Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, councilor Reine Bombo-Allara will break a glass ceiling next Tuesday by becoming the first president of the municipal council of Longueuil from the diversity.
” It was time ! »Launches Mme Bombo-Allara, interviewed at To have to Thursday. Earlier in the morning, the City of Longueuil confirmed in a press release that Mayor Catherine Fournier will propose next Tuesday, in a city council meeting, to appoint the councilor in the Georges-Dor district as president of the city council. Remember that his party, Coalition Longueuil, holds an overwhelming majority of 14 out of 16 elected to municipal council, including the new mayor. The approval of this appointment is therefore granted.
“It’s a very big advancement, I would tell you. I am very proud of the confidence that Catherine places in me [Fournier] by giving me this very great responsibility which I intend to carry out very seriously ”, assures Mr.me Bombo-Allara, who settled in Longueuil in 1988 with members of her family.
Entrepreneur graduated from HEC Montreal in administration and business management, the municipal councilor notably chaired the governing board of a public high school of the Marie-Victorin School Services Center and worked in management and marketing in the private sector. . As president of the municipal council, her role will be to coordinate the exchanges between the elected officials and the citizens’ question period, while acting in a non-partisan manner.
Catherine Fournier also considers Mme Bombo-Allara will have “an important role” to play “to restore the image of the assemblies of the municipal council of Longueuil”, which have been marked by tense exchanges between elected officials over the past four years. Mme Fournier is therefore counting on the new president to “put the chicane aside” and facilitate better “collaboration” between municipal councilors.
“She was my first choice, because of her experience and her confidence, to occupy this position and I thank her for accepting the challenge”, adds Mme Fournier in a press release.
Greater diversity
This appointment follows an election that gave pride of place this year to members of diversity in Longueuil, as was the case in Sherbrooke and Montreal. Several new elected officials from the city of the South Shore are thus young immigrants, while out of the 18 elected officials from the City, including the borough councilors, 9 are women.
“We are at a crossroads. It has now been proven that the age, gender and origin of the person does not matter. It’s not that now, ”says district councilor Georges-Dor, 34 years old.
Several other elected officials with African origins have inherited important positions in Longueuil. Councilor Affine Lwalalika, also from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thus joins the executive committee, where she will be responsible in particular for public security, family and immigration. At the age of 21, Rolande Balma, who arrived in Longueuil in 2014 from Burkina Faso, for her part took up the post of associate adviser on the status of women, immigration and intercultural relations.
“It shows our children that anything is possible, that the glass ceiling has been shattered,” said Mr.me Bombo-Allara, who says he was overwhelmed with support during the last election campaign and congratulations at the end of it. “We have pushed the doors, now the doors are open” to members of diversity, she illustrates.
On November 7, Mme Bombo-Allara was elected with a lead of over 54% of the vote. She thus dislodged the outgoing adviser from this post, Xavier Léger. The latter was leader of the opposition, a position now occupied by elected Jacques Lemire of the Longueuil Ensemble party.
“It shows our children that anything is possible, that the glass ceiling has been broken”