Action Montreal

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Action Montreal was a short-lived municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that existed from February to April 1994 under the leadership of entrepreneur Claude Beauchamp.

Montreal City in Quebec, Canada

Montreal is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which took its name from the same source as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. It has a distinct four-season continental climate with warm to hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

Quebec Province of Canada

Quebec is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario and the bodies of water James Bay and Hudson Bay; to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and to the south by the province of New Brunswick and the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. It also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canada's largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division; only the territory of Nunavut is larger. It is historically and politically considered to be part of Central Canada.

Claude Beauchamp is a journalist, publisher, and political activist in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Contents

Origins and platform

Beauchamp began his campaign for mayor of Montreal in November 1993 as the leader of a new and as-yet-unnamed political movement. [1] He formally launched Action Montreal on February 10, 1994, and indicated that the party would soon begin recruiting candidates for city council. The party was officially registered by Quebec's chief electoral officer on February 21, 1994. [2]

Mayor of Montreal mayor of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The Mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of the Montreal City Council. The current mayor is Valérie Plante, who was elected into office on November 5, 2017, and sworn in on November 16. The office of the mayor administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and provincial laws within Montreal, Quebec. The mayor is directly elected by citizens, by a plurality of votes, for a four-year term. The mayor's office is located in Montreal City Hall.

During its short existence, Action Montreal was supported by three councillors: Nick Auf der Maur, Gérard Legault, and Vittorio Capparelli. The party could have formed the official opposition in March 1994 had it sought official recognition from council, but Beauchamp said that he did not wanthis party to achieve this status with councillors who had previously been elected for other parties. As such, Auf der Maur, Legault, and Capparelli officially served as independents. [3]

Nick Auf der Maur was a journalist, politician and "man about town" boulevardier in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was also the father of rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur, through his marriage to Linda Gaboriau.

Vittorio Capparelli is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He served on the Montreal city council from 1986 to 1998 and was a member of the Montreal executive committee from 1994 to 1996.

Action Montreal advocated conservative views on economic issues. Beauchamp criticized the salaries of Montreal's civil servants at the party's launch and suggested that some positions could be abolished. [4] He later suggested that services such as aqueducts, roads, swimming pools, and libraries could be run by the private sector or as private-public partnerships. [5] Some opponents criticized the party's focus on business issues and described Beauchamp as little more than a representative of the city's business lobby. [6]

One of the Action Montreal's founding members was Michel Pallascio, a former chair of the Montreal Catholic School Commission who had once suggested that Quebec should only accept immigrants with values reflecting the province's "Judeo-Christian" majority, a comment that was seen as intolerant toward immigrants from other backgrounds. [7] Pallascio resigned from the party at Beauchamp's request after his past comments were highlighted in the media. [8]

Montreal Catholic School Commission Previous Roman Catholic school district of Montreal

The Montreal Catholic School Commission was a Roman Catholic school district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada which operated both French-language and English-language schools. It was the largest school board in Quebec, and was created on June 9, 1846, at the same time as a Protestant school commission, which became the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal. When Quebec's religious "confessional" school boards were replaced by linguistic ones in 1998, the French-language schools and the board's headquarters were turned over to the Commission scolaire de Montréal and its English-language schools to the English Montreal School Board. In 1847, the board had 377 pupils. By 1917, this number increased to 75,000 students. The first kindergarten was established in 1914. An alliance of Catholic teachers was founded in 1919. Primary education is established during the 1920s. During the 1930s, the MCSC began to distribute milk to students and the first school for the disabled opened.

Dissolution

Action Montreal ceased operations on April 5, 1994, when Beauchamp announced his resignation from the mayoral contest and gave his support to prospective Vision Montreal candidate Pierre Bourque. Shortly before his resignation, a Le Devoir poll indicated that Beauchamp was in fourth place among declared or likely mayoral candidates. [9] Many Action Montreal members later joined either Vision Montreal or the Montrealers' Party. [10]

Vision Montreal

Vision Montreal was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1994 and dissolved in April 2014. Between 2001 and 2013 it formed the official opposition on Montreal City Council.

Pierre Bourque, CQ is a businessman and politician in Quebec, Canada. He founded the Vision Montreal political party and served as mayor of Montreal from 1994 to 2001.

<i>Le Devoir</i> newspaper in Quebec, Canada

Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and throughout Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910.

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References

  1. ↑ Elizabeth Thompson, "It's official - Beauchamp to run for mayor; Federalist says business people don't trust Dore," Montreal Gazette, 30 November 1993, p. 3.
  2. ↑ "Action Montreal gets party status," Montreal Gazette, 22 February 1994, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Elizabeth Thompson, "City councillor who quit MCM; joins ranks of Action Montreal," Montreal Gazette, 23 February 1994, p. 3; Elizabeth Thompson, "Beauchamp wins support from third councillor," Montreal Gazette, 17 March 1994, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Elizabeth Thompson, "New municipal party comes out fighting; Poor city pays best salaries: Beauchamp," Montreal Gazette, 11 February 1994, p. 3.
  5. ↑ Elizabeth Thompson, "Turn over more municipal services to private firms: mayoral hopeful," Montreal Gazette, 4 March 1994, p. 3.
  6. ↑ Richard Mackie, "Montreal mayor wants tax deal Dore prepares for election," Montreal Gazette, 23 March 1994, p. 3.
  7. ↑ Jack Todd, "All business; This candidate for mayor makes MCM look good," Montreal Gazette, 12 February 1994, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Elizabeth Thompson, "Beauchamp dumps ex-MCSC chairman from Action Montreal interim executive," Montreal Gazette, 2 March 1994, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Michelle Lalonde, "Two parties unite to unseat Dore," Montreal Gazette, 6 April 1994, p. 1.
  10. ↑ Michelle Lalonde, "New candidates for Choquette; Ten ex-members of defunct Action Montreal Party join municipal-election team of mayoral hopeful," Montreal Gazette, 24 August 1994, p. 3.
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