English stories
Municipal elections : Three questions for Pierre-Paul Routhier
le vendredi 29 janvier 2021
Modifié à 7 h 39 min le 29 janvier 2021
Municipal elections are slated for November in cities throughout Quebec. In mid-January, Châteauguay city councillor, Éric Allard, announced that he would be running for mayor. Le Soleil de Châteauguay newspaper asked incumbent mayor Pierre-Paul Routhier three questions to ascertain his reaction.
In the 2017 municipal elections your party, Vision Châteauguay, won all city council seats but one. In August of 2020, five councillors decided to go out on their own and have now decided to run again, together, what are your thoughts?
“I’m disappointed, that’s sure. If we had always worked in the same direction, I think that we would have been able to accomplish four times more today than what we actually got done. We nonetheless achieved a lot together. The fact remains that if we had been able to maintain the unity that we shared... It’s just a personality issue. The friction it created caused us to rip one another apart and that’s too bad. Yes, I’m truly disappointed because I thought it was a really amazing team. I still think that those people are very interesting. The only thing is, as it has become political, it has started to be a little difficult.”
Will you create a new team, is your Vision Châteauguay party still active? Will you enlist other candidates?
“The party is still active. Whether I will enlist other candidates first depends on whether I decide to run again. I think the political landscape will also be clearer by the time I make that decision. If people want to have political parties, whoever runs will have to take that into account. If people want it to go back to how it was during the times of Philippe (Bonneau) or Jean-Bosco (Bourcier) that would be another possibility. But as for me, given that I have not yet decided about the future as such, the party element isn’t the issue that weighs most on my mind.”
How did you react to Éric Allard announcing that he will be a mayoralty candidate?
“Well, it wasn’t a surprise. (Laughter) Éric showed his colours when we created the party. Everyone knew it. Éric and I both wanted to be the candidate. At that time a decision was made. Éric always wanted to be the candidate. I can only wish him the best of luck today. In the end that’s all that needs to be said.”
(Translation Amanda Bennett)