Longueuil: a four-way fight
Longueuil has attracted well-known candidates and is the scene of a four-way fight between Jacques Létourneau (Action Longueuil), Catherine Fournier (Coalition Longueuil), Josée Latendresse (Longueuil Ensemble) and Jean-Marc Léveillé (Longueuil Citizen). Outgoing mayor Sylvie Parent said last February that she would not seek a second term.
Some polls have placed Catherine Fournier, 29, who wants to make the city the “capital of innovation” in Quebec in the lead. The independent sovereignist MP could therefore leave the Marie-Victorin constituency orphaned if she was elected mayor of Longueuil, which would trigger a by-election there. The campaign was marked by the themes of the environment, housing and public transport. The person who will accede to the town hall will have to decide in particular in the delicate file of the overpopulation of the deer in the park Michel-Chartrand, which raises the passions. The City had given up on slaughtering 15 of the 32 deer in the park. A roundtable made up of citizens, experts and organizations must make recommendations in this matter this fall.
The endangered chorus frog also appeared towards the end of the campaign. The Superior Court recently suspended work to extend Boulevard Béliveau until November 8, following a media outcry following the unveiling of a scientific opinion written by experts from the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs which reveals that these will destroy the tree frog’s breeding habitats. The candidates are committed to shedding light on this story.
Candidates have also criticized the greater media attention given to Catherine Fournier. Jean-Marc Léveillé went so far as to file a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ), citing an infringement of the Election Act.
Laval: many undecided
No less than eight candidates are fighting a hot fight in Laval, where the campaign is taking place in the shadow of that of Montreal and struggling to make the headlines.
A CROP poll published on October 21 on behalf of Radio-Canada showed that there was 56% undecided among voters, while the candidates suffer from a certain lack of notoriety and the electorate seems difficult to mobilize . Only 36% of the population exercised their right to vote in the last election in 2017, which is below the provincial average of 44.8%. Three candidates are ahead, according to the same CROP poll. The successor of outgoing mayor Marc Demers, Stéphane Boyer, head of the Laval Movement, has a slight lead in voting intentions. The 33-year-old drew attention at the beginning of October by proposing to reduce by a quarter the base salary he would receive if he is elected on November 7, which amounts to $ 220,000. .
He is followed by Michel Trottier, outgoing municipal councilor of Marc-Aurèle-Fortin and leader of the Parti Laval, and a newcomer to the political arena, Sophie Trottier, head of Action Laval. The other candidates in the race are Michel Poissant, from Laval Citoyens, Nicolas Lemire, independent, Pierre Anthian, from My city now, as well as Hélène Goupil and Redouane Yahmi, both independent.
In a context where real estate developers continue to build and where tree cutting has been criticized, the environment is one of the issues that stand out in this electoral campaign. Applicants have several proposals in their programs to preserve green spaces. The independent candidate Nicolas Lemire, 25, has also made it his hobbyhorse and published in April a “manifesto” with 48 proposals in favor of an ecological turn for Laval.
Gatineau: a first mayor?
Six candidates are running for mayor of Gatineau, but two women stand out from the crowd, indicate some polls, and the city could well elect the first mayoress in its history. A two-man race has emerged between the head of Action Gatineau, Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, who can count on the support of the outgoing mayor, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, and the independent candidate France Bélisle. The latter worked in the media for many years, before becoming President and CEO of Tourisme Outaouais.
Jean-François LeBlanc, outgoing independent councilor for the Lac-Beauchamp district, is for his part dead last, according to some polls published during the campaign. Active on social networks, he also released a colorful video at the end of October to attack the Action Gatineau party, which he accuses of lacking transparency, and to denounce an inequity between political parties and independent candidates.
This campaign is marked by indecision. The undecided rate stood at 53%, according to a CROP poll conducted for Radio-Canada and published on October 20. A sign that nothing is set in stone and that the municipal race seems to have difficulty arousing interest. The environment is a theme that emerges from the campaign. Gatineau has experienced significant flooding, torrential rains and a tornado in recent years. The idea of building a sixth bridge to Ottawa is a touchy subject in the region, and the streetcar project in the west of the city is dividing.
This campaign, as is the case elsewhere in Quebec, ultimately stands out with a higher number of candidates from diverse backgrounds. Thus, 6 of the 52 candidates who present themselves as municipal councilors in Gatineau come from black communities. By comparison, in 2017, only one black person showed up. Abdelhak Lekbabi, of North African origin, is running for town hall.
Sherbrooke: the mayor in danger
The re-election of the outgoing mayor of Sherbrooke, Steve Lussier, is not certain. The former director of mortgage development at the National Bank, who caused the surprise when he was elected in 2017, faces opposition that is on his heels. A poll conducted by the Navigator firm in early October even placed the politician in third place in voting intentions.
City councilor Évelyne Beaudin, leader of the Sherbrooke Citoyen party, is working hard to steal the seat of mayor from her and get more councilors elected. More associated with the left, she has embodied the official opposition in the city council since 2017.
A surprise candidate could muddy the waters. The former Liberal MP for Sherbrooke and Minister of Families in the Couillard government Luc Fortin, who was until recently vice-president at Tact Conseil, jumped into the arena late. He formalized his candidacy in mid-September, after affirming that he did not want to get involved in municipal politics, and relies on the support of former municipal officials.
Steve Lussier was active in convincing voters to give him a second chance. The outgoing mayor had a difficult start to his mandate due to conflicts and sometimes paid the price.Infoman and the Club des mal cités by Olivier Niquet, because of his way of expressing himself. Luc Fortin has also hammered home the point of division on several occasions during the campaign, presenting himself as the “unifying” candidate.
The cohabitation between residents and the noisy cryptocurrency company Bitfarms, which settled in Sherbrooke in 2018 and which brings in significant income for the municipality, is a subject that is coming back to the public. Access to home ownership and affordable housing, transportation and the environment were also among the topics of this campaign.
Rimouski: face to face
Rimouski is the scene of a two-man fight between Guy Caron, former member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), and Virginie Proulx, outgoing councilor for the Bic district who, during her mandate, launched a movement for better transparency in the municipalities alongside councilor Évelyne Beaudin, from Sherbrooke. Virginie Proulx was excluded from committees of the whole by a vote of the majority of councilors during the reign of the outgoing mayor, Marc Parent, with whom she had conflicts and whom she accuses of attempts at intimidation and personal attacks. In the event of her victory, the candidate, who makes the environment an integral part of her campaign, would become the first woman elected to mayor in the history of Rimouski. Guy Caron, who prioritizes the revitalization of downtown Rimouski and the housing shortage, presents himself as the unifying candidate. “There is a moment to confront ideas and a moment to work together”, he declared to the daily newspaper. The sun.
Saguenay: an intriguing race
Saguenay surprises this election, with a much higher number of candidates than usual running for mayor: six people are in the race, including four women. In addition to the outgoing mayor, Josée Néron, three other women are candidates: the president of the Jonquière borough, Julie Dufour, the mayor of Saint-David-de-Falardeau, Catherine Morissette, and the businesswoman Jacinthe Vaillancourt . To them are added the former Liberal Minister Serge Simard and Claude Côté, from the new environmentalist party Unissons Saguenay, which is involved in the fight against the LNG project. A seventh candidate, Dominic Gagnon, withdrew from the race because he felt his support was too weak. A recent Segma Recherche poll carried out on behalf of the CKAJ station places Josée Néron tied with Julie Dufour, while the other candidates are far behind. Elections Saguenay hopes that the turnout will rise to 60% on November 7. It was 56% in 2017, compared to a provincial average of 44.8%.
Trois-Rivières: an extraordinary candidate
The outgoing mayor of Trois-Rivières, Jean Lamarche, must defend his title against two candidates, Valérie Renaud-Martin, outgoing councilor of the Carrefours district, and a candidate with a particular profile, Gilles Brodeur. The latter said in various media that he had “infiltrated” the Free Party of Canada, considered to be conspiratorial and anti-vaccine, by running as a candidate in the last federal elections. Commenting on a poll that placed him very low in voting intentions in municipal elections, he told the daily The Nouvelliste that he “never thought” of winning this election. “I’m not here to win,” he said. It is therefore a two-man race. A survey The Nouvelliste-106.9 FM-Navigator dating from October 12 showed that Mr. Lamarche was ahead with 41% of the votes, against 28% for Mme Renaud-Martin. The environment, infrastructure development and access to Île Saint-Quentin are among the issues that marked this campaign. The three candidates stand alone, without a political party.
Terrebonne: the shadow of corruption
Terrebonne made headlines in October when its former mayor, Jean-Marc Robitaille, who was arrested by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC) in March 2018, was released by a judge on charges against him. This judgment was received with “disappointment and amazement” by the mayor elected in 2017, Marc-André Plante, who does not rule out a civil suit “to recover the sums stolen from the citizens of Terrebonne”. The outgoing mayor, however, faces Mathieu Traversy, well known in the region. The former PQ member for the riding of Terrebonne between 2008 and 2018 runs under the banner of the Mouvement Terrebonne party, which forms the official opposition and for which he was a consultant.