Vision Montreal Crisis, 1997

The Vision Montreal Crisis of 1997 was a severe political crisis in Montreal, Canada. In January the mayor of Montreal, Pierre Bourque of the Vision Montreal Party, attempted to dismiss two fellow party members from the city's executive committee. This led several party members to defect, complicating governance and undermining party credibility for the remainder of Bourque's term.

Origins

In January 1997, Mayor Pierre Bourque tried to dismiss two members of Montreal's executive committee: Deputy Chairman Sammy Forcillo and Pierre Goyer. Yet, the city charter of 1921 clearly states that appointments to the executive committee are irrevocable. Forcillo and Goyer left Vision Montreal (Bourque's party) to sit as independents, but exercised their right to stay on the committee. Therefore, management by consensus became nearly impossible to reach for the remainder of Bourque's term. ^[1]

That incident as well as allegations of authoritarian tendencies led thirteen other Vision Montreal councillors to leave the party and sit as independents with their colleagues of the opposition.

Consequences

By August 1997, only a minority of the council members (24 out of 51) were members of Vision Montreal and the credibility of the Bourque administration was undermined. ^[2] Most of the defectors were supporters of Jacques Duchesneau's Nouveau Montréal party, but others backed Jean Doré's Équipe Montréal, the RCM or even came back to Vision Montreal briefly before the next election. The severity of the crisis was such that for a while it appeared to seriously affect Bourque's chances of re-election.

Nonetheless, Bourque was re-elected in 1998, as were a substantial majority of his candidates.

Defectors

The defectors were:

	Councilmember	District	Status following the 1998 Election
	Serge-Éric Bélanger	Sault-au-Récollet	Re-elected as a Vision Montreal candidate
	Philippe Bissonnette	Saint-Paul	Elected as a Nouveau Montréal candidate
	Daniel Boucher	Jean-Rivard	Defeated as an Independent candidate
	Vittorio Capparelli	François-Perrault	Defeated as an RCM candidate
	Jack Chadirdjian	Darlington	Defeated as a Nouveau Montréal candidate
	Jacques Charbonneau	Louis-Riel	Re-elected as a Vision Montreal candidate
	Hubert Deraspe	Louis-Hébert	Did not run for re-election
	Sammy Forcillo	Saint-Jacques	Elected as an Équipe Montréal candidate [3]
	Pierre Gagnier	Cartierville	Defeated as a Nouveau Montréal candidate
	Robert Gagnon	Émard	Defeated as an Independent candidate
	Pierre Goyer	Saint-Édouard	Defeated as an Équipe Montréal candidate
	Robert Laramée	Père-Marquette	Defeated as a Nouveau Montréal candidate [4]
	Marie Lebeau	Pointe-aux-Trembles	Defeated as a Nouveau Montréal candidate
	Martin Lemay	Sainte-Marie	Defeated as an Équipe Montréal candidate [5]
	Nathalie Malépart	Maisonneuve	Did not run for re-election
	Germain Prégent	Saint-Pierre	Elected as a Nouveau Montréal candidate

Members of the executive committee are indicated with bold fonts.

References

1. Commission permanente de l'aménagement du territoire - Auditions et étude détaillée du projet de loi n° 216, Assemblée nationale du Québec, June 4, 1997
2. La politique municipale à Montréal dans les années 1990 : du « réformisme populaire » au « populisme gestionnaire », Serge Belley, Érudit
3. Sammy Forcillo briefly supported Jacques Duchesneau for Mayor and then changed his mind and announced that he would back Jean Doré's Équipe Montréal.
4. Robert Laramée ran again as a Vision Montreal candidate in 2001 and 2005.
5. Martin Lemay ran again as a Vision Montreal candidate in 2001 and 2005.