Montreal municipal election, 1986

The 1986 Montreal municipal election took place on November 9, 1986, to elect a mayor and city councillors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Longtime mayor Jean Drapeau did not seek re-election, and Jean Doré from the opposition Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM) was elected to the position by a significant margin.^[1]

Elections also took place in suburban Montreal communities.

Results (incomplete)

Party colours do not indicate affiliation with or resemblance to a provincial or a federal party.

Results in suburban communities (incomplete)

Dorval

All of Dorval's serving representatives were re-elected without opposition.

Source: Elizabeth Thompson, "Dorval mayor, councillors returned by acclamation," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, I7.

Montreal North

Sources: "Montreal North councillor quits," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, H3; "Results of council elections in 18 Montreal-area municipalities," Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1986, A8.

Saint-Leonard

Information about the candidates in Saint-Leonard

Ralliement de Saint-Léonard

• Maurice Benoît (Ward Ten) was first elected to the Saint-Leonard council in the 1982 municipal election, winning as a Équipe du renouveau de la cité de Saint-Léonard candidate in the city's twelfth ward.^[3] He joined the newly formed Ralliement de Saint-Léonard in 1984 and was re-elected under its banner for the tenth ward in 1986. In May 1988, he joined seven other RdSL councillors, including future mayor Frank Zampino, in resigning from the party to sit as independents.^[4] Benoît was not returned to council in the 1990 election.

Unité de Saint-Léonard

• Luigi Tesolin (Ward Six) was a thirty-eight-year-old engineer, running in his first election.^[5]
• Quintino Cimaglia (Ward Eight) was a forty-six-year-old entrepreneur, running in his first election.^[6]

Équipe démocratique de Saint-Léonard

• Yvon Desrochers (Ward Three) was a forty-nine-year-old grocery wholesaler in 1986. He had previously chaired the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer from 1977 to 1980 and remained a member of the commission until 1983. In the 1982 municipal election, he ran unsuccessfully as a Union municipale de Saint-Léonard candidate.^[7]
• Giovanni Sardo (Ward Six) ran for the Saint-Leonard city council in 1978 as a Parti civique candidate and in 1986 for the Équipe démocratique. He was defeated both times. Sardo was sixty years old in 1986 and identified as a travel agent.^[8]
• Micheline Neveu-Dumontet (Ward Seven) was a forty-seven-year-old public servant. She had previously been a candidate in the 1982 Saint-Leonard election, running for the Parti de l'alliance municipale (PAM).^[9]
• Antonio Barretta (Ward Eight) was a thirty-six-year-old salesman in 1986. He was a first-time political candidate.^[10]
• Jules Lauzon (Ward Ten) was an engineer.^[11] He was elected to the Saint-Leonard city council in 1978 as a candidate of the Parti de l'alliance municipale (PAM), which won a narrow majority on council. He ran for re-election in 1982 and was defeated by Pierre Paquet. He was later appointed to a vacant seat on the Commission scolaire Jérôme-Le Royer in January 1985 and emerged as an opponent of commission chair Dominic Perri.^[12] He attempted to change the board's summer hiring policy in 1987, charging that it was plagued by nepotism.^[13] He sought re-election to the Saint-Leonard council as an Équipe démocratique candidate in 1986 and was narrowly defeated.^[14] He did not seek re-election to the school commission in 1987.^[15]
• Jacques Amyot (Ward Twelve) was a forty-three-year-old employee of the Montreal Urban Community Transit Corp..^[16]

Rassemblement des citoyens et citoyennes de Saint-Léonard

• Liborio (Bob) Sciascia (Ward Five) was a thirty-eight-year-old accountant.^[17] He is not to be confused with a different Liborio Sciascia, who was killed in a mafia-related shooting in 2010.
• Paolo Gervasi (Ward Six) was a fifty-eight-year-old realtor.^[18] He is not to be confused with a different Paolo Gervasi, who was killed in a gangland-style execution in 2004.
• Rosario Ortona (Ward Eight), a school teacher, was thirty-nine years old in 1986.^[19] He was elected to the Saint-Leonard city council in the 1978 municipal election as a candidate of Michel Bissonnet's Équipe du renouveau de la cité de Saint-Léonard. He later left this party to join the Union municipale de Saint-Léonard and was defeated under its banner in the 1982 election. Subsequently, Ortona became Union municipale's leader and ran as its mayoral candidate in a 1984 by-election; he was defeated by Raymond Renaud. Renaud and seven councillors launched a $423,000 libel suit against Ortona and his official agent after the election; the suit related to campaign advertisements from Ortona's team that criticized a land deal approved by the city.^[20] Newspaper accounts do not indicate how this matter was resolved. Ortona worked to create a united opposition party in Saint-Leonard during this period, and shortly before the 1986 election he dissolved his party to join the Rassemblement des citoyens et citoyennes de Saint-Léonard.^[21] In 2000, he was hired as adult education director for the English Montreal School Board.^[22]
• Michelangelo Cannistraro (Ward Twelve) was a forty-eight-year-old company manager.^[23]

Subsequent by-elections in suburban communities

Anjou

Results in other Montreal-area communities (incomplete)

Longueuil

The governing Parti municipal de Longueuil was returned to office with a landslide majority. Party leader Jacques Finet was re-elected to a second term as mayor, and the party won all nineteen seats on council.

Winning candidates are listed in boldface.

Source: Le Parti municipal de Longueuil: Jacques Finet, l'innovateur, Société historique et culturelle du Marigot, accessed 19 February 2014. Some minor corrections to candidate names are taken from "Final tally shows size of victory in Longueuil," Montreal Gazette, 6 November 1986, V1.

Jacques Finet resigned as mayor on April 16, 1987, to take a vice-president's job at Hydro-Quebec. A by-election to choose his successor was held on May 30, 1987.

Source: James Mennie, "Ferland whips ex-MP to win Longueuil mayoralty," Montreal Gazette, 1 June 1987, A3.

References

1. ↑ Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal, accessed 16 May 2011.
2. ↑ Paquet was a shopkeeper in Montreal. He had previously contested Gabriel-Sagard as an independent candidate in the 1982 municipal election. See "East-end areas may be linked but have distinct issues," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 1986, p. 7.
3. ↑ Le Devoir, 8 November 1982, p. 1.
4. ↑ Amorell Saunders, "Eight St. Leonard city councillors quit mayor's 'undemocratic' party," Montreal Gazette, 5 May 1988, A3.
5. ↑ "St. Leonard party unites defectors and former rivals," Montreal Gazette, 9 October 1986, p. 8.
6. ↑ "St. Leonard party unites defectors and former rivals," Montreal Gazette, 9 October 1986, p. 8.
7. ↑ "New St. Leonard high school decision coming in 2 weeks," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1979, p. 4; "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
8. ↑ "New party unveils slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 4.
9. ↑ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
10. ↑ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
11. ↑ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazettee, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
12. ↑ The seat became vacant on the resignation of Alfonso Gagliano, who had been elected to the Canadian House of Commons. See "Gagliano quits post on school commission," Montreal Gazette, 30 January 1985, p. 1; "Angry parents plan to protest school decision," Montreal Gazette, 12 June 1985, p. 1. See also Debbie Parkes, "Locating a school for Grade 7s divides Jerome Le Royer board," Montreal Gazette, 6 March 1986, p. 6.
13. ↑ "Le Royer commissioners criticized for board's summer job hiring policy," Montreal Gazette, 3 July 1986, p. 10.
14. ↑ "St. Leonard gears for recounts as mayor's party scores near-sweep," Montreal Gazette, 6 November 1986, p. 1.
15. ↑ Jeannie Stiglic, "School board factions battle in the East End," Montreal Gazette, 22 October 1987, p. 13.
16. ↑ "New party unveils slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 4.
17. ↑ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
18. ↑ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
19. ↑ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
20. ↑ "Ultimatum to Renaud latest salvo in suburb war of words," Montreal Gazette, 2 January 1985, p. 1.
21. ↑ "Councillor calls for a united opposition in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 1 May 1985, p. 1; "Mayoral hopeful wants to follow his grandfather," Montreal Gazette, 4 September 1986, p. 5.
22. ↑ "Retirements lead to spate of changes at English school board," Montreal Gazette, 10 July 2000, p. 4. Concerns were subsequently raised about hiring practices on the board; see "Nepotism should be public" [editorial], Montreal Gazette, 7 December 2005, p. 30.
23. ↑ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
24. ↑ Gendron was described in the Montreal Gazette as a 49-year-old theatrical production company owner. He had previously sought election for mayor of Longueuil in 1982. See James Mennie, "Voters choose mayor Sunday in Longueuil," Montreal Gazette, 28 May 1987, I1. There was a Jacques Gendron who ran for Montreal city council in 1998; media reports do not indicate if this was the same person. A different Jacques Gendron ran as a candidate of the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 Canadian federal election.