Sonny Moroz will be the sole Jewish member of Montreal’s 65-seat city council, following the stunning loss by veteran councillor and official opposition leader Lionel Perez, who did not contest his election results by the Nov. 11 deadline.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Moroz, 31, who has been involved with politics since his teens. For the past six years, he was outreach co-ordinator in the constituency office of Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather.
Moroz will be one of 23 Ensemble Montréal (EM) councillors at city hall, forming the official opposition.
In the Nov. 6-7 municipal vote, Moroz scored a decisive victory with 47 percent support, 15 points ahead of runner-up Victor Armony of Projet Montréal (PM), the governing party led by re-elected Mayor Valérie Plante.
It was a five-way race in the Snowdon district of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce (CDN-NDG) borough, which had been held for 39 years by Marvin Rotrand, who was the other Jewish city councillor besides Perez. Rotrand retires this month and is now national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
In June, Rotrand, an independent, threw his support behind EM leader, former mayor Denis Coderre, and anointed Moroz, who was his campaign manager in the two previous elections, his chosen successor.
First elected in 2009 in CDN-NDG’s Darlington district, Perez held prominent roles in Coderre’s administration from 2013-2017. After Coderre’s defeat, Perez became EM interim leader until this March when Coderre launched his comeback bid.
Perez opted to run for mayor of CDN-NDG, the most populous of Montreal’s 19 boroughs, which meant he could not seek re-election in Darlington. The gamble appeared to pay off: by the evening of Nov. 7 Perez was in the lead over main challenger, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, of PM.
But by the next morning, she had pulled ahead narrowly; in the final count, Congolese-born Katahwa, a political newcomer, won by 212 points.
Perez, 51, who is Orthodox and Sephardic, the son of Moroccan immigrants, was a forceful voice for Jewish community issues. Over the past two years he campaigned vigorously, but unsuccessfully, for the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) antisemitism definition. He also made a memorable impassioned speech against Bill 21, Quebec’s secularism law, before city council.
Perez could not be reached for comment by The CJN, or apparently any other media. Similarly, Coderre, also shaken by his loss, has been silent. Coderre cultivated a close relationship with the Jewish community over his single term, unparalleled among Montreal mayors.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which was profoundly disappointed by Plante’s shelving of the IHRA definition, tweeted, “Congratulations on your re-election… We will continue to work with your administration on society’s important issues.”
In addition to the popular Rotrand’s boost, Moroz attributes his win to having been readily available in the district while working for Housefather, helping constituents access federal grants and benefits, and providing information of all kinds. That was even more true during the pandemic: “I was working 12 hours a day; I made my cell phone available,” he said. “I just enjoy helping people.”
Before that, Moroz, a Lower Canada College and McGill University graduate, was an admitting clerk at St. Mary’s Hospital for seven years, and was involved with the unionization of its clerical staff.
Snowdon’s Jewish population is not as large as it once was, but it is home to the major Jewish institutions, namely, Federation CJA and its agencies like the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors and the YM-YWHA, as well as synagogues and schools.
Like the rest of CDN-NDG, Snowdon is highly multicultural and its Asian communities are politically active. Filipino leaders publicly endorsed EM. One of Moroz’s promises was to act on the Tamil community’s demand for better cricket facilities, and he has proposed the creation of a local diversity council.
Of his youth, Moroz says, “I understand the importance of the younger generation innovating old processes, but I also believe strongly in learning from and gathering wisdom from the generations who came before me.” His grandfather is Boris Moroz, a community leader for many years, in particular, with B’nai Brith.
Elsewhere, Mindy Pollak of PM coasted to a third term as an Outremont borough councillor, capturing more than 80 percent of the ballots over lone rival Joshua Rosenbaum of Mouvement Montréal, led by third-place mayoral hopeful Balarama Holness. Pollak is the only Hasidic woman ever elected to public office in Quebec.
PM lost its 4-1 majority on the borough council, which is now evenly split with EM. Mayor Philipe Tomlinson of PM, who is respected for his openness to the Hasidic community, has asked for a recount after losing by 23 votes to EM’s Laurent DesBois.
In St. Laurent borough, EM incumbent Jacques Cohen was also re-elected with a 68 percent majority.
