Projet Montréal’s McQueen wins seat on Union-dominated CDN-NDG council

In a conversation with The Monitor two weeks before the election, Borough Mayor Michael Applebaum cast doubt on McQueen’s ability to wrestle the district from Union Montreal, despite the fact that Mastromonaco, a school board commissioner, was inexperienced in municipal politics but hoped to hold onto the seat vacated by Marcel Tremblay, a Union councillor.

Applebaum dismissed McQueen, noting that McQueen had tried previously to win a commissioner’s seat in a CSDM school board election, but garnered just a relatively small percentage of support. Applebaum claimed this was a sign that McQueen was not taken seriously by the average voter in the NDG area.

According to results posted the day after the election, McQueen scored a decisive victory in NDG over Mastromonaco, with a 41.82 per cent share of support, and a 787 vote majority. Mastromonaco finished with 32.26 per cent support. David Hanna running for Vision Montreal/Équipe Harel was third, followed by Équipe Louise O’Sullivan’s David Riachi (2.15 per cent) and independent Philippe Godley (1.76 per cent). “We put in a lot of hard work in the community for the past three years,” McQueen, who previously did very well running in NDG in a provincial election for the Quebec Green Party, said the day after the election. “I think eastern NDG was ready for Projet Montréal one-hundred percent. Two-thirds of NDG voted for a more environmental program. I think it’s pretty clear that the Union is going to have a hard time in eastern NDG for a long time.”

While the district of NDG was represented for one term starting in 1998 by the right-of-centre Vision Montreal during Mayor Pierre Bourque’s time, it’s also been known to swing leftward. Running with the populist Montreal Citizens Movement and then with the breakaway Democratic Coalition which he co-founded, Sam Boskey served several terms as NDG’s city councillor.

Applebaum was easily re-elected mayor of the borough with more than 52 per cent support, beating his nearest opponent, Projet Montréal’s Carole Dupuis, who garnered just over 26 per cent. In Loyola district in western NDG, Union Montreal’s Susan Clarke, who was making her first foray into city politics, beat former Loyola councillor Jeremy Searle by a slim 255-vote margin. Projet Montreal’s Cym Gomery finished third.

Union Montreal’s Lionel Perez, also a newcomer, scored a relatively easy victory on former Union councillor Saulie Zajdel’s turf, the district of Darlington. Perez’s nearest opponent, Projet Montréal’s Kamalathevi Jegatheeswaran, finished with more than 21 per cent of the votes. Vision Montreal’s Keeton Clarke was well behind with less than 15 per cent.

Running for Union Montreal, former Plateau-Mont Royal borough mayor Helen Fotopoulos won a city council seat in the district of Côte des Neiges with just over 42 per cent support. She beat her nearest rival, Projet Montréal’s Magda Popeanu, with a majority of 512 votes. In Snowdon, incumbent Union councillor Marvin Rotrand’s territory, the story was the same as in every election. He scored nearly 60 per cent of the total votes, with a 2,485 margin, possibly the highest score for any district in this election.