Canada/A meeting to promote municipal democracy
Some fifty citizens of the Haute-Gaspésie region gathered in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts on Thursday evening to discuss municipal democracy.
Set up by four organizations, the event was aimed at promoting greater participation in municipal politics, just a few months ahead of the next general election. Solidarité Gaspésie, Nouvelle Vague municipale, Multitude Québec and Hautrement also wanted to encourage those interested in entering the political arena.
The evening began with a talk by the mayor of Saint-Valérien, Robert Savoie. In office for 15 years, Mr. Savoie believes that this Lower St. Lawrence municipality has been revitalized during his tenure.
According to Robert Savoie, Saint-Valérien's population has grown by around 15%, the elementary school is frenquent at maximum capacity, and the median age has dropped from 49.5 to 42 between 2010 and 2025.
Mayor Savoie attributes this success in part to greater citizen participation in municipal politics. This is fundamental. We have set ourselves the challenge [...] of creating citizen spaces that will enable us to create a community dynamic.
According to Robert Savoie, citizen consultation not only leads to greater social acceptability, but also involves the municipality's residents in the various projects, making them easier to implement.
Democratic problems
A number of citizens present at the meeting deplored the fact that municipal decisions are made without regard for what residents think of them. Julie Reid Forget is a member of the Hautrement movement. She maintains that there is what she describes as an authoritarian culture within certain municipal councils.
When a citizen [expresses] an opinion that is really different from what an elected official is going to have said, we'll get the response: 'You just have to vote for someone else in four years' time. But here, for four years, what do we do, as citizens? When a new problem arises that affects a lot of people and [harms] social cohesion, it's important to validate [the council's] position with the people.
According to the Quebec government, nearly half of Quebec's mayors were elected unopposed in the 2021 municipal elections.
Some citizens also point to a certain lack of transparency when it comes to what is said on municipal councils. Jean-Louis Arsenault, a citizen of Cap-Chat, deplores the fact that question periods are not broadcast online.
It's not broadcast. I asked for access to it, but [I received] a refusal," he says.
Mr. Arsenault also stresses that citizens should be able to ask questions on any subject, not just those discussed during municipal council meetings.
Any citizen who has seen something else that doesn't relate to the meeting should be able to say so.
A quote from Cap-Chat resident Jean-Louis Arsenault
With six months to go before municipal elections, and despite all the issues that were raised, the organizations nevertheless hope that this meeting motivated some people to get involved in active politics, since, in their view, democracy must involve greater citizen participation.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
