There’s an error that many people make in describing the 2004 municipal demerger referendums that led to the agglomotatorship we now live in. The Gazette’s Linda Gyulai, municipal affairs reporter, (who’s the sweetest person in the world) becomes my unfortunate victim in this example:

While Tremblay had hoped for unanimous support for his plan, it fell short by three votes. The foes included two councillors from Anjou borough, which narrowly voted to stay in Montreal in a 2004 demerger referendum. (Emphasis mine)

The borough did no such thing. The vote was 7808-5883 in favour of reconstituting itself as a municipality. That’s 57% yes. But because of the insane requirement that “Yes” voters represent 35% of all registered voters wasn’t met, the referendum was considered a failure.

They didn’t vote to stay, they simply didn’t vote enough to leave.