Anthony Housefather

The Mayor of the City of Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec, Anthony Housefather

Anthony Housefather is a municipal politician and corporate lawyer. He was born in Montreal in 1970. He is Mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec, a city on the Island of Montreal.^[1] He holds two law degrees from McGill University, an MBA from Concordia University (Montreal), and is Executive Vice President Corporate Affairs and General Counsel at a multinational technology company.^[2] He was a nationally-ranked athlete as a student and returned to competitive swimming in 2010.

Early political career

Housefather started his political career in the Mount Royal Liberal Association. He later became Vice President of the Liberal Party of Canada. Housefather ran for Town Councillor in Hampstead in 1994 at age 24, defeating two candidates. He served until to 2001, when the Quebec government forced all cities and towns on the Island of Montreal to merge.

Housefather was president of Alliance Quebec between June 2000 to 2001.

When the mega-city of Montreal was created in 2001, he was elected as a Councillor for the Borough of Côte Saint-Luc/Hampstead/Montreal West. In 2004, he served as co-chair of the demerger committee of Côte Saint-Luc along with former City Councillors Mitchell Brownstein, Ruth Kovac and Glenn J. Nashen, and was a member of the Hampstead Demerger Committee in the successful 2004 demerger referendums, when all three sectors of the borough voted to separate from Montreal.

Mayor of Côte Saint-Luc

On November 7, 2005, Housefather was elected Mayor of Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec with 75% of the vote. Housefather is a self-described perfectionist with knowledge of the contents of every file.^[3] He cites his accomplishments as getting the provision added to Bill 22 to allow Côte Saint-Luc to operate its first-responder service permanently, saving police Station 9, launching the Fun Card recreation access pass, and keeping Meadowbrook green.^[3] He also cities other accomplishments as the construction of the $18 million Aquatic and Community Centre, and the fight to preserve the status of bilingual municipalities in Quebec.

Housefather was re-elected by acclamation to a second term as Mayor of Côte Saint-Luc on October 2, 2009 (in advance of the November 1, 2009 vote).^[4] He was acclaimed again on October 4, 2013 (in advance of the November 4, 2013 vote).^[5]

Island-wide Issues

In addition to helping run the City of Côte Saint-Luc, Housefather is the Secretary of the Association of Suburban Municipalities, or ASM, which represents the 15 demerged cities and towns on the Island of Montreal. He helped draft a brief and then presented it on March 11, 2013 with Town of Mount Royal Mayor Philippe Roy at the Quebec National Assembly on the Quebec government's proposed Bill 14.^[6] Housefather is also a member of the island-wide Montreal agglomeration council and the agglomeration's Public Security Commission.

In the Media

He has written many political opinion pieces for Canadian newspapers^{[7] [8]} and appears on local radio and television broadcasts.^[9][10][11]

Sports Life

Housefather was a competitive swimmer in his teens and then a competitive water polo player. He started competitive swimming again in 2010. In July and August 2013, Housefather won seven medals in swimming at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Social Media

Housefather's Twitter handle is @ahousefather.

References