The mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, will “take stock of her political future” during an “important press conference” scheduled for Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Her office made the announcement Wednesday evening in a press release.
Mme Fournier was elected head of Longueuil in November 2021, at the age of 29. That year, a wave of youth swept through the large cities of Quebec, the average age of mayors of the six largest cities in Quebec having then dropped to 39 years.
During the 2021 elections, five of Quebec’s ten largest cities elected a woman as mayor, including Catherine Fournier, Valérie Plante (Montreal), Évelyne Beaudin (Sherbrooke) and France Bélisle (Gatineau).
Since then, the political future of several of them has become clearer. France Bélisle resigned in February to “preserve her health”, describing the political context as “hostile”.
Mme Plante announced at the end of October that she would not seek a new mandate during the next municipal elections in 2025. The same in Sherbrooke for Mme Beaudin, who made the announcement last May. The one who had temporarily withdrawn from her duties to take some rest deplored, among other things, the tense climate at city hall.
Catherine Fournier was a deputy for the Marie-Victorin riding in the National Assembly from 2016 to 2021, first under the banner of the Parti Québécois, then as an independent, before making the leap into municipal politics.
In addition to her duties as mayor, Ms.me Fournier is president of the executive committee of the agglomeration of Longueuil and of the Table de concertation régional de la Montérégie.
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