From Warren Allmand to Saulie Zajdel, and including Helen Fotopulos - it’s shaping up as a bad election year for Montreal anglophones. Allmand and Zajdel will not run again, and as noted above Fotopulos will lose her executive committee spot even if she is re-elected.

How will this experience be replaced ? Zajdel has been on council for 23 years ; Allmand arrived there in 2005 after a distinguished career as federal MP for Notre Dame de Grâce and in other posts. Both men have been useful and industrious councillors, and will be missed.

True, Mayor Gérard Tremblay’s executive committee still includes anglophones Michael Applebaum and Alan DeSousa - but these departures should remind him, and his challengers, that council slates really should reflect the city’s language diversity.

The big municipal parties choose their candidates centrally, which makes it easy to leave little room for anglophones, allophones, and visible minorities of all language groups.

That’s yet another problem municipal parties bring to the table. We think Montreal’s 64-member council is far too large, but at least that size should leave room for anglophone and "ethnic" neighbourhoods to elect qualified local representatives. Since our democratic grass-roots are so poorly nourished, it’s up to party leaders to strive for balance.