No regrets by former supporters as ADQ tumbles

Even as the Action Démocratique du Québec, which suffered large losses in the 2008 provincial election, seems now to be heading into a full-blown leadership quagmire, West Island mayors who publicly supported them in 2007 said they have no regrets. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it," said Baie d'Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino, who recently returned to her position for a second term after a victory by acclamation.

Tutino said the alliance she forged with the right-of-centre party's leader Mario Dumont, along with other elected officials of the area, like Senneville Mayor George McLeish and former Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Bill Tierney, was born out of desperation the provincial Liberal government simply did not have their ear. "We really felt like nobody was listening to us anymore," Tutino said.

The result of their support, according to her and McLeish, was the passing of Bill 22, a provincial piece of legislation that revised division of powers between the city of Montreal and demerged suburbs on the island.

The bill passed in June 2008, to the acclaim of many West Island mayors who found it gave them fairer treatment than what they had received in the past. "We would never have gotten Bill 22 if the ADQ hadn't become the official opposition (in 2007)," said McLeish. "I did have some trouble with some of their policies," McLeish said, but he was impressed by Dumont's strong stance against the existence of an agglomeration council on the Island of Montreal.

Tutino hopes a third party in Quebec somehow survives, if only to keep a debate over issues beyond just separatism vs. federalism alive at the National Assembly.

None of the municipal elected officials who backed the ADQ in 2007 did so again in 2008. Tutino said it should be no municipally elected official's business to support anyone publicly during elections on other levels of government, except in cases of desperation.

Though the party experienced a brief surge of popularity in the West Island in 2007, with candidates in all local ridings finishing in second place behind Liberal incumbents, the trend reversed itself last year. Only in Marquette did the ADQ manage to even crack third place, with 8.6 per cent of the popular vote, or 2,062 ballots. "We got the third-best election results in Montreal (among ADQ candidates)," said that riding's outgoing association president Louis-Charles Fortier.

However, the recent leadership scuffles have left him disenchanted. He announced his resignation from that position, as well as that of vice-president of the party's Montreal island presidents' table, in a letter sent to local media today.

Fortier, who also made an unsuccessful run for council in Dorval in this year's municipal election, said he could not embrace the left-wing leanings of Gilles Taillon, who briefly became the ADQ's leader with only a two-ballot victory over his closest adversary, Éric Caire.

He cited Taillon's unwillingness to re-open the public-private debate over health care in Quebec as one point of contention among many.

Since he wrote the letter, Taillon has announced he is resigning as leader as well, leaving third-place contender Gérard Deltell as a potential candidate.

Fortier said he does like Deltell, but simply needs some time away to be with his wife and family. "Maybe the ADQ will rise like a phoenix from the ashes," he said. "I'm not closing the door."