The Association of Suburban Municipalities, representing 13 of the 15 municipalities with bilingual status on the island of Montreal, issued a news release Wednesday afternoon, calling for the status to be maintained, even where demographics have changed. “For us, balance means strengthening the French language without taking away the rights of citizens in bilingual municipalities," said Beny Masella, mayor of Montreal West and head of the association. “We fully support the social and political consensus in favour of protecting and strengthening the status of the French language in Quebec. At the same time, we are committed to protecting the gains that are important to the citizens of our municipalities,” the news release read.