Westmount city councillor Mary Gallery launches mayoral bid

The Westmount mayoral race is picking up with two women throwing their hats into the ring.

Another candidate is entering the race for mayor of Westmount. Two-term District 6 city councillor Mary Gallery has announced her candidacy, citing a deep connection to the community as her motivation for running.

“I decided to run for mayor, because I love my community. I was born here. I was raised here. I raised my children here. I’ve been very proud to serve this community,” Gallery said in a recent interview.

First elected to council in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, Gallery currently serves as commissioner of sports, recreation, parks and green spaces. She is also a member of the city’s Planning and Advisory Committee.

“I grew up with a civic minded family. My father was also a councillor and the mayor of Westmount, and I saw what it took to give back to the community,” she said.

Her father, the late Brian Gallery, was a councillor from 1975 to 1983 and served as mayor from 1983 to 1987.

“I feel ready. I have had tons of support from friends, family, neighbors, fellow colleagues, and I’m really excited,” Gallery explained.

Gallery is also part of the city’s Planning and Advisory Committee.

She emphasized her commitment to protecting and preserving the city’s character, including its green spaces, heritage buildings and neighbourhoods.

“We are in an infrastructure crisis. We’ve tackled a great deal of infrastructure work in the last eight years, and there’s a lot more work to do,” Gallery noted.

“The southeast revitalization program is a very important part of this mandate, and will be part of the future mandate to see through some redevelopment that will happen down there, and it’s vital and a special part of our community.”

She said that if elected, she intends to seek new sources of revenue to help fund major projects and explore creative opportunities in areas such as sports, recreation and parks.

“I’m a very good listener, and I’m a very good collaborator. I work well with people. I feel we had to tackle a lot of big files in the last little while, and we’re moving everything forward,” Gallery said.

“But there needs to be continuity, I believe, and I think having that experience as a leader to champion a lot of these things and steward the city, I add a lot of value to pretty much all of that.”