Dry-Run For City Polls

Montreal City Hall

From The Montreal Gazette:

By-Elections. Results will serve as barometer of parties

Today's by-elections in two Montreal boroughs are shaping up as a dry run for next year's city-wide vote.

The results will also serve as a barometer to gauge the strength of Mayor Gérald Tremblay's Union Montréal and the opposition Vision Montreal and Projet Montréal parties.

The polls open at 10 a.m. in north-end Ahuntsic-Cartierville and St. Léonard, to the east, and close at 8 p.m.

n what may be a first in Quebec municipal politics, Michel Bissonnet, the former Liberal speaker of the National Assembly, is vying to succeed his wife, Yvette Bissonnet, as borough mayor of St. Léonard.

As deputy mayor, she stepped in to temporarily replace Frank Zampino when he retired from city politics this year. She retains her city council seat.

Other candidates in St. Léonard, where 71,130 people live, are Livio Di Celmo of Projet Montréal, Vision Montreal's Mélina Maiorano and David Mallozzi, running as an independent.

Zampino, a chartered accountant who headed Montreal's executive committee and was considered No. 2 in civic politics, resigned to return to private practice.

Read more ....