Laval mayoral debate off to a fiery start, then goes quiet
Candidates debate jobs, transit and immigration amid personal attacks
For a moment, it was a real debate, with candidates trying to shout over each other. But then it all settled down. This is Laval, after all, where political debate has only recently resurfaced. For the last two decades, any opposition was quashed by mayor Gilles Vaillancourt who ruled city hall with little opposition before resigning in disgrace last year.
The five leaders of Laval’s political parties took part in a lunchtime debate organized by the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry Wednesday at the Chateau Royal, a block west of city hall. The participants were:
■ Action Laval’s Jean-Claude Gobé
■ Parti au Service du Citoyen’s Robert Bordeleau
■ Option Laval’s Claire Le Bel
■ Nouveau Parti des Lavallois’s Guy Landry
■ Movement Lavallois’s Marc Demers
The four independent candidates for mayoralty were not invited.
It was perhaps fitting that the person who toned down Wednesday’s debate is the only candidate who was part of Vaillancourt’s team in the last election.
“I want to do politics differently,” Le Bel said. “I don’t want to resort to personal attacks.”
Le Bel made the comment after moderator Julie Drolet, a RadioCanada reporter, asked her if she had anything to say after she stayed silent during the debate’s first two segments, in which candidates were permitted to speak out of turn and criticize one another.
Until that point, candidates ganged up on Demers, who was shown to be leading the race in a poll commissioned by Agence QMI and made public this week.
“You always talk about integrity all the time now that you’re a politician, but what did you do about it when you were a police officer in Laval?” Bordeleau asked.
To that, Demers responded that Bordeleau is hardly one to talk about integrity because the business he manages didn’t pay its taxes this year.
Gobé attacked Demers’s candidacy eligibility, saying because he didn’t live in Laval during six months last year, he is not eligible to run for mayor.
But after Le Bel spoke about not wanting to attack her opponents, candidates mostly stuck to their scripts for the remainder of the debate, some of them barely raising their eyes to speak to the audience. Ideas that stood out
Landry emphasized his plan to create a hub for new technology companies, and said the city will work to create a favourable environment for tech startups, including incubator and accelerator programs, and events where technology entrepreneurs can meet and learn from one another.
Bordeleau said he would build a tramway system to add to the métro network. He said it’s part of a cocktail of new transit measures he’ll adopt, including more reserved lanes for buses.
Demers said he would fix the bureaucracy at city hall.
“Bureaucrats have no guidance or confidence,” he said. “We’ll give them both.”
Le Bel, on integrating immigrants into the city, said she wants to invest in revitalizing urban life in the old neighbourhoods, rather than creating a cold, artificial downtown.
Gobé said on the same subject: “Integration is not done with a law or a charter. It’s in schools, and neighbourhoods. People need to have respect for each other.” Best lines went to
Demers, referring to his police officer past: “When bandits take control of city hall, you call the police. That’s what Laval citizens will do.”
Landry: “The old-time politicians didn’t answer the question,” he said about his opponents. He then proceeded to answer the wrong question, only to be corrected by the moderator. What the audience thought
Several people who attended the debate gave points to Gobé for being the least scripted of the candidates.
“You can tell he has experience,” said André Bélanger, who has lived in the city for 38 years.
He added that Le Bel showed her inexperience when she refused to get into the fray with the others.
Another resident gave points to Demers.
“I was impressed with his integrity and his personality,” said Maurice Gamache, who has lived in Laval since 1976.
Longtime resident Steve Bletas said he was the least impressed with Demers.
“He came off as arrogant.”