Election debates have begun
Three mayoral candidates in Richmond
The five candidates running for Mayor of Sherbrooke came out to Sherbrooke’s Museum of Nature and Science on Wednesday night to participate in a debate on the subject of social development and community. The debate was organized by the Sherbrooke Corporation de Development Communautaire (CDC) and the Association des Locataires de Shebrooke and focused on questions related to social housing, downtown revitalization, and the cost of public transit among other topics.
The format of the debate saw candidates asked questions they had not seen in advance in a direct question and answer format. The five responded in a rotating order and were given no time for addressing the comments of their opponents unless as a part of their overall three minute response. With only a few exceptions, the candidates all answered within or under the time allotted.
Incumbent Mayor Bernard Sévigny leaned on his experience in answering questions. Drawing on his involvement with the current council as well as past councils, in addition to his current role Richmond mayoral candidates: Pierre Grégoire, Hélène Tousignant and Bertrand Ménard participated in a debate last night to discuss their platforms and plans for the future of the municipality. who attended Wednesday night’s debate, choosing their next mayor is not a decision the population is taking lightly.
In the running are Hélène Tousignant, Bertrand Ménard and Pierre Grégoire.
After 31 years with the same mayor, Richmond has three candidates running in the upcoming municipal election to fill the position. Based on the close to 200 citizens
The evening began with each candidate being given four minutes to introduce themselves and describe their platform.
“I believe Richmond is on the
as president of the Union of Municipalities of Quebec, the candidate relied on an understanding of existing policies and familiarity with the recent decisions of the city to make his points about how best to support community organizations in Sherbrooke.
Hélène Pigot, mayoral candidate for the Sherbrooke Citoyen Party, spoke from a thoughtful point of view, sharing her party’s perspectives on citizen engagement while regularly stating that matters of importance to the community would need to be carefully considered before direct actions are taken.
For his part, independent candidate Steve Lussier tied most of his responses to his position that the city should be aiming to do more with its existing resources while spending no additional funding. Lussier’s approach saw him frequently asking hypothetical questions that he would then address himself in more or less concrete terms.
Denis Pellerin offered several different ideas for city management over the course of the night, but used a lot of his talking time to criticize decisions or actions of the current administration. A regular visitor to Sherbrooke’s city council meetings, Pellerin was particularly critical of Sévigny’s proposed Well Inc. Entrepreneurship sector development on Wellington Street South.
Patrick Tétrault took a low key approach to the discussion, often either agreeing with his political opponents or stating that he didn’t have much to say one way or the other on a subject.
The debate opened with a question about social housing in the city, and specifically whether the candidates would be willing to commit to the construction of 100 new units every year over the course of their mandate, if elected. Pellerin and Sévigny noted that this is a target that the city is already meeting and noted that continuing the trend should not be difficult.
Pigot, the only female candidate for mayor, was given the first words on the question of how to address the challenges facing women in the political sphere. She responded by pointing out the effort her party has put into making sure that there are an equal number of female and male candidates while also stating a commitment to the creation of a “Women and the city” committee that would help diminish prejudice and sexism. The candidate added that, ultimately, the question of gender parity on the council is in the hands of the voters.
Asked about the possibility of implementing free public transit for all in the city, the candidates all shared the view that the idea is not feasible at this time, citing the cost to taxpayers and the idea that the funding has to come from somewhere. Each expressed openness to occasional free access in different forms and for different groups of individuals, however.
Speaking on the question of downtown revitalization, Pellerin pointed out that people in Sherbrooke have been talking about revitalization for close to 40 years without significant progress. Looking back on that time he laid part of the blame on the approach to parking in the downtown core, suggesting that the shift to paid parking has made the area unwelcoming and anxiety-causing.
The entire debate will be available to listen to on CFLX, the French community radio station at 95.5 FM on Monday October 30 at 1 pm.
Another debate of the mayoral candidates has been scheduled for October 24, to be hosted by the Organisme de développement d'affaires commerciales et économiques, the former Fleurimont Chamber of Commerce.