Jacques Foucher leapt to prominence last week, after he was barred from two, back-to-back mayoralty debates because he doesn’t belong to a political party. <\/p>\n
Paradoxically, the exclusion has made Foucher a contender in the final days of Laval’s municipal election campaign by thrusting him into the limelight\u2014with a huge number of voters undecided about which of the nine mayoral candidates they will cast their ballot for and mere percentage points separating the frontrunners for the mayor’s office among committed voters. <\/p>\n
Despite Foucher’s solid credentials\u2014a lawyer who for 17 years has run several Quebec cities (currently Joliette) as a senior municipal civil servant\u2014both the Laval Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Oct. 23) and Radio-Canada (Oct. 25) ran debates that excluded independent candidates. <\/p>\n
\u201cShame on Radio-Canada,\u201d Foucher said in an interview. \u201cIt’s an insult to democracy. Debate organizer Michel C. Auger has deprived Laval voters of the information that they need in order to vote knowledgeably about the nearly 40 percent of Laval candidates who are running as independents. That’s far more candidates than any individual party slate.\u201d <\/p>\n
He contended that it is the political party system itself that has permitted corruption and collusion in Quebec, by making politicians’ first loyalty their party, rather than the people who elect them.<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cThe debate organizers are sending a message that they still want Vallancourt-like politics and believe that there’s no place for independent politicians on city council,\u201d Foucher asserted. <\/p>\n
Foucher, who sat through the Oct. 23 debate in the audience, deplored the mudslinging exchanges that he witnessed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s not the sort of debate I would engage in,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m the only candidate with enough experience in running a city to take the reins the very first day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that in the first 100 days after he is elected, he would attack the biggest irritants that have dogged Laval. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have to restore confidence through broad public consultation, and follow up on every query,\u201d he promised. \u201cThe onus has to be on the city to adapt to its residents’ needs, not vice versa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn public transport, the city needs reserved bus lanes. To improve quality of life, we need to export best practices from one district to another. We need to provide better support to welcome immigrants here. As a father of a reconstituted family of 12 children, I’m also attuned to youth. We need to create jobs and ensure that we listen to and include young people in our communications\u2014particularly through the electronic media which they are so adept at using.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI’m inviting citizens to cast their ballot for me as a protest vote,\u201d Foucher concluded. <\/p><\/div>\n
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Would clean up Laval in first 100 days By Robert Frank www.thesuburban.com Jacques Foucher leapt to prominence last week, after he was barred from two, back-to-back mayoralty debates because he doesn’t belong to a political party. Paradoxically, the exclusion has made Foucher a contender in the final days of Laval’s municipal election campaign by thrusting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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