Outremont's move to restrict new places of worship to a particular spot in the borough is angering the opposition at City Hall.
Luc Ferrandez, the leader of Projet Montreal, said it's obvious that Outremont's bylaw is whipping up anger and resentment within that borough.
He is worried that divisiveness will spread to the rest of the city, so he's calling for a Montreal-wide debate on the matter.
"We need to discuss and exchange a solution in a forum, and we need to do it fast because problems are arising everywhere in the city," said Ferrandez.
Last month the borough of Outremont proposed a bylaw to alter the zoning to restrict new places of worship to one particular part of the borough, near the train tracks.
At a public consultation on Monday, dozens of Hasidic Jews who live in Outremont said the proposal was discriminatory and a way of punishing members of their religion.
So far, only one member of Outremont's borough council is fighting against it.
"They want to go forward with their proposition regardless of opposition, regardless of the fact that there were no studies that were done, regardless of the fact that there's no proof of their theories that it hurts commercial businesses on commercial streets. It's very questionable," said borough councillor Mindy Pollack.
Projet Montreal said religious communities have the right to establish themselves wherever they wish and it's a right that should not be constrained.
Ferrandez also said people have to learn how to live with their neighbours, no matter their religion or lack thereof.
He pointed out Projet Montreal presented a motion in city council on May 25 of this year calling for a public consultation about how best to integrate new churches, synagogues and mosques within Montreal and accused Mayor Denis Coderre of a lack of leadership.
Russell Copeman, the member of Montreal's executive committee responsible for urban planning, suggested Ferrandez's insistence that the central city act on the issue is hypocritical.
"Mr. Ferrandez is the leader of a party and a borough mayor who regularly invokes the independence of boroughs and wants to jealously guard the power of boroughs with regard to zoning and other areas, but here we have a hot-button issue and their first reaction is 'Oh, we have to pitch this up to the centre city.' I think there's a flagrant contradiction there," he said.
Coderre in Paris at the climate change conference and returns to Montreal next week. Outremont is expected to vote on its bylaw Monday, but the issue will likely end up going to a borough-wide referendum.
