- By Prabhjot Singh
WESTMOUNT, QUEBEC (TIP): Gurveen K. Chadha of Westmount in Quebec has scripted history by becoming the first Punjabi girl to be elected a councillor to the Westmount City Council.
She defeated a sitting Councillor, Conrad Peart, in the just-concluded Quebec municipal elections.
“I know how policy gets built and how strategy is implemented. Now I’m ready to work for the community where I grew up,” commented Gurveen K. Chadha after her election.
Gurveen K. Chadha was born and raised in Westmount—learning to swim at the YMCA, skating at the Rec Centre, and taking classes at Victoria Hall. She went on to study public policy at Harvard and Dartmouth. Her career bridges public policy and the private sector. In Ottawa, she was Director of Policy to Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Transport, leading policy development and managing complex issues at the national level. In business, she has led strategy and operations at companies like Shopify and Jobber, and she also co-founded the olive oil shop, Olives en folie, that was on Victoria Ave.
Over the past decade, she has knocked on hundreds of doors during campaigns in this city, listening directly to residents. She joins the City Council with the desire to improve our infrastructure, strengthen economic vitality on Sherbrooke, Greene, Victoria, and Ste-Catherine, and create sustainable public spaces that will keep Westmount thriving for the next 150 years.
The Council of the City of Westmount is formed by the mayor and eight city councillors, each representing one of the city’s eight electoral districts. The mayor and councillors also sit on various standing committees and municipal organizations. The term of this council runs from 2025 to 2029.
She won in a four-corner contest, defeating the sitting Councillor Conrad Peart. Gurveen, a newcomer, polled 52.59%, securing 487 votes against the 31.49% (291 votes) polled by Conrad Peart. Massimo Mazza with 87 votes and Lynda Lyness with 61 votes were placed third and fourth, respectively.
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