BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

A landmark decision by the Quebec Superior Court last Friday that stated the 2004 Île Bizard de-merger referendum results are null and void has some of the town's old de-merger advocates extremely pleased, while mum's the word for Montreal.

"We're really happy with this decision," said former Île Bizard mayor Normand Marinacci, who led the charge as an attorney for the five residents of Île Bizard filing the case, including Christian Larocque, town councillor during Marinacci's administration.

Marinacci said he and a concerned group of citizens had been pressing the electoral commission to look into voter irregularities even before the referendum results were announced. "But (the City of Montreal) didn't allow us to do it," he said.

It was thanks to demonstrating these irregularities in court that Marinacci's team was able to win. "I don't know what Montreal intends to do next," he said. "They could try to appeal the decision," he added. "If they want to do that, they have 30 days."

The City of Montreal did not comment much on the case. "We're looking into it," said city spokesperson Maxime Chagnon. "I can only say the judge focused on some things in his verdict, but not on others." Chagnon added it is too early to say whether or not the city will appeal this decision.

Administration at the borough of Île Bizard/Ste. Geneviève would not comment for this story.

Conditions for demerger in the 2004 referendums demanded that over 50 per cent of voters choose to demerge and that a minimum of 35 per cent of eligible voters go to the polls. In Île Bizard, though, 57 per cent of voters chose to demerge, there was just barely less than 35 per cent voter turnout.

The gist of Marinacci's argument lay in the fact that about 400 names on the voters' list in 2004 were those of people who had either passed away or moved from the town. With those names removed, Île Bizard would reach 35 per cent.

"We went door to door, we talked to people, we knew that a lot of these people had moved away," said Marinacci. He and his team gathered 290 affidavits by different citizens.

In last Friday's decision, the court said those affidavits should have been taken into account.

Previously a group of citizens in Roxboro had tried to make a similar case but ultimately lost. "I'm very happy for Île Bizard," said Roxboro resident Anna Lee, who acted as spokesperson for that group. "Our case was also based on the faulty electoral list," she said, adding some Roxboro residents went door to door and found that over 280 names on the list belonged to people who had either moved or passed on.

In the end, Roxboro lost the case, largely because those actions were undertaken after the referendum results were announced, rather than before, according to Marinacci.

"Many Roxboro residents saw this as an injustice," said Lee, but she added it was too early to see whether or not the Île Bizard decision may lead to further action on the part of Roxboro residents.

As for Marinacci, he said he was not even thinking about scenarios in the future where he may become mayor of a reconstituted Île Bizard once more. If Île Bizard did end up de-merging, he added, he would expect Ste. Geneviève to remain part of Montreal.