Alan DeSousa, Mayor of Saint-Laurent, Québec, has been appointed to the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) Council, the flagship, $625-million program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, funded by the Government of Canada.
DeSousa will sit on this Council as a municipal elected official and will represent the province of Québec. The appointment reflects three of the six plans adopted by Saint-Laurent in August 2017, namely those devoted to mobility, greenhouse gas reduction, and sustainable development.
“I am very proud of this appointment and honoured as well. Having extensive experience in governance and environmental preservation throughout Québec and in Greater Montréal in general, I would like to share my knowledge with other Canadian communities,” said Mayor DeSousa. “For example, I have successfully carried out several remarkable projects with the GMF’s support and I am convinced that this experience will help me make the best possible contribution.”
Saint-Laurent, in fact, already has a long history of successful collaborative efforts with the GMF. For example, it previously obtained financial support from the Fund for the Éco-campus Hubert-Reeves project at Technoparc Montréal, for the Sports Complex and for the Bibliothèque du Boisé.
This new position is also a natural continuation of the Mayor of Saint-Laurent’s 28-year involvement at all levels—borough, city, metropolitan community, and agglomeration council—to ensure synergy and coordination of all these organizations’ efforts to preserve the environment.
DeSousa continues to advocate for the inclusion of the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection in the architecture and design of buildings in Saint-Laurent and throughout Greater Montréal. He also produced Ville de Montréal’s Water Management Strategy in 2003 and developed waste management plans for municipalities and for Greater Montréal as a whole. Similarly, the energy, greenhouse gas reduction, and climate change adaptation strategies and plans that he has put in place and had adopted are still in force in Montréal.