A year after local elections and the arrival of a new mayor, the opposition is more divided than ever and Bruno Marchand, having taken his seat, needs to show he can live up to his responsibilities. Here’s a few point analysis of the highlights of Quebec’s communal scene in 2022.
Good in the saddle
A year after his election as mayor Bruno Marchand knew how to impose his style and a certain change of tone on the city of Québec.
As the successor to a very popular and respected mayor, he was also able to gain the trust of a majority of the citizens.
His challenge for 2023 is to deliver the goods as opposition parties criticize his fine speeches and lack of a ‘real’ vision for the city.
Otherwise he runs the risk of the picture of the taciturn mayor sticking to his skin.
Some projects are underway, notably on homelessness and the process of providing space to set up day care centers, but we need to see the concrete results.
She also needs to learn to manage her political weight better. That will be very useful to him in the streetcar file, which will see a few twists next year.
The home run
Jean-François Gosselin’s idea of equipping Quebec with refrigerated ice rinks, initially avoided by the opposition parties, turned out to be very interesting.
The Councilor responsible for Sports and Recreation on the Executive Committee stated that Quebec was behind and argued that this equipment would allow use over a longer period of time.
We would also clearly be responding to a clamoring need in the territory, according to a report in the Journal that revealed this Stoneham and Boischatel had to turn away citizens from outside due to the very high traffic volume.
It’s exactly the kind of gear you’d expect for a big city like Quebec.
The flop of the year
Photo Dominique Lelievre
After becoming the Quebec team priority late in the year, Quebec 21 endured an extremely torturous year in 2022.
Jean-François Gosselin’s resignation as chef de cuisine, who ended up going like Bianca Dussault, to sit on as the independent, sensational departure of Richard Côté, chief of staff, successor to two new chefs, and so on: that sums it up.
The unelected leader Patrick packagea former city councilman who failed to win the trust of the majority of voters in his district in the last election shows a strong trace of verbal bloat.
This tactic gives him some visibility in the media, but that doesn’t make him more credible with the general public.
There is still work to be done on their end to present a serious option in 2025.
lemon price
Jean Francois Gosselin who explained in an interview with CHOI this summer that it is even more difficult to recruit female candidates for politics “because women are perhaps less naturally attracted to politics”.
We obviously don’t know the same women…
He also said a few minutes earlier that his boys know that when his girlfriend isn’t around, they’re going to “eat grilled cheese.”
His unwise departure provoked the ire of several opposition councilors.
Retired at three takes
His mandate as minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale was difficult for him Genevieve Guilbault.
In the tram file, her poorly calculated departures gave the impression that she was against the project and caused a loss of face on several occasions. This was particularly true of the common road on René-Lévesque.
Nobody, including the mayors of these suburbs, understood his statement that the streetcar was not “to the detriment of Quebec City’s outskirts” such as Saint-Apollinaire, Saint-Agapit, Portneuf, Côte-de-Beaupre.
The elected representatives of these communities then stated that they were not worried about the common road or the project.
Ms Guilbault, who has been appointed since Transport and Sustainable Mobility, seemed finally ready to show good faith on the matter. We’ll see if his stance sticks after the updated costs are revealed.
Stay the course
Courtesy, Quebec City
To the project of tramwhich Bruno Marchand made a priority upon his arrival, the challenge of better communicating the project and curbing the decline in support was met with flying colors.
It must also be said, and this is a not inconsiderable factor, that the government has changed its attitude towards the project, to which it has often given the impression of being opposed, even when it claims the opposite.
However, given the updated cost, which would reportedly be between $5 billion and $6 billion instead of $3.965 billion, the mayor is likely to get wind in his face in 2023.
This situation is seen in all major projects in Canada due to inflation, labor shortages and passage of time, so the streetcar is no exception.
But we must again ensure that we show great transparency towards the citizens. This is all the more true as the work begins in the summer, with all imaginable upheavals.
Step back
Mayor Bruno Marchand ended up making a mini-mea-culpa regarding his exit from the Korean restaurateur from Avenue Maguire in Sillery.
It did not offer a service in French, so the mayor said the labor shortage should not be used as an excuse and that this was unacceptable.
He chose the wrong example to present himself as a defender of French – an immigrant who had just arrived in Quebec and had the heart to open his restaurant with his wife – implying through his statements that the latter was from bad faith .
He would have benefited from being quick to apologize and wondering how the city could have been more helpful to the restaurateur, just like the other immigrants who settle in Quebec but don’t speak French.
The goal, after all, is to welcome more of them, and protecting French is paramount.
ball in his court
Appointed Director General of RTC in November, Nicholas Girarda former PQ MP, needs to quickly demonstrate his leadership, skills and expertise.
It must be said that after the departure of Alain Mercier, he not only has big shoes to fill, but also big challenges to face, particularly in relation to the tram project and the electrification of transport.
gain time
During the election campaign, Bruno Marchand had removed the file homelessness a priority and said it aims for “zero homelessness”.
However, since his arrival, the situation in the Saint-Roch district has continued to deteriorate and he has been repeating for several months that he is dependent on the government and the appointments to the Council of Ministers on file.
One million euros has been announced for a team to deal with the situation of homelessness.
Organizations have welcomed the gesture but expect results.
The flop of the year
The Quebec government looked bad as it unveiled the new version of the third linkin April, where several questions remained unanswered.
Instead of a huge two-story, six-lane tunnel worth $10 billion, the talk is now two four-lane tunnels and a revised cost of around $6.5 billion.
Unlike the first version, no lane is reserved for public transport.
The government has still not submitted a study detailing needs, costs and a timetable.
A project notification must be submitted in 2023, which should contain several dates.
Special mention
The arrival of the minister Jonathan Julien as head of the Capitale-Nationale improved relations between the Legault government and the Mayor of Quebec.
This is good news for the region, which obviously needs this partner for its development.
We’ll have to see how those relationships play out in the context of skyrocketing streetcar costs and the fact that Mayor Marchand’s support for the third link project so dear to the CAQ is far from certain.
