The new millennial mayors in Laval, Longueuil will focus on the housing crisis

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With millennial mayors elected in Laval and Longueuil, it’s a fair bet that the housing crisis will be at the top of the agenda for Montreal’s two largest suburbs for the next four years.

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Earlier this month, pioneers in both cities, Stéphane Boyer in Laval and Catherine Fournier in Longueuil, held a joint press conference to announce that, if elected, they intend to host a Quebec-wide housing summit with leaders from all levels of government and community. groups, universities and business groups.

Both were easily chosen on Sunday night. Fournier was declared the winner in Longueuil early in the evening and finished with 60.5 percent of the vote. In Laval, Boyer also won comfortably with 41 percent of the vote.

“The housing issue is a social justice issue,” Fournier, leader of the Longueuil Coalition, told the Montreal Gazette on Sunday night. “That is why we want to address these issues, because they are fundamental for our generation, but also for the next. I believe that the levels of government did not do what they could do to prevent this crisis, but we want to act now. It is urgent.”

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The 29-year-old Fournier enjoyed a comfortable lead in the polls throughout the season. That’s no surprise, given the recognition of his name as a member of the National Assembly by the Marie-Victorin leadership. Fournier, the youngest woman to be elected to the legislature, was first elected to the National Assembly in 2016 with the Parti Québécois in a by-election. Fournier won a full term in 2018. He left the PQ in March 2019 to sit as an independent.

Last spring, then-Mayor Sylvie Parent of Action Longueuil announced that she would not run again after four tumultuous years at the helm of a party that did not have a majority on the council. In 2017, Parent achieved victory by beating Josée Latendresse de Longueuil citoyen by just 118 votes.

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This time, Latendresse, now with the Longueuil Ensemble, came a distant second behind Fournier with 18.4 percent of the vote, while Jean-Marc Léveillé, who took the helm of Longueuil citoyen in May, came third. place with about 14 percent. percent of voter support.

Meanwhile, in Laval, voter apathy has plagued recent municipal elections and this time turnout was below 30 percent. Some blame the lack of media coverage of the contest, while others pointed to deep public disdain for municipal politics that followed the corruption scandal involving former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt. Mayor for 23 years until his arrest in 2013, Vaillancourt was ultimately found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust. He served a third of a six-year sentence before being granted full parole in 2018.

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Boyer, 33, became leader of the Mouvement Lavallois last spring after then-mayor Marc Demers announced that he would not run for a third term. Demers and his party first seized power in 2013, when the city was under trusteeship. Boyer has a tough act to follow: Demers leaves the mayor’s office with a 65 percent approval rating, according to a recent CROP poll.

Boyer had been Demers’ right-hand man, most recently as vice chairman of the city’s executive committee.

“Housing has to be our priority for years to come,” a confident Boyer told the Montreal Gazette on Sunday when the polls closed. “We have seen a significant increase in prices, both for home buyers and renters. Housing is the biggest expense for any family, so we have to face it. “

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Boyer wants the city to offer loans to first-time home buyers, to be repaid when the property is resold. He also wants to introduce programs in which the city helps tenants arrange financing if they want to buy the buildings they live in when they are sold.

“The idea of ​​the summit is to say that no city will be able to solve housing problems on its own,” Boyer said. “We have to collaborate, but there are statutory and legislative changes that must occur at all levels of government.”

Boyer said cities can’t cut housing costs until they have the tools to solve problems like real estate speculation, foreign investors and a labor shortage in the construction industry.

“All of these things make housing more expensive,” Boyer said. “Some of them can be resolved through new (provincial) laws, some by industry, others by ordinances or city programs. That is why we want to sit at the table with other cities and with the government of Quebec ”.

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In the 2017 elections, incumbent Demers and his Mouvement Lavallois won easily, with 46.2% of the vote. Michel Trottier of Parti Laval came in a distant second with 20.4 percent.

This time, at press time, Trottier de Parti Laval and Sophie Trottier of Action Laval were vying for second place with 25 and 24 percent of the vote, respectively.

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