From Friday's La Presse
The first opinion polling after the Labonté scandal shows the three parties really neck and neck (and neck). Though Harel comes out on top, the real story is Richard Bergeron, whose party is living the wet dream of being a contender.
According to the poll, the number of undecideds has plummeted from 30% to 10%.
Election day is Sunday, and (as a journalist who will spend the night in the newsroom) it’s gonna be fun.
For as far as I can remember, mayoral races in Montréal always have been 3-guys races, usually involving an ex-police chief. The modus-operandi being the ex-police chief propped against the serious opponent of the incumbent in order to divide the opposition vote.
The voter turnout for the advance polls was double of 4 years ago. Unexpected high voter turnout usually means a strong protest vote. I believe the Mayor is in trouble and although he may just get in, there is no doubt that city council will have an interesting mix.
Jimmy Z.
Wow. Even though I don’t support him I kinda hope Bergeron does win, it’ll certainly make for some lively times. He benefits from the throw the bums out mood in the city, and the self inflicted wounds of the other leaders…
The three choices are God-awful:
A corrupt whiner.
A unilingual autocrat.
A loopy 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
Maybe O’Sullivan is the best choice……
To get back 50 years and have the car destroy the city yet again, and forcing people out in the ’burbs, yes, by all means, vote O’Stupid (which is a loopy scatholic Opus-Deiist, by the way)…
It’s just too bad that scepticism towards the 9/11 attacks has so much to do with running the metropolis.
I’m confident that you might have said something similar about Stockwell Day a few years ago: “So what if he believes the earth was created in 6 days – what does that have to do with running a country?”
It does matter… it shows his lack of reasoning abilities and how easily he will jump to the conclusion he wants to see without any evidence at all. Of course, this sounds like standard behaviour for a politician, but he shouldn’t be advertising it.
I’m looking at this from Hong Kong and it’s still entertaining!
Amazing, uh? Looks like Tremblay is finally sinking tough. I wonder if it will set up a movment from his side to other sides (either Bergeron or Harel).
On a strict horse-race angle, what a campaign that was!
I don’t think Tremblay will pull this one off.
I don’t know anybody who’s excited for his win.
It’s a bad sign.
It’ll be Harel or Bergeron
Honnestly, I’m stumped as to who to vote for. A neighbour who helped me out a while back is running for Mr Tremblay but I can’t ignore the corruption scandals, to me Mr Labonté was an opportunist in the French sense of the word. At this point Mr 9/11 truther is starting to look good…
Keep in mind you have separate votes for mayor, city councillor and (if applicable) borough councillor. You can always split your vote and choose the best candidate in each.
I think that’s good advice. Posters here defending Bergeron have also pointed out that he has a new young team, regardless of what you think of the guy. They might be less corrupt, just by lack of opportunity to be corrupted.
You’ve given me food for thought. She’s one of my few neighbours to whom I say hello.
KARINE (or for anyone thinking of voting for Bergeron)
In the Gazette article “Too Wacky to Trust” – there is an depth discussion about the overall views of the cadidate.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/wacky+trust/2130947/story.html
Once you read this – it becomes obvious (at least to me) that though Tremblay is not the perfect choice – he is the the best choice of these candidates.
Well, while you’re at it KARINE, you should read Henry Aubin’s article Richard Bergeron: best of a bad lot
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Richard+Bergeron+best/2157015/story.html
Just one other thing.
Bergeron holds many of the same views with regards to minorities in the city of Montreal that Harel holds as well as some of her general outlook.
One thing I will say about Louise Harel is that she is more or less up front with her views. :-)
As I said earlier – although Tremblay is not perfect – I dont like the alternative candidates all that much…
Here is another english (or “uncle tom”) who thinks the immigrants’ sole purpose is to become english, in order to minorize the french.
There is someone in this forum who obviously has issues with language… This person keeps using a word “minorize” – which does not exist. Please stop that.
This notwithstanding – I expect to see this person using the same old statements all the time (like a broken record…).
It may not exist, but everyone understands what I mean when I say it.
As far as having a 9/11 conspiracy theorist (and let’s be honest, though it is a ridiculous position to hold, it has little to do with Richard Bergeron’s priorities for Montreal) as mayor, look at it this way:
It’s sure to put Montreal on the map!
I don’t think anyone’s ever claimed that as mayor he’d be responsible for the 9/11 dossier as mayor. Or other bizarre theories he’s espoused. What one looks for in a politician is some insight into character, some sign, one way or another, regarding a candidate’s honesty, intelligence, and mental balance. Running a big city, running anything requires common sense and a capacity to tell a crazy, bad idea from a good one.
Personnally, I’ll probably vote for Bergeron. Tremblay has to pay for his team corruption (he IS the party leader after all), and Harel, though I supported the fusions (and still do), is more attracted to power than anything else I gather.
It’s been a while than municipal politics are more fascinating than provincial or federal elections. And mostly, here’s hoping that voter turnout will be high.
Few things are sadder than a democracy in which nobody votes…
I guess someone or something finally got him to realize how damaging these absurd comments were. But he was still “proud” of them as recently as October 5, so I doubt that it’s the last we’ll be hearing from him about it:
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/elections-municipales/200910/05/01-908410-richard-bergeron-le-franc-tireur-de-montreal.php
It’s amazing how people would nitpick at totally irrelevant stuff…
Oh, well…
Actually, I think many politicians push the “concern” aside by saying “you want me to believe the guy who can’t pronounce ‘nuclear’ is responsible for a massive secret government conspiracy to kill thousands of his own people?”
Most truthers say it was Dick Cheney at the helm of the operation (the reason he was at NORTHCOM that day). Anyone who says that Bush pulled this off solo does not know what they’re talking about. Politicians use that theory to dodge question on 9/11.
As for Bergeron, we’ll see with time.
I’m sure Dick Cheney framed Afghanistan for an attack on U.S. soil so he could have an excuse to invade Iraq. It’s brilliant.
No, as usual, he shot the wrong guy…
No, but he could very well be the puppet of those who do… :)
(And no, not a government conspiracy, but a bourgeois conspiracy to instill fear in the populace in order to install a fascist regime).
Looking at Bergeron’s comments, it’s obvious that his concerns about 9/11, like most people’s concerns about 9/11, are based around his own misunderstanding of facts.
The truthers have failed to come up with any substantial evidence that it was an inside job after 8 years, so yeah, I’d call it absurd for politicians to give them credibility unless they come up with a substantial lead. And some kid overanalyzing the pixel artifacts in grainy footage doesn’t count… we all know how credible *that* is.
LOL thank you guys for the reading material. If only I could vote write in Régis Labeaume…
Don nails it:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Thanks+scandals+Bergeron+real+contender/2166935/story.html
Oh and ladies? Bergeron thinks you can’t drive. And all you anti-car types luvvin’ Bergeron? He damn near ran you over, on purpose.
Enjoy.
The video was a frame-up. Done by Harel communications organizer. (who’s Harel’s biggest threat, not Tremblay, but Bergeron)
To see the full length, you get the point that Bergeron was trying to make.
1. That men can be aggressive drivers. Duh.
2. That Bergeron had himself the impulse to be aggressive, and it is by this empirical experience that he realized there was a problem
to watch the whole video instead of the hack-job: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_szxRU5CKZ4
Btw, Projet has declined to do politics this way: they’ve decided to propose and not lower themselves to mudslinging and manipulation.
Maybe Don wasn’t being entirely fair in this case. I will say this: I have no problem whatsoever with Bergeron requesting police protection before he finds a bomb in his basement. Given the claims of widespread intimidation of city officials, I’m surprised that a front-running candidate has to ask for security. So I do think Don is off-base there….
I reminded a friend today — election day — to vote, to which he replied that he had already voted — for the Rhino party. When I expressed surprise, saying that I didn’t know they were running, he answered: They aren’t. That’s why I voted for them.
If animals are your thing, Michel Bédard, formerly of the White Elephant Party, is running for mayor.