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The René Lafrance municipal election team was officially presented to the media last Tuesday at Restaurant de la Place. Left to right, Jean Asselin, Iris Glenn, Fern Latour, Lafrance, Yvon Bouchard, Sylvie Boileau, Jasmine Belisle.(Photo Le Soleil Michel Thibault)
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The election team of Chateauguay mayoral candidate René Lafrance was officially unveiled at a press conference at Restaurant de la Place last Tuesday…or at least the 77.7% of it that has been confirmed. Two remaining candidates for Wards 1 (La Noue) and 6 (Lang) will be announced at a later date.
I could have added two ordinary people just for the sake of completing the team in time for the press conference,” Lafrance said, “but I want to have only top-quality candidates, so I felt it was wiser to wait.”
Of his six City Council candidates who were introduced last Tuesday, their impressive credentials could certainly not be denied despite the fact that most are political neophytes.
Running in the Filgate (Ward 2) district, whose seat is currently held by Lafrance, is Jasmine Zitouni Belisle, a 40-year-old mother of three who works at Espace Chateauguay for the prevention of violence against children. Belisle is also a member of the Billings governing board, teaches catechism at OLPH Church and has volunteered for eight years at the Chateauguay Food Bank.
The team’s candidate in Ward 3 (Robutel) is Yvon Bouchard, who was defeated by Jean-Guy Desponts in two previous attempts, losing the 1999 election by only 98 votes. But now that he is retired from Hydro-Quebec, Bouchard, 52, is convinced he can turn the tables by his increased availability and having more time to campaign. He is also president of the Chateauguay Minor Hockey Association and heads up the organizing committee of the prestigious Chateauguay national midget hockey tournament.
Running in Ward 4 (Bumbray) for the Lafrance crew is Sylvie Boileau, a 40-year-old full-time mom of two adopted Asian daughters. She is a member of the St-Jude School governing board and also serves as president of the parents committee.
The third woman on the team, installed in Ward 5 (Salaberry), is Iris Glenn, a mother of two who has spent a great deal of her life in social work, especially in the area of rehabilitating prisoners. Glenn is a member of the board of directors of the Chateauguay Valley English-Speaking Peoples Association. She ran in the last New Frontiers School Board by-election against now-CVESPA president Neil Burdon and successful candidate Naila Mullahoo.
The Ward 7 (Lemoyne) candidate is Fernand Latour, a retired RCMP officer and past president of the Chat-O-Cats girls softball league. He coached the underdog Sud-Ouest entry in the Quebec Minor Softball League to the cadet provincial championship last summer.
And in Ward 8 (D’Youville), the Lafrance forces are represented by Jean Asselin, a long-time Notre Dame de l’Assomption member who is treasurer of the St. Bernard Hunting and Fishing Club and says he believes in gun control. He is also a former Chateauguay women’s softball coach.
“What I like most about this team is that everyone is on the same wavelength,” Latour said. “Mr. Lafrance is working for the benefit of the citizens, and so are the rest of our team members.”
Lafrance pointed out the advantage of having candidates with no previous political baggage. “As a result, they have nothing to do with internal battles, power struggles, influential friends and allegiances,” he said. “What we need here is a new broom that sweeps clean.”
The last time Lafrance ran for Mayor and organized a slate was in 1987. Not one of his team members won that year, so perhaps he has learned from his mistakes. For one thing, he has taken on the experienced Claude Lévesque as his political organizer. “Rene has a big heart,” Lévesque praised. “During the 1998 ice storm, he worked feverishly to help people in trouble. We don't always agree on everything, but we respect each other.”
Belisle and Bouchard admit they had been approached by other mayoral candidates but both opted to join Lafrance. “I met with the Mayor (Sergio Pavone) but it was clear to me that I preferred Mr. Lafrance,” Belisle said. “If a citizen has a problem, he makes it his problem. He’s definitely the man for the job.”
Lafrance spent much of his time at the press conference correcting negative images of himself projected by pro-Pavone forces, but he avoided mentioning the mayoral candidacy of a third candidate, former Mercier Mayor Alain Desjardins.
When asked to express his thoughts on Desjardins’ presence in the race, Lafrance replied: “He’s an opportunist who has no business here. He moved to Chateauguay only 12 months before the election (just under the eligibility wire) and his so-called interest in our city is something completely new.”
The Lafrance team’s official slogan, a Belisle brainchild, is “Un choix intelligent – a smart choice.” As someone pointed out at the press conference, it could very easily have been “Vive Lafrance!”
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