Jackie Smith

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors 

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The race for mayor of Quebec City in November is shaping up to feature at least four candidates, with former provincial Liberal minister Sam Hamad preparing to jump into the fray.

Several media outlets re- ported last week that Hamad, the former MNA for the suburban Louis-Hébert riding, has set April 6 as the date he will launch his campaign.

There are also reports Hamad has been in discussion with Équipe Priorité Québec (EPQ), the second Opposition at City Hall with two seats. The new interim leader of the party, Coun. Stevens Melançon, told reporters he would not be the party’s candidate for mayor. Former councillor Patrick Paquet had been party leader without a seat on council.

EPQ is the current name for the party that ran in the previous two elections as Québec 21, under the leadership of Coun. Jean-François Gosselin. Gosselin came a close third in the 2021 mayoral race, behind winner Bruno Marchand of Québec Forte et Fière and Marie-Josée Savard, running for what was the party of longtime mayor Régis Labeaume.

Gosselin joined the Marchand administration as executive committee member responsible for sports and recreation. He has decided to finish his term and not run again.

Hamad had been courting sitting councillors to join his team, including Louis Martin of Québec d’abord, who left the party two weeks ago and was voted out as council chair.

Another Hamad target was Isabelle Roy, councillor for the Robert-Giffard district;  Québec d’abord leader Claude Villeneuve kicked her out of the party caucus for having talks with Hamad.

A central plank of Hamad’s platform, according to his statements, will be opposition to the tramway project.

With this game of musical chairs underway, other councillors are joining Gosselin in departing City Hall. Pierre-Luc Lachance, the executive committee member responsible for finance and councillor for Saint-Roch–Saint-Sauveur, announced his departure several weeks ago.

Longtime councillor Steeve Verret of Lac-Saint-Charles–Saint-Émile has also let it be known he plans to leave city hall once his current term is up. He replaced Martin as chair of council following the latter’s ouster.

The other confirmed departure from Marchand’s team is Maude Mercier Larouche, the first-term councillor for Sainte-Foy–Sillery-Cap-Rouge and member of the executive committee responsible for the Réseau de Transport de la Capitale (RTC), as well as large projects.

She told reporters she is taking a break from politics to spend more time with her family and to take care of her mother.

Meanwhile, Québec d’abord has officially confirmed the party’s four remaining councillors will be running for re-election. They are Patricia Boudreault-Bruyère in Neufchâtel–Lebourgneuf, Anne Corriveau in Pointe-de-Sainte-Foy, Véronique Dallaire in Les Saules–Les-Méandres and Alicia Despins in Vanier-Duberger.

Despins, a St. Patrick’s High School graduate, told the QCT “it’ll surely be a few weeks” before the party announces new candidates for the open seats on council. She said the party recently held its general assembly and “we voted on the overarching political orientations.”

The party now called Québec d’abord elected 10 councillors in the 2021 election, with Marchand’s QFF winning seven seats and Québec 21 four.

Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith ran unsuccessfully for mayor as leader of Transition Québec, but won her council seat. She is running again for mayor. The only other declared mayoral candidate as of this writing is Stéphane Lachance of the newly created Parti Respect Citoyens.

Hamad to announce for mayor, Marchand loses councillors Read More »

Smith moves vote to oust council chair Martin

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Smith moves vote that ousts city council chair Martin

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

There was a bit of drama to start off the regular Quebec City council meeting on March 18.

Jackie Smith, the councillor for Limoilou and leader of Transition Québec, proposed a vote to remove Louis Martin, the councillor for Cap-Rouge–Laurentien, as the chair of council sessions.

Martin had recently left the opposition Québec d’abord caucus over unspecified differences, and had been courted by potential mayoral candidate Sam Hamad.

Another Québec d’abord councillor, Isabelle Roy, who represents Robert-Giffard district, also now sits as an independent after being booted from the party caucus for having discussed her political future with Hamad.

The motion to remove Martin was approved, with three councillors, Roy and the two members from Équipe priorité Québec, voting against.

The vice-chair of the council, Steve Verret, the long-serving councillor for Lac-Saint- Charles–Saint-Émile, accepted the proposal to replace Martin. Verret was elected in 2021 under the banner of former mayor Régis Labeaume’s party, but defected to the ruling Québec Forte et Fière (QFF) party of Mayor Bruno Marchand. Verret has decided not to run again in the November election.

Contacted by the QCT, Martin said about his ouster, “I’m surprised and disappointed. A few months ago, Ms. Smith asked for my removal because I was ‘too partial.’ This time she mentioned it was because I am too independent. But it’s a decision made by the city council; I respect it.”

In explaining her move to remove Martin, Smith said, “It was not a question of competence” and that Martin had done “an excellent job as chair.” She said that it was “a question of the role of chair” of the council, and now that Martin has shifted allegiances, council needs to know where the chair stands on certain issues.

Smith said, “I was uncomfortable with some of the actions you took as chair, but at least we could see [where you stood]. With the political decisions you made, we’re not certain.”

Équipe priorité Québec Coun. Stevens Melançon, angered at the removal of “a neutral and rigorous chairperson,” took a shot at Smith, saying she is “ready to denounce the authorities in place and political manoeuvring, except when it suits her.”

Melançon said, “Our role is to defend a healthy municipal democracy, not to be extras in a theatre where everything is predetermined.”

Roy said, “It’s hard not to see reprisals in this gesture from Québec d’abord, Transition Québec and Québec Forte et Fière … I expected a little better from my colleagues on city council.”

Opposition and Québec d’abord leader Claude Villeneuve said, “To judge the chair’s neutrality, you have to know … at what point … there is a bias or not.”

Villeneuve said Martin’s change in political affiliation “leads us to have doubts about” meetings chaired “by someone whose intentions and point of view we do not know.”

No one from the ruling QFF party spoke to the motion to remove Martin.

Losing the position means Martin will have $10,000 less remuneration for council service.

When he left the chair after his ouster, Martin took the seat next to Smith and they exchanged a few polite words.

At many points during the meeting, councillors were drowned out by blaring truck horns from a group of protesting blue-collar workers outside City Hall.

Smith moves vote to oust council chair Martin Read More »

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