The electoral race has rarely been exciting in Verdun, which has been colored the red of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) since 1939, when the riding was still called Montréal-Verdun, before changing its name in 1965. However, the votes collected by the PLQ have been decreasing since 2014 in this riding of more than 48,000 voters, which also includes L’Île-des-Soeurs, in the midst of a real estate boom.
To the point that, this year, the voting intentions aggregated by the Qc125 platform have for several weeks placed Dominique Anglade’s party in third position in Verdun with 22% support, behind the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) and Québec solidaire (QS ), who are jostling for first place. However, this did not prevent the outgoing Liberal MP and candidate for re-election, Isabelle Melançon, from displaying a broad smile and boundless energy when she was met by The duty last Wednesday in a café on rue Wellington, the main commercial artery of Verdun.
“I am hyperactive and, me, it energizes me, a campaign”, launches the 48-year-old politician, who has represented the riding since 2016. She also takes the competition she faces this year with philosophy. “Let there be a real race, I find that very healthy for a democracy”, launches the one who “never took anything for granted in Verdun”, where she won by a majority of 3,597 votes in the 2018 general election.
Among his hobbyhorses, M.me Melançon insists on the importance of tackling the lack of educational infrastructure and the problems of unsanitary conditions in those that exist. “When I get up for the third school [primaire] in L’Île-des-Soeurs — and I got up dozens of times at the Salon Bleu — it’s not because I want to go to that school, it’s because the parents of Île-des-Soeurs want this school,” she says between two sips of coffee. She also describes as “arrogance” the fact that the CAQ is now proposing, during the election campaign, to build this school.
“They have been delaying the project for four years and now they are promising it. For me, they are playing petty politics on the backs of the children and parents of L’Île-des-Soeurs and, that, I cannot accept, ”she says. She also does not spare her shots at Québec solidaire, which promises 700 social housing units in four years in Verdun. “It’s just not possible! she exclaims.
housing crisis
“We have the potential, in the coming years, to create thousands of social housing units. What is missing is funding, ”retorts solidarity candidate Alejandra Zaga Mendez who, at 34, is in her second electoral campaign, after having tried her luck in vain in Bourassa-Sauvé in 2018.
For the political formation with the orange logo, victory has never seemed so accessible in Verdun. “And me, I feel it, this wind of change”, launches Mme Zaga Mendez, a cup of tea in his hand.
“We knock on doors and, here, when we talk about the environment and housing, our eyes open and the door opens because people are really affected,” notes the candidate and president of Québec solidaire, who had 14 years old when she left Peru, her native country, to settle in Quebec.
We have the potential, in the coming years, to create thousands of social housing units. What is missing is funding.
Voters met by The duty most spontaneously mentioned the rapid rise in the cost of rents and the challenges of home ownership. “It’s become a trendy neighborhood, and for less fortunate people, it’s sure that housing is a big problem,” notes Geneviève Tellier in particular.
“Especially when you have children and you have trouble finding yourself a 5 and a half, that it costs you 1800 per month, it’s sure that it’s a problem”, adds Anick Duquette, a young mother from family met on Wellington Street.
In L’Île-des-Soeurs, often perceived as a wealthy suburb of Verdun — even if social housing needs are also felt there — the residents we met deplored the lack of public infrastructure in this area. where large property developments are being built.
“We are a bit like Verdun’s cash cow. We pay appalling taxes and, at the same time, we don’t have an indoor public swimming pool, we have a relatively outdated library. And the schools, it’s terrible, ”says Marie-Hélène, her eyes frank. “And because the rents are super expensive, there are no restaurants that survive […] There is little or no neighborhood life, ”adds the mother of three children.
It is also the municipal councilor who represents L’Île-des-Soeurs who is running for the CAQ in the provincial riding of Verdun this year. Véronique Tremblay, a former municipal councilor in Denis Coderre’s team, joined the ranks of Valérie Plante’s party in the summer of 2021. She now justifies her choice to join François Legault’s team, ideologically distant from the party of the Mayor of Montreal, by her desire to carry the voice of the residents of Verdun to the National Assembly, if she wins her bet on October 3.
“I find that Montreal was under-represented in the last mandate because there were few people from the CAQ government who represented Montreal and who spoke for it, and for me, that is an important problem” , she says. Met in front of her electoral office, the candidate also noted the importance of tackling the “housing crisis” in Verdun, even if the CAQ promises much less new social and affordable housing than Québec solidaire and the Liberal Party.
“When you have a good chance of governing, you have to commit to things that you have a chance of delivering,” said Ms.me Tremblay, regarding the CAQ’s commitment to build 11,700 social and affordable housing units over the next four years.