Lussier pushing to cut costs and collaborate
Sherbrooke mayoral candidate Steve Lussier revealed the first commitments of his campaign on Monday morning, including promises to stop redevelopment on the Sherbrooke Airport and put a hold on the Well Inc. redevelopment plan in the name of keeping taxes down.
“For the last eight years, taxes have increased nonstop,” Lussier said, noting that the municipal tax rate has increased faster than the rate of inflation and local cost of living. “There is a flagrant lack of consideration for Sherbrooke’s taxpayers.”
Still more than three months away from when residents will cast their votes, the candidate referred to his presentation as a sharing of ideas rather than as campaigning, hinting in the process that he will have more ideas to share over the coming months. For this first announcement since declaring his intent to run for Sherbrooke’s top job in late May, Lussier said that he will cut costs in the city by putting an end to “incoherent projects,” being pushed by the current administration.
“It will be easy with me” the prospective mayor said. “If there isn’t a business plan that demonstrates profitability in a project, then there will not be a project. That’s where we are.”
It is for that reason, Lussier explained, that he wants to end the efforts to make Sherbrooke’s Airport an international terminal. He called the project an unsafe gamble that is hemorrhaging money at the taxpayers’ expense and argued that most residents of the city don’t care about the idea.
“I’m not closing the airport,” he said. “I am simply putting an end to the spending.”
The candidate spoke in more positive terms about the Well Inc. project on Wellington Street South, although he still said that it is important to anaylse the investment before moving ahead.
“I want to see the numbers,” Lussier said, arguing that the “Cité des Rivières” development project of the mid 2000s fell flat in its returns because of a lack of proper analysis. “I want to know how much it will cost, above all.”
In the vein of giving taxpayers relief, Lussier committed to freezing tax rates for his first year in office and said that he wants to see management and oversight in the city improve to limit the need for and size of increases in the future.
Lussier also used his morning press conference, which was held at Restaurant Demers in Fleurimont, to criticize what he called a “commercial imbalance” in the city.
“The location of this press conference was not chosen by chance. I opted for a symbolic act by holding it in the heart of Fleurimont,” the candidate said, arguing that the east end of Sherbrooke has been the victim of an unfair distribution of major development projects. “I am very aware of this situation and the east will not be forgotten in my development plan.”
While speaking specifically to the concerns of Fleurimont, Lussier also said that he feels the city has not done enough to support and hold onto jobs with local businesses like Sherweb.
“We lose people because we are not an attractive city,” he said. “It needs to be fun and a source of pride.”
Lussier suggested that the City and its council also have catching up to do when it comes to collaboration and attention to the concerns of its citizens. To that end he said that he wants to establish a new platform for building dialogue between the citizens and city leadership.
“I want to put local governance back in the hands of individual representatives,” the candidate said, expressing a desire to see residents’ concerns resolved by their respective councilors before they ever reach the level of the city council.
“Imagine Sherbrooke as a prosperous city. Imagine Sherbrooke listening to its citizens,” Lussier proposed. “I’m coming with new ideas, young and dynamic, and that is what we need in Sherbrooke.”
Lussier is one of three candidates who have declared their intent to run for Mayor of Sherbrooke on November 5 alongside Sherbrooke Citoyen Party candidate Hélène Pigot and incumbent Mayor Bernard Sévigny.