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Quebec Confidential: Montreal’s elections and the Jewish connection |
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Written by Mike Cohen
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009 |
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MONTREAL – Municipal elections recently took place across the province of Quebec. In Montreal, Jewish politicians did quite well.
In the city of Montreal, Mayor Gérald Tremblay won a third successive mandate despite a plethora of scandals emanating from his administration’s handling of certain large contracts. The Jewish community no doubt breathed a sigh of relief since Tremblay’s main opponent was Louise Harel, the former hardline separatist Parti Québecois municipal affairs minister. She was the one who pushed through forced mergers of suburban municipalities into Montreal in 2001. Not only was the move a disaster, but it also led to the PQ’s downfall. They have lost three consecutive elections.
Tremblay’s Jewish candidates included Michael Applebaum and Marvin Rotrand in the West End Côte des Neiges-NDG-Snowdon borough. Both play prominent roles in Tremblay’s operation. Saulie Zajdel, an Orthodox Jew who sat on city council for 23 years, stepped down as one of Tremblay’s councillors. Zajdel, 53, is the father of five and the grandfather of six. Is it the end of his political life? I would place a bet that we have not seen the last of this charismatic individual. By day he is the director of the Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.
When the forced mergers did take place, predominantly Jewish suburbs like Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead had to go along for the ride. Former B’nai Brith Quebec Region director Robert Libman was the mayor of Côte Saint-Luc at the time. He was among a group who solicited Tremblay to run as the leader of a new party called Union Montreal. They ended up winning the election against then incumbent Pierre Bourque. The result was ironic given the fact Bourque had played a key role in convincing the PQ to go the merger route. In the end, the very suburban municipalities that reluctantly went along for the ride massively supported Tremblay. Bourque became opposition leader, never saw power again and is now out of politics.
Libman was given a major role in Tremblay’s de facto cabinet as were Applebaum and Rotrand. Zajdel eventually quit Bourque’s Vision Montreal to join Union. The Jewish community never had such influence in Quebec’s largest city.
When Jean Charest faced off against then PQ Premier Bernard Landry in the April 2003 election, one of his major promises was to allow municipalities to demerge from their new entities if that’s what they wanted. However, after he won the election he made the process of actually demerging a little difficult. Nonetheless, Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Montreal West –which also has a sizeable Jewish community – all bolted. Libman had taken the position that staying a part of the Montreal megacity was a better idea. When that did not occur he decided not to seek re-election. These days he runs a highly successful architectural, consulting and property management company called Libcorp and serves as a political pundit for CTV.
Now for some full disclosure. In November 2005 I ran successfully for Côte Saint-Luc city council. Côte Saint-Luc residents actually elected a Jewish mayor and eight Jewish councillors, quite a typical result in perhaps the municipality with the highest per capita Jewish population in Canada. The same occurred in the recent vote (I was happily acclaimed). In Hampstead, their mayor and six councillors are also Jewish. The Jewish mayor of tony Westmount, Karin Marks, has retired. A number of other suburbs have Jewish councillors.
Good luck to all those who have been elected and re-elected.
Mike Cohen is the Jewish Tribune’s Quebec bureau chief. He can be reached at
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See his web site at www.mikecohen.ca. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 November 2009 )
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