Cote Saint-Luc asking Quebec government to let city councillors attend meetings virtually

Côte Saint-Luc city councillors are asking the province to let them meet virtually amid coronavirus concerns as Quebec compels municipalities to resume in-person council meetings.

The council unanimously adopted a resolution to make the request on Monday.

In late March, the province gave municipalities 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," said Brownstein.

"While in-person meetings are now required again, the city council believes Quebec law should be amended to permit 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