wishes to know the opinion of Montrealers in order to prepare a budget that suits them and meets their expectations,” Plante tweeted on Tuesday.
One of the eight questions is “If Montreal were to downgrade or even limit certain services, which of the following choices should be reviewed?”
Among the options are: “police services,” “garbage collection,” “snow removal” and “other.”
Police services may be an option due to the recent calls across North America to defund police, amid ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and systemic discrimination.
Montreal's police force was recently criticized for presenting a new plan on street checks that advocates say is not nearly enough to combat systemic racism within the force.
Once the survey closes, the city will take three weeks to analyze the results and, a week later, will send recommendations to the municipal council.
The budget plan will be submitted in November.
