Quebec Municipal Elections 2013

[Poirot]

Good stuff

For those interested in maps, I found this: http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/english/municipal/electoral-map/map-municipalities-divided-into-districts.php?mun=64008#

I don't know if I'm unlucky (or bad eyes) but I have trouble seeing the limits for the cities I chose, the lines are not really visible.

There is a ressource for Quebec city maps but it requires silverlight and I don't but I see on the image on that page electoral districts as a choice in the menu.
http://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/carte_interactive/index_new.aspx

[Poirot]

Mayor candidate David Lemelin in Quebec City has been convicted of domestic vioence 20 years ago.

In newspaper endorsement Le Droit is for mayor Marc Bureau in Gatineau. They like the Destination Gatineau project along the river. Will cost 135 millions$ and will require mostly  federal and provincial money. They like less his very prudent campaign.

The new bus transit system is facing some criticism, some people have a much longer travel time.

[RogueBeaver]

Given that the non-Bergeron candidates are l/Liberal, shouldn't be too hard to assemble a working coalition on council and the executive committee.

[Hatman 🍁]

Good stuff

For those interested in maps, I found this: http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/english/municipal/electoral-map/map-municipalities-divided-into-districts.php?mun=64008#

I don't know if I'm unlucky (or bad eyes) but I have trouble seeing the limits for the cities I chose, the lines are not really visible.

There is a ressource for Quebec city maps but it requires silverlight and I don't but I see on the image on that page electoral districts as a choice in the menu.
http://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/carte_interactive/index_new.aspx

I had trouble finding a map of Quebec City on all one page, but I was able to make one for my use using the individual pdfs. I'll be posting maps of all Quebec cities over 75,000 people on my blog on Sunday. (I used that cutoff because Drummondville, the next largest city has no parties, and thus an election results map wouldn't be interesting unless they publish mayor results by district).

 

[Hash]

Has anybody followed the race in Laval? I don't know much about it, but it's probably guaranteed to be great given how that place has been a one-party dictatorship/kleptocracy until last year with only token opposition to the godfather.

[Hatman 🍁]

Laval looks quite interesting as there are 5 parties running. I'd also like to know what's going on in Saint-Jean. There are 6 parties running there, and each one is running in almost every district.

[Poirot]

Yes, Laval results will be interesting to see. Vaillancourt was mayor for 23 years, no opposition in council since 2001 I think. He is charged for conspiracy, fraud, influence peddling, breach of trust and gangsterism. City is under trusteeship. Who will citizens trust to move forward...

Third biggest city with a population of 402,000. Many parties running but leaders with flaws.
Mouvement Lavallois existed 4 years ago and their candidate for mayor finished second with 23% of the vote. Marc Demers is the candidate this time. He's an ex-policeman and has run for the PQ. He is attacked on a residency issue and if he is elegible to run or not. The law requires for candidates to be resident of the city one year prior to Sept. 1 2013. He was a long time Laval resident but for a period (about July to December 2012) he was not. Demers has legal opinion he is eligible, opponents disagree. If he is elected and it goes to court and ruled ineligible, that would not be good for stability.

Robert Bordeleau of Parti au service du citoyen finished third in 2009 with 15% and running again this time for mayor. There was a story about his business owing taxes to Revenu Quebec. He says it's the result of a disagreement with a another business.

Now the new parties. Nouveau Parti des lavallois is marginal now. The leader Guy Landry is being asked to repay 40,000$ of social assistance money. Half of the party's candidates left. Not sure if they will be replaced but is not considered in the top 4 for mayor.

Option Laval is lead by Claire Le Bel. She was a councillor for Concorde-Bois-de-Boulogne district for one term, so was in Vaillancourt's party. She accepted to meet Vaillancourt in August but recorded the meet. He offered his help. She told the story with tape in October. At the same time of the tape story was made public, her campaign manager claimed he was attacked. He later quit and now charged with making false accusation.

The leader of Action laval is Jean-Paul Gobé. He was a PLQ MNA from 1985 to 2003 in Lafontaine riding (Rivière-des-Prairies in north east Montreal). Experienced politician but new in running for city politics. I don't think he has a negative story sticking to him like the others.

Mid-october poll had Demers leading with 21%, Le Bel 14%, Gobé 10%. I don't know if the Laval PLQ organizers are helping Gobé, that could help him.

There will probably be opposition in next council. New people. Perhaps a couple incumbents are running as independent but almost all are retiring.

Image of 21 districts
http://psclaval.org/design/carte/carte.jpg

Website for election results Nov 3:
http://elections2013.laval.ca/      

[MaxQue]

Gobé left Liberals before 2033 to seat as an independant and was an ADQ member for a while.

[Hatman 🍁]

Is it safe to say that Democratie Quebec is the left wing party in Quebec City?

And what are the ideologies of the parties in Laval?

[Poirot]

oh, so Gobé in Laval might not be that close to the PLQ.

Now to Sherbrooke, the 6th biggest city (155,000). Four years ago Bernard Sévigny was elected mayor by only about 125 vote margin. Reelection seems very probable. There are three other candidates but not strong challengers. One candidate runs as leader of the party Comme une eau terre (when you say it it is like communautaire). They like ecology principles and social action. One thing they propose is free public transit. The other two mayor candidates are independents.

Sévigny has a party, Renouveau sherbrookois. He would probably like a majority of councillors this time. I've looked quickly and I found last election three from his party were elected. One other councillor joined during the mandate. I have found two councillors who were independents running for Renouveau Sherbrookois this time. If they get all reelected, that is six people. They would need four more for absolute majority. (but that is just my quick rough count)

The vast majority in council were independents councillors. There are 19 councillors at city council. During the mandate a proposal to reduce the number of councillors was narrowly defeated. In the next mandate Sévigny will propose a decrease from 19 city councillors to 12 and the number of boroughs from 6 to 4. Small Brompton would be part of Fleurimont. A majority would probably assure the changes in city structure passes.

Boroughs and districts map
https://www.ville.sherbrooke.qc.ca/fileadmin/fichiers/Mairie/Projetdecarteelectorale2013.pdf

On the map it looks like Brompton and Lennoxville boroughs have two councillors but it a division for borough councillors. They elect 1 city councillor each.

[Hatman 🍁]

Thanks for mentioning Brompton and Lennoxville. After looking at the map yesterday, I thought they elected an at large councillor and 2 district councillors.  But, now I see the races are listed as "conseiller d'arrondissement"

It's too bad that Quebec municipalities are trying to decrease their council sizes. It's one of the things I like about Quebec city councils are how many councillors there are compared to the rest of the country.

[Hatman 🍁]

There are 8 parties represented on Montreal City Council at present, and there very well may be 9 represented after the election (Joly's party has no seats, but she is running 2nd in the polls).

It's going to be tricky mapping the results with 9 colours :S

[Poirot]

For Brompton and Lennoxville in Sherbrooke I think the city councillor has also the role of borough mayor or president. The two borough councillors elected join the mayor to form the borough council.

David Price is the city councillor representing Lennoxville. He is a former Progressive Conservative and Liberal MP for Compton Stanstead.

Gaston Leroux, a one term Bloc MP for Richmond-Wolfe (name at the time) is running for Renouveau Sherbrookois in Carrefour district. In 2009 he was independent and came close second, 2 or 3% behind. It was a three way race. A Renouveau sherbrookois candidate was third. Looks like a district that party could win this time. 

[Poirot]

Longueuil is the fifth biggest city. (232,000) Caroline St-Hilaire with her party Action Longueuil won in 2009 ans is running for reelection. She was a Bloc MP. I believe her party didn't win a majority in council but some councillors switched and joined her giving the party a majority.

She doesn't face real opposition for mayor. Near the deadline she was unopposed and a citizen declared candidacy. There is no organized party opposition. The other party (Parti municipal de Longueuil) that was in power before her was named in the corruption inquiry for illegal financing and contracts with engineer firms. For the election the party iinactive officially. Incumbent councillors of that party who are running do it as independent (others retired).

There is also a reduction in number of councillors. It is now 15 councillors compared to 26 previously. 9 for Vieux-Longueuil borough, 5 for Saint-Hubert, 1 for Greenfield Park.

Boroughs and districts
http://www.electionlongueuil.org/carte_ville_longueuil.html

More detailed map
http://www.longueuil.ca/files/longueuil/images/consultations/carte_electorale_2013/districts_electoraux_2013_denominations.pdf

There are already 3 Action Longueuil councillors elected unopposed in Vieux-Longueuil. The question is how many independents can succeed in getting elected against an organized party in power. Action Longueuil did better in Saint-Hubert last election.

Greenfield Park had three city councillors and now they will get only one, but they will also elect two borough councillors. Of the three on last council, two were from Action Longueuil and one from Parti municipal. The one from parti municipal is running under the banner of a new party, Option Greenfield Park. It runs three people for the three office elected by the people of Greenfield Park. The councillor was involved with a petition against reducing number of districts because he felt Greenfield Park would be under represented. He wants to ensure services are offered in language of choice (Greenfield Park is a bilingual borough) 

[Poirot]

Trois-Rivières, population 131,000. 9th biggest. Mayor Yves Lévesque is trying to get a fourth mandate. Last time he won 55-45 in a two man race. This time many candidates are running so he could benefit from a division of voters wanting change.

There are 16 districts. I think all are independents. There is a party, Force 3R, but it doesn't look very strong. (I read they have less than 200 members). They run candidates in a majority of districts and for mayor. Some of their promises: reduce taxes by 5% and bring a monorail intercity business to build a test center in the city.

Map of districts
http://laville.v3r.net/docs_upload/documents/langue1/election_2013/5.18_Carte_sommaire_des_16_districts_electoraux.pdf

During the last mandate there was a group of seven councillors who often voted together to oppose some of the mayor's project. Sylvie Tardif, councillor for Marie-de-l'Incarnation district was one of them and is running for mayor. She is a founder of center to help against illiteracy and poverty. It looks like someone who would be on the left.

There is also another councillor who was often part of the same group of councillors who decided to run. Catherine Dufresne of Sainte-Marguerite district. The two women are accusing each other of splitting the vote and claim they have the best chance of beating Lévesque.

Lévesque took part in only one debate. Besides these three, three other candidates are running (including one for Force 3R) for mayor. I have not seen polls about this race.

[RogueBeaver]

Unsurprisingly, Le Devoir endorses Bergeron.

[Poirot]

There are 8 parties represented on Montreal City Council at present, and there very well may be 9 represented after the election (Joly's party has no seats, but she is running 2nd in the polls).

It's going to be tricky mapping the results with 9 colours :S

eight!? is this because of ex-union people running now with a borough-only party outside the main city. Aren't they considered independents.

La Presse has an interactive map of donors for Montreal election.
 
http://www.lapresse.ca/multimedias/201311/01/01-4706410-carte-du-financement-politique-a-montreal.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_hotTopics_sujets-a-la-une_1664122_accueil_POS1

I zoomed and starting clicking on some dots and stumbled on Janine Kriber's dot giving 1000$ to Projet Montréal.

The news article says at least one in five people is a donor to federal or provincial politics, except for Joly it's only 5%. No surprise in federal and provincial Liberal donors are mostly for Coderre. PQ donors went for Coalition, followed closely by Projet and then Coderre. Québec Solidaire and NDP donors are behind Projet.     

[MaxQue]

I zoomed and starting clicking on some dots and stumbled on Janine Kriber's dot giving 1000$ to Projet Montréal.   

She is the colistier of Bergeron (she will replace him at city council if he is elected mayor AND councillor for Saint-Jacques or if he declines to sit as a councillor).

[Hatman 🍁]

Analysis and maps on my blog: http://canadianelectionatlas.blogspot.ca/2013/11/quebec-municipal-elections-today.html


Thanks to Poirot with his profiles here, it made my job easier

[RogueBeaver]

Some of the borough races to watch. Also, polls close at 8. Turnout up slightly from '09, at least for now.

[Poirot]

There is a lot to read on your blog! Must take a lot of time to research all this.

I think technically the Ville-Marie borough in Montreal has a mayor, it's the mayor of Montreal who is the mayor of that borough, so people there don't vote directly for a borough mayor position.

Mascouche had a corrupt mayor (well innocent until proven guilty). Luc Thériault and Guillaume Tremblay were both PQ MNAs are running for mayor. A very young Tremblay defeated Thériault at a contested PQ nomination meeting. Tremblay's party, Vision Démocratique de Mascouche, claim to have 4,200 members! One of their thing is recruitment and they go on the field every day sell membership.

Before reading the blog I started to try and differentiate the mayor candidates for Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Vision Legrand party is probably the most status quo option. Stéphane Legrand (councillor district 5) is VP of the executive committee and another on the committee is running with him. Alain Paradis (councillor district 10) was also elected with the reiring mayor's team. Alain Laplante (district 11) was elected on that team also but has turned against it. He seems to have been in conflict with mayor.

Claude Bachand must be known because he was MP. He presents his team as ordinary people. I hope he didn't recruit nobodys. Jean Lamoureux of Action civique ran for mayor last time and has council experience. Michel Fecteau, reading his bio I recall the person, he voluntarily organized efforts to help flooding victims of the Richelieu flooding, mobilizing volunteers. But someone apparently made a complaint about the financing of one of his candidate. 

There were two city employees arrested for participating in collusion for contracts. The campaign manager of retiring mayor Dolbec was named as receiving illegal financing at the Charbonneau inquiry.

Results website for Saint-Jean:
http://www.activesaas.com/intranet/asp/resultatelection.asp?Langue=FR&Output=HTML&Ville=56083   

[Hatman 🍁]

There is a lot to read on your blog! Must take a lot of time to research all this.

Yes, but I had your help of course. Well, the maps took a while, but they were the most enjoyable part.

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That's true. It's pretty strange, really. I would feel disenfranchised if I lived there.

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Saint-Jean's race is going to be quite interesting. Really surprising to see so many parties, considering the only reason for the large number is that the previous mayor resigned. It's not like Saint-Jean is a terribly heterogeneous community.  So it's weird that there are so many competing interests. I really don't know much  about the city, but I'm interested to see the results, to see if there's any patterns.

[Poirot]

Some of the borough races to watch. Also, polls close at 8. Turnout up slightly from '09, at least for now.

They mention Jeremy Searle in Loyola district (CDN-NDG). This could be an independent with a chance to win. In 2009, he got 29% behind Union Montreal candidate at 32%.

The Coalition hasn't worked at all if Russell Copeman (borough mator candidate CDN-NDG) is being hurt because he is in same party as Harel. This is not provincial politics. They voted massively for him when he was MNA. One of his opponent is Kevin Copps for Coderre, Sheila's brother.

Last election Trembaly won a majority and the race for mayor looked to be closer. A lot of people voting Coderre will have to not for for his team if there is to be no majority. With the switches of some Vision people to Coderre in the east and if Côté drags down the former Vision in the east and makes no impact in the west, they won't be a big threat, Joly doesn't have many candidates anyway and a party needs voter concentration to elect people, Projet seems to be at the same level of support, the danger for Coderre is specific borough parties...

The article didn't talk about Lorraine Pagé for Joly, probably her only candidate with name recognition. She is former head of teacher's union, running in Sault-au-Récollet (Ahunstic-Cartierville). Joly's mother (Laurette Racine) is running in Ahunstic district.

[MaxQue]

Came back from voting in my city of Val-d'Or.

[RogueBeaver]

Rad-Can livestream here, and results page. Of course quickest is #mtl2013 on Twitter.