During our Christmas evening at the Alex H. restaurant in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, coworkers, friends, directors and partners of the CDEC acknowledged the retirement of Marcel Tremblay. It goes without saying that we would devote a few lines in our newsletter to someone who has been, above all, a friend of the CDEC over the past eight years.

How can we describe the man? A politician impossible to categorize, an engaged citizen, omnipresent administrator, a family man with a big heart, a visionary, a dreamer, and a jovial apostle of cleanliness and everything else. Marcel Tremblay's proverbial candour is proof of his sincerity-a rare quality in politicians and why his personality was so endearing. As municipal counsellor for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Marcel Tremblay considered himself a public servant above all; for example, he was known to interrupt a conversation with a citizen to pick up litter on the sidewalk.
Over the years, he accumulated numerous responsibilities within the Executive Committee of the City of Montréal, including snow removal, where he left his mark. Our colleague Roger Côté underscored his worldwide fame in this department by reading an extract of an article published at the beginning of the year in the France-based weekly, Courrier International, which quoted Mr. Tremblay advising citizens navigating the icy streets of the city to just buy themselves crampons.

At the beginning of the new decade, Marcel Tremblay decided to hang up his skates after a life dedicated to public service. Nevertheless, I'll bet that he will be very present in the world of volunteer activities in Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
We must also mention the departure of two municipal councillors, Warren Allmand and Saulie Zajdel, who, together, have over half a century of public service to their credit. They have made valuable contributions in Côte-des-Neiges and Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and we wish them good luck in their future projects.

Claude Lauzon,
Director