ACTION NOT ALL ELECTED

Gatineau voters like the Action Gatineau mayor. They’re more lukewarm about the rest of his party.

At campaign events, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin had joined himself at the hip to his party’s candidates for the 18 Gatineau council seats, asking voters to give him a mandate to get things done by electing like-minded councillors.

It worked in some places, not so much in others.

Action Gatineau candidates Renée Amyot, Myriam Nadeau and Martin Lajeunesse held strong leads by mid-evening. Maude Marquis-Bissonette was elected by acclamation.

However, things were more in flux elsewhere where many independent candidates such as Louise Boudrias, Marc Carrière and Audrey Bureau jumped out to early leads and held on.

And, although many districts were slow to report in, by 10 p.m. it was clear that more than half the Action Gatineau candidates would be defeated.

Still, Action Gatineau does not need an absolute majority to be effective. Since it does not face a united opposition party, it can expect to pick up some of the votes of independent candidates.

Assuming the AG members adhere to party discipline, which is sometimes not always the case in any political grouping, starting with any number of guaranteed votes gives the mayor an edge in moving his agenda forward.

By the end of the last council’s term, the Action Gatineau bloc counted five members, including the mayor.

The party brought out groups of its candidates to political events and policy announcements during the campaign to fly the team flag, where other candidates stood alone.

For instance, when Action Gatineau wanted to talk about public safety and snow clearing, the mayor made the announcement along with five candidates: Romain Vanhooren, Amyot, Mélisa Ferreira, Yolaine Ruel, and Marquis-Bissonnette.

Similarly, eight of their female candidates held their own news conference late in the campaign to show their sensibilities toward issues of particular interest to women.

Independent candidates, although they sometimes voted in an informal alliance, have been criticizing the whole party concept.

Sylvia Goneau, a longtime critic on council who ran for mayor this election, said in a recent interview that dozens of big cities across Canada, including Ottawa, were able to function well without needing a party system. In Quebec, Montreal and Laval both have a well-established history of municipal political parties.

Goneau accused the mayor of dealing with party insiders preferentially, creating an inner circle and a group of outsiders on council.

Denis Tassé, the other veteran councillor challenging Pedneaud-Jobin, also accused the mayor of a “lack of transparency,” partly on account of the party system.

Pedneaud-Jobin has defended the party system. A mayor alone has only one vote on a council of 19 members, he noted. And he said there was little point in his deciding to present a vision for the city if he did not have political backup.

“I can make promises, but to deliver on them it requires people who agree with me,” he said.

The party got an early boost when one of its candidates, Marquis-Bissonnette, was elected by acclamation in Plateau ward. Her only opponent, Patrick Doyon, dropped out.