|
Election notebook
>>
Juicy tidbits and assorted goings-on along the merry megamayor road
by PATRICK LEJTENYI
While Wednesday's debate between incumbent mayor Pierre Bourque and challenger Gérald Tremblay remained for the most part civil, the latter managed to get in a few choice digs at his opponent. Bourque, going on and on listing his achievements in bringing foreign bucks into the city, and thus sparking its much-vaunted economic renaissance, ended his spiel by sniping at the bookish Tremblay, saying that the city needs "initiative and action, not more theories. And not more verbiage." Much guffawing followed. Tremblay, initally somewhat stunned, shrugged at the mayor's self-promoting list of accomplishments, saying, "Well, we all know that those who talk the most do the least." More cheers and laughter. Later, when Bourque noted that Tremblay's figures on Quebec City's revenues coming from the greater Montreal region were false, Tremblay retorted that he got those numbers directly from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. The debate's host: yes, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
Over the weekend, a SOM/La Presse/The Gazette poll showed the Montreal Island Citizens' Union party enjoying a slight edge over Team Bourque/Vision Montreal, polling 38.7 per cent versus 36.0. However, according to UQÀM local politics specialist Guy Dufresne, it is still far too early to be popping champagne corks. Bourque is a savvy politician, and even relatively recent gaffes can be forgotten, he says. "The para-miltary eviction of the squatters won't have a big impact on the elections," Dufresne states. "That was a month before people vote, and they have a very, very weak political memory. They only remember the last week or two of the campaign."
The non-aggression pact between the Tremblay camp and the independent, de-merger candidates in the city of Westmount was pretty much confirmed, even though no one has said as much. The Tremblay team had yet to nominate a single pro-merger candidate in the bastion of Quebec's anglo aristrocracy by the time the Mirror went to press. With three seats available, the independents (Karin Marks for the megacity council, John deCastell and Cynthia Lulham for the borough) look slated for an easy victory, while Bourque scrambles to fill a vacant borough seat. "We can't boycott the election process," says soon-to-be-downsized Westmount mayor Peter Trent, "so we're going to have a fifth column within the new megacity."
Another imminently jobless mayor, this time Town of Mount-Royal's Ricardo Hrtschan, took his walking papers perhaps a tad too literally with his five-day walk to the provincial capital in August. But he has since gone from walking to running, this time for the big prize as all-island mayor. Strictly anti-merger, he says he entered the race reluctantly, and only because there was no alternative to either of the front-runners. "With Tremblay or Bourque, we get rehashed party politics with make-believe distribution of power to the citizens," he says. Criticized by some for opening the potential of splitting the anti-Bourque vote, he says, "To split the vote you have to have two options. Both Bourque and Tremblay will have administrations that are heavily centralized and won't take a stand against Quebec and its abuses and downloading."
Sammy Forcillo, who has represented the St-Jacques district lo these 23 years, is expecting his experience and community contacts will carry him onto city council. The party-switching Forcillo, who has switched parties something like five times and now stands for the Union party, is challenged by former Petite-Patrie councillor Robert Laramée, the only openly gay candidate of either side. Security is a big concern. "There is a sense of insecurity in the Gay Village because of the presence of drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes," Laramée says. "We've proposed a public intervention brigade to provide a presence during the key hours of the day to steer these people away." He is also hoping to get local Chinese volunteers on board to help out in neighbouring Chinatown.
|
