The voters of Quebec have shown that they were not yet ready to break with the Labeaume era by electing on Sunday Marie-Josée Savard, a close collaborator of the outgoing mayor who has pledged to resume work where he is. let.
Aged 47, Ms. Savard is the second woman elected mayor of Quebec after Andrée Boucher in 2005. At 8:30 p.m., after the counting of 231 of the 1502 polling stations, she garnered 39% of the support, ahead of Bruno Marchand (25%).
Leader since the beginning in the polls, she has seen her lead gradually melt since mid-October in favor of Bruno Marchand who, according to a poll dated last Saturday, garnered as much support as she with 31%.
Candidate for continuity, Marie-Josée Savard was committed to planning the second phase of the tram project. Like Mr. Marchand, she intended to tax at the level of inflation, but not beyond 2.5% and work to improve the quality of life of residents with measures such as free first. swimming lessons for children 8 years and older. It did not take a clear position on the Quebec-Lévis tunnel project.
The electoral campaign was not easy for her due to a disappointing performance during the Radio-Canada televised debate where she had collected the mark of 4 out of 10, far behind the others, in a test of general knowledge on the city. For a candidate who put forward her experience and knowledge of city management, this disappointment was embarrassing to say the least.
Because Ms. Savard played a key role during the last term of the Labeaume administration. Appointed vice-president of the executive committee, she was responsible for land use planning, town planning and heritage.
She had her first steps in politics with Équipe Labeaume between 2009 and 2013 before taking a break for family reasons. Since his return in 2017, the mayor had made him his right hand.
Coming from the restaurant industry, she owns a small establishment near the Parliament where she had also chosen to formalize her candidacy last May. “With Marie-Josée Savard, there will be no need for a learning curve, it will be operational the day after the election”, then declared the outgoing mayor.