The mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, plans to seek a second term in November 2025. Despite the wave of resignations of municipal elected officials given the magnitude of the task, the 32-year-old woman is launching an appeal for citizen commitment to continue the work for the common good. She reaches out to the “positive camp”.
“I want us to get out of the negative spiral and talk about beauty in politics. Yes, beautiful. Being mayor is demanding, but above all it is a privilege,” said Catherine Fournier, announcing on Wednesday her decision to run again in the next election, in a year.
Elected at the head of Quebec’s fifth city in 2021, she plans to continue her mandate to develop housing, fight homelessness, adapt infrastructure to climate change and diversify the political class.
She presented herself surrounded by municipal councilors from all walks of life – young people, men, women from diverse backgrounds, including a mother accompanied by her baby – to launch a call for commitment to her fellow citizens: “We need all kinds of profiles in politics. You have your place on the municipal council, we need you. »
The mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, announced last month that she would bow out in a year, after two terms at the head of the metropolis. His counterpart in Longueuil admits to having also considered giving up his place after the storm Debbyin August, which caused significant damage in Longueuil as elsewhere in Quebec. But she chose to stay.
No more chicanery
Catherine Fournier recalled a recent survey which revealed that internal conflicts between elected officials are the main cause of the wave of resignations of mayors. In Quebec, as elsewhere in the world, the “aggressive” tone of exchanges between elected officials — and on the part of citizens — discourages many people from participating in politics. The election of Donald Trump is part of this trend of verbal inflation. And even violence.
The mayor of Longueuil says she has good news: the squabbles that paralyzed the municipal council in recent years are a thing of the past since her arrival in 2021.
She reaches out to the “positive camp”. “Now is exactly the time to get started. […] It’s by having people who want to change things that we can change things. »
It is even possible that the policy is “pleasant and effective” despite the vindictive tone on social networks and the polarization within society — Catherine Fournier received death threats and was under police protection in the wake of the debate on deer at Michel-Chartrand Park in recent months.
The mayor of Longueuil confided that she planned to start a family during a possible second term. Municipal policy allows a certain flexibility for parents of young children, unlike the work of a deputy in Quebec or Ottawa, which requires elected officials to frequent stays far from the family nest, she emphasizes.
She also excludes running for mayor of Montreal or the National Assembly, where she sat for five years before making the jump to the municipal scene. “I’m in Longueuil to stay there. »
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