The re-election of Valérie Plate to mayor of Montreal and the in extremis election of Bruno Marchand to that of Quebec, attracted a lot of attention this week. However, votes were held in some 1,000 municipalities last Sunday. And some have surprises in store. Here are three.
Bergeronnes
An Innu mayor for a non-native village
As proud as she is to be Innu, Nathalie Ross insists: in her election campaign for mayor of Bergeronnes, a village on the North Shore of 641 people, there was no question of her origins. “I come from a line of chiefs and by my last name, people probably know that I am Innu. But that did not come into play. If I was elected, it is probably because of my long-standing community involvement, my personality and because I am known as the village lawyer. ”
By winning, Mme Ross dislodged the mayor who had been in place since 2003. She obtained two-thirds of the votes (with an extraordinary participation rate of 67%) in a village where a few Innu from the neighboring community of Essipit live, but mostly non-Aboriginals.
M’s journeyme Ross is atypical to say the least. Graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Chicoutimi in organ and harpsichord, she then studied to become an elementary teacher. She finally chose to go to Quebec to study law, when she was the mother of two young children whom she was raising alone.
A gifted, then?
My partner tells me that I am an exceptional woman, but that is what all spouses should say!
Nathalie Ross
Passionate about choral singing, she considers it a fine example of what a community should be. A choir sounds good, she said, when everyone occupies the place that should be theirs. By avoiding singing too loudly or not loud enough. “When you get there, nothing is more beautiful than this harmony. ”
Dreamy, she is, she admits, but just as determined to tackle the concrete problems of the village head-on. Wastewater management, for example, but also the glaring shortage of housing. “Many young people want to settle in our beautiful village, which has the river on one side and the forest on the other. There is no house for sale, ever. Neither apartment for rent. We are therefore going to take an inventory of our territory to see if any owners would like to sell land. There are some who may have ideas for development. ”
There is no question of developing galore – this village is and will remain “nature” -, “but we need to have a few houses so that people can settle in our area. ”
Finally, if we are talking here about Mme Ross as a mayor – and not a mayor – is that this is his preference (both formulations are accepted in Quebec, while in France, a mayor is the wife of the mayor). “I call myself mayor, as I say that I am a notary. Because for me, the function has neither sex nor gender. ”
Chambly
The post-UPAC mayor
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BENOIT THÉRIAULT
Alexandra Labbé
“As I went to the city councils, I realized that they were not responding to anything. How harmful were citizens who dared to ask questions! ”
Outraged by the snags on democracy in Chambly that she observed, Alexandra Labbé, holder of a DEC in visual arts and manager of businesses in another life, therefore decided to run for a consultant in 2017.
Targeted by a criminal investigation by the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (UPAC), the mayor, Denis Lavoie, resigned two years later. The investigation is still ongoing.
The City has been placed in trusteeship. Alexandra Labbé decided to run for mayor in 2019.
As I always do when I see that I can do better than someone, I go for it!
Alexandra Labbé
Among the employees of a municipality, there is everything you need experts, very competent graduates, she says. As a politician, “you just have to want to represent your world. The rest can be learned. ”
She wins, first under the banner of a party, which she will leave in 2020. “I realized that I was not comfortable with partisan politics. ”
In 2021, it is as independent mayor that she therefore represented herself, this time, for a full term. A third campaign in four years, she says she doesn’t recommend it to anyone.
She wins hands down, with 71% of the vote, but with a starving 33% turnout.
Her priorities as mayor now? “Downtown Chambly needs to be rethought. It is a very touristy city, but has hardly any hotel rooms or motels to accommodate visitors. The marina is frozen in time. We can no longer dezone in agricultural territory and our current territory is 95% developed. ”
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield
Spouses both elected
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ALAIN GAUDREAU
Stéphane Leduc and France Chenail
“If I don’t have the choice to vote against Mme Chenail, I’m going to vote against it, ”says Stéphane Leduc, elected municipal councilor in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
“Mme Chenail ”is his wife, also elected city councilor in another district of the same city. Husband and wife will therefore sit side by side on the council, unheard of in the city’s 150-year history.
But it is not impossible that the interests of the district of “Mme Chenail ”diverge from those of his constituents and that doesn’t cause him any problem.
Anyway, notes France Chenail for her part, “we’ve been married for 28 years, we don’t quarrel too much. ”
We have great respect for each other. Citizens do not have to fear household scenes at the town hall.
France Chenail
Each led their campaign on their own, with two separate teams. He had a lot to do in a four-way fight (the other candidates were very well known) in his neighborhood. In the case of Mme Chenail, who had already been a city councilor for four years, had only one opponent.
During his first term, Mr.me Chenail notably participated in the preservation of the Suroît Hospital, whose fate is causing concern due to the construction of a large modern hospital center in Vaudreuil.
This time, she says that one of her priorities will be to seek to develop social and affordable housing. For Mr. Leduc, the issues revolve mainly around road and traffic safety.
“We have to unclog the water’s edge, there is too much traffic there,” he notes. Many families have settled in the area and I have heard a lot about road safety. We also want to join the cycle paths. ”
Quebecois portrait
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE SUN
The participation rate in municipal elections for all of Quebec was 38.7% in 2021.
Rate of participation
The participation rate in municipal elections for all of Quebec was 38.7% (compared to 44.8% in 2017). On Friday, the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec, Pierre Reid, said he was disappointed with this low turnout. “Our society must continue to question the means to be taken to interest the voters,” he said in a statement. As in 2017, it was in the Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine region that voters were most successful, with a rate of 51.5%, followed by the Bas-Saint-Laurent and of Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean (47.3%). Conversely, the participation rate was particularly low in Laval (28.8%).
Male / female ratio of elected officials
In all, 23.6% of women became mayors on Sunday (compared to 18.9%) in 2017. As councilor, 38.5% of those elected are women. Women have been elected mayors in 5 of Quebec’s 10 largest cities. This means that despite progress, outside the major centers, we are still far from parity.
The age of the elect
The youth of certain candidates who became mayors on Sunday was highlighted in broad strokes, so that one could believe in a revolution. In fact, the proportion of elected officials aged 18 to 34 rose from 8.3% to 8.8% in 2021. There are also 19.5% of elected officials who are between 35 and 44 years old, while they were 17.7% in 2017. There was therefore a rejuvenation, but not a generalized makeover. The average age of elected mayors, all regions combined, is 57.8 years.