Duplessis quietly withdraws November election bid

Former interim mayor, Alexandre Duplessis, has officially pulled the plug on his bid for re-election during Laval’s upcoming municipal election, Nov. 3.

Duplessis, who resigned June 28 in the wake of allegations about his personal life, had previously applied to Elections Quebec to form a municipal political party around himself.

Notice of his application for recognition the Avenir Laval–Équipe Alexandre party, which had been posted on Elections Quebec’s web site since May, abruptly disappeared July 11.

“He called us personally and asked us to cancel the application,” Elections Quebec spokesman Carl Charest told The Suburban in an interview.

“We received [Duplessis’] request on July 8,” he explained, “and his pending application was officially removed on July 10.”

The 43-year-old accountant was first elected to represent St. Martin district in 2005, as a member of former Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt’s Parti ralliement officiel des lavallois (PRO). He was re-elected as a city councilor during the 2009 municipal election.

Vaillaincourt resigned, Nov. 9, in the wake of allegations of criminal collusion before the Charbonneau inquiry into corruption in Quebec’s construction industry.

Since that was six days less than six months the next election, Nov. 3, the law provided that his successor could be chosen from among the sitting city councilors, rather than by holding a by-election.

Two weeks later, Duplessis was elected by a vote of 15-3 to serve as interim mayor until the next election.

Soon afterward, Duplessis told The Suburban in an interview that he planned to run for mayor in November, but was still contemplating whether to form a new political party of his own, or campaign as an independent candidate in November.

“I might form a new party or might not and instead run as an independent candidate for mayor,” he said at the time. “I am still reflecting as to where I will go with this.”

Duplessis resigned following reports that he had complained to Quebec provincial police that two women had allegedly tried to extort money from him by claiming that he had engaged the services of a sex trade worker.

He was succeeded by television personality Martine Beaugrand. The remaining city councilors elected the health-care expert, July 3, to serve as interim mayor for the next four months.