The City of Montreal is conducting a public consultation on participation in municipal elections until October 4.
Posted at 6:16 p.m.
This consultation aims to better analyze the reasons for the low participation rate in the last municipal elections and identify the elements that could encourage the greatest number of people to vote.
“It’s really a fantastic commission. I am delighted to work on this consultation. My dream would be to be able to change the game for participation in the next municipal election,” enthused Véronique Tremblay, president of the Commission de la chair du conseil, which is organizing this consultation at the City of Montreal.
“The goal is to understand why some went to vote and others did not,” added the councilor of Ville verdunoise.
Among the avenues to be explored to raise awareness and increase the number of voters are the communication channels that people prefer, electronic voting, by mail, language settings and finally the possibility for immigrants to vote in municipal elections.
Members of the citizen organization Demain Verdun have already planned to participate in this consultation. This non-profit organization wants to encourage as many people as possible to “get involved in civic action. For Demain Verdun, it is “essential that municipal democracy be revitalized. »
In the last municipal elections, the participation rate for all of Montreal was 38.3%. Verdun was above this average followed by Lachine, Le Sud-Ouest and LaSalle.
The 2021 Elections Montreal Report shows strong disparities in Montreal between boroughs and between districts where the turnout rate can vary from simple to more than double. The district of Joseph-Beaubien in Outremont holds the record in Montreal: 61.7% of registered voters voted in the last election. This proportion is 2.5 times higher than the participation of 24.3% noted in the district of Saint-Michel in the borough of Villeray—Saint Michel-Parc-Extension.
Other disparities exist according to the income and age of voters. Those over 50 were still the most likely to vote despite the pandemic, thanks to advance voting.
During this holiday season, people may have their minds elsewhere. This could have an impact on the consultation. Mme Tremblay, reassuring, specifies that the consultation would also “continue in the fall”. The City has decided to launch the exercise this summer to begin as soon as possible so that the changes take place in time for the next municipal elections, according to Ms.me Tremblay.
The consultation will take place in three stages.