Sévigny stands by Montpetit for Lennoxville
The Lennoxville ballot for November’s municipal election has gained another name. Standing under the banner of Sherbrooke mayor Bernard Sévigny’s Renouveau Sherbrookois party, François-rené Montpetit declared his intention on Monday morning to represent the borough of Lennoxville for the next four years.
“All my studies have been focused on politics, and my goal was always to make the world a better place,” said Montpetit, a graduate of international and political programs at the Cegep de Sherbrooke, Bishop’s University, and the University of Sherbrooke. “During my master’s degree I had an internship at the Canadian Embassy in the Netherlands. It was a wonderful and very enriching experience, but it kinda made me realize that if you really want to help people in a concrete way, a smaller scale like municipal politics is going to yield better results.”
The candidate explained that although he is originally from Montreal, he has considered Sherbrooke his home since moving here in 2008 and feels a particular calling to Lennoxville.
“The three years I studied at Bishops were the best years of my life,” Montpetit reflected. “I feel a lot more attachment to Lennoxville than I do to the rest of Sherbrooke.”
The aspiring politician praised the bilingual nature of the community, describing Lennoxville as the only place in the city where he can interact in French or English as he pleases.
“Lennoxville resonates with me,” he added.
Asked what he sees as the big issues for the community, Montpetit spoke to the importance of good relations between the university and the townspeople.
“From what I know, the last few years have gotten better and better,” he said. “I can only be happy about that and I hope to help continue the trend.”
Beyond the “town and gown” matter, Montpetit said that he plans to take the question to the people of Lennoxville themselves.
“I probably don’t have a technical grasp on all of the important issues,” the candidate said. “I look forward to speaking with the residents of Lennoxville on that subject.”
At 27 years old, Montpetit is aware of the challenges he faces when it comes to proving his worth and said that he has been attending various city and borough council meetings to help get to know the priorities of the local population.
“Obviously some people are going to choose to judge me based on my age,” the candidate said. “That’s fine. I hope as part of the campaign, I get the chance to change their minds.”
In the last municipal election the Renouveau Sherbrookois candidate, Nicolas Balasi, only secured 16 per cent of the vote. In 2009, the RS candidate secured just over 15 per cent. Despite those past results, Montpetit said he sees the association with the political party as an asset.
“I would probably not have run without the knowledge that I have a well oiled political machine like the Renouveau Sherbrookois backing me,” he said. “It is a good safe feeling.”
Asked what he plans to do differently than his predecessors, Montpetit said that he feels he is in a better position to run than the last two candidates just by default.
“What is helping me most is that the current councilor, Mr. Price, is retiring this year,” the candidate said. “Mr. Price was overwhelmingly popular in Lennoxville; with his retirement the door is open, so to speak, so any candidate has more or less equal chances.”
Official candidate registration for the November election does not open until the end of September, and the ballots will not be finalized until October 6, leaving Montpetit several months to prepare before the real campaign begins. During that time he said he will continue to work as an English tutor and work on planning out how best to get to know the community he means to represent. “I have a lot of support from the party and from individual members of the party,” Montpetit continued, adding that he expects to be a part of some interesting strategy meetings in the coming weeks.
Asked if there is anything in particular he looks forward to with regard to the coming campaign, the candidate said that he was struck, at the most recent borough council meeting, by the friendly tone of proceedings.
“I look forward to the chance to get to know the citizens of Lennoxville, not just as a community but as individuals, and hear what they think the issues are,” Montpetit said.
Having secured a candidate for Lennoxville, Renouveau Sherbrookois now has a candidate in the running for every one of the 14 districts in the city.