| Domenico Moschella | |
| Birth Date: | c. 1948 |
| Death Date: | June 23, 2015 (aged 67) |
| Death Place: | Montreal, Quebec |
| Office1: | Montreal City Councillor for Saint-Léonard-Est |
| Term Start1: | 2013 |
| Term End1: | June 23, 2015 |
| Predecessor1: | Robert Zambito |
| Successor1: | Patricia Lattanzio |
| Office2: | Commissioner on the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île, Ward Eleven |
| Term Start2: | 2002 |
| Predecessor2: | Massimo Pacetti (until 2002) |
| Office3: | Commissioner on the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer, Ward Ten |
| Term Start3: | 1994 |
| Term End3: | 1998 |
| Predecessor3: | redistribution[1] |
| Successor3: | Diana Moschella |
| Office4: | Commissioner on the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer, Ward Fourteen |
| Term Start4: | 1990 |
| Term End4: | 1994 |
| Predecessor4: | redistribution |
| Successor4: | redistribution[2] |
| Office5: | Commissioner on the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer, Ward Eleven |
| Term Start5: | 1987 |
| Term End5: | 1990 |
| Predecessor5: | Vittorio Galerio |
| Successor5: | redistribution[3] |
| Office6: | Saint-Leonard City Councillor, Ward Four |
| Term Start6: | 1998 |
| Term End6: | 2001 |
| Predecessor6: | redistribution[4] |
| Successor6: | position abolished |
| Office7: | Saint-Leonard City Councillor, Ward Ten |
| Term Start7: | 1990 |
| Term End7: | 1998 |
| Predecessor7: | Maurice Benoît |
| Successor7: | redistribution[5] |
| Office8: | Saint-Leonard City Councillor, Ward Three |
| Term Start8: | 1982 |
| Term End8: | 1986 |
| Predecessor8: | Robert Benoît |
| Successor8: | Frank Zampino |
| Party: | Coalition Montréal |
| Otherparty: | Action civique Montréal (2009) Independent (2005) Vision Montreal (2001) Parti Municipal (1994-2001) Ralliement de Saint-Léonard (1986-1994) Action civique de Saint-Léonard (1984-1986) Équipe du renouveau de la cité de Saint-Léonard (1982-1984) |
Domenico Moschella, also known as Dominic Moschella, was a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He served on the Montreal City Council from 2013 to 2015, representing Saint-Léonard-Est as a member of Coalition Montréal.
Moschella was previously a city councillor in Saint-Leonard from 1982 to 1986 and again from 1990 to 2001, prior to the suburban community's amalgamation into the city of Montreal. He also served as a commissioner on the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île.
Moschella died in office on June 23, 2015.[6]
Moschella was vice-president of an investment counselling firm in 1986.[7] He later worked as a restaurateur.[8]
Renaud later stated that Moschella had run a "malicious" campaign against him; in December 1984, he launched a $41,000 suit for alleged defamatory remarks. Moschella threatened to counter-sue, saying that the new mayor would "wind up paying [his] legal fees and then some" if the matter came to court. He also said that Renaud's lawsuit would be harmful to the democratic process, as politicians might become reluctant to speak openly if they were concerned about provoking legal action.[10] Newspaper accounts do not indicate how the matter was resolved.
Moschella was the only Saint-Leonard city councillor to serve with the Action civique party following the 1984 by-election. He later called for a merger of the city's three opposition parties, and in late 1986 he dissolved Action civique to become a founding member of a new group called Unité de Saint-Léonard.[11] He ran for re-election under this party's banner for the city's twelfth ward in the 1986 municipal election and narrowly lost to Robert Zambito, a candidate of Renaud's slate.[12]
In early 1986, Moschella argued that Saint-Leonard should reduce its business tax rate so as to benefit shopkeepers.[13] The following year, he took part in a local protest against property tax increases.[14]
In March 1994, Moschella joined with the only other remaining opposition councillor and crossed the floor to join Zampino party's. According to Moschella, city council had already become a collegial, non-partisan environment prior to this time; when he joined Zampino's party, he was quoted as saying, "They [''Parti municipal'' members] treated us as part of the team. We were always aware of everything that was going on."[15] This decision effectively ended partisan politics on Saint-Leonard council for the next seven years, until the city's merger into the new city of Montreal. Moschella was re-elected without opposition in 1994 and again in 1998.[16]
Moschella intended to run for a seat on the Montreal City Council in the 2001 municipal election as a member of mayor Pierre Bourque's Vision Montreal party, but he withdrew before election day.[17] He ran for a seat on the Saint-Leonard borough council in 2005 and 2009 and was defeated both times. On the latter occasion, he was a candidate of the newly formed Action civique Montréal.
In the 2013 election, Moschella was elected to Montreal City Council as a Coalition Montréal candidate in the district of Saint-Léonard-Est, winning by just eighty votes over Projet Montréal's Roberta Peressini. The result was heavily impacted by incumbent candidate Robert Zambito's late withdrawal from the race on corruption allegations. The number of rejected ballots exceeded the number of votes for Moschella.
Moschella was elected to the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer in 1987 and was re-elected in 1990 and 1994. In 1988, he promoted a plan to increase French and English immersion courses for the younger grades.[18] He did not seek re-election in 1998 when the confessional Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer was replaced by the language-based Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île, but he was returned to the new board without opposition in 2002, 2003 and 2007.[19] [20]