(Batiscan) Among municipal enthusiasts
With its string of pretty old houses facing the river, its neo-Gothic church and its Old Presbytery in the heart of a heritage site, the village of Batiscan, crossed by the Chemin du Roy, encourages you to slow down.
From her balcony, Micheline Langlois has a breathtaking view of the neighboring town hall, housed in the former caisse populaire. Candidates who covet the mayor’s office cannot ignore it either: Mme Langlois will vote in the municipal elections on November 7, as she always has.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Micheline Langlois (right) and her mother
“It is a civic duty”, she declared during our visit this summer.
Jeanine Bélanger, who was busy on the neighboring land, also voted in the last municipal elections, and plans to do the same this time around. Just like Jacques Brousseau, met on the way to the post office, Nicole Normandin, who was cycling along the river, and Josée Rochefort, who was returning from trout fishing.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Jeanine Belanger
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Jacques Brousseau
Gaston Poulin was unable to participate in the last municipal elections.
“I was in the South,” he explains.
Mr. Poulin is an exception in Batiscan, where 78.8% of the 931 registered voters voted for one of the mayoral candidates in 2017. But in the electoral landscape of Quebec, it is rather Batiscan who is an exception.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Gaston Poulin
In Trois-Rivières, half an hour from here, only 48.6% of the electorate voted on the choice of the mayor. In Montreal, the Coderre-Plante fight attracted only 42.5% of the voters. In almost a third of the municipalities in the province, the first magistrate was elected with a participation rate of less than 50%.
What is happening in Batiscan?
“About 10% of the population actively volunteers. This is an indication of a completely exceptional democratic health, ”argues the outgoing mayor, Christian Fortin. “It’s very politicized here, people like it! », Testifies Sonya Auclair, also candidate for mayor.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The outgoing mayor and candidate for the next elections, Christian Fortin
Small municipalities tend to have better participation rates, noted researchers Jérôme Couture and Sandra Breux when compiling the results from 2005 to 2013. This is only one factor among others, warns Mr.me Breux, professor at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS). “There has to be a struggle both in terms of the stakes and in terms of candidates. ”
In Batiscan, M. Fortin and Mme Auclair have been fighting each other since 2009. Mr. Fortin, who was elected mayor for the first time in 2001, was dislodged by Mr.me Auclair in 2014. He took over in 2017, by a small margin: 34 votes at the end of a judicial recount. Both will be back in line in November.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The mayoral candidate Sonya Auclair
The beach, the main stake
Asked about his priorities, Mayor Fortin talks about commercial and residential development, as well as social peace. Candidate Auclair, she put the elderly, cycling and major events at the top of her program.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The municipality of Batiscan does not have a beach, it being in the extension of private residences.
Voters often evoke another issue. “The beach is always what is at stake! », Says Mme Normandin.
The territory of Batiscan may have been developed from the St. Lawrence since the French regime, the municipality does not have land that would allow residents and tourists to bask by the river. The sandy beach next to the wharf is an extension of private residences.
“It divided the population,” says Pierre Labarre. “The owners along the riparian strip contested that, a right of way on their land, the people who left waste, empty cans,” he explains. But from his beautiful house built in 1914 on rue Principale, he does not miss the beach. “It’s like the Gaspé here,” he says, showing his breathtaking view of the river.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Pierre Labarre
Mme Normandin is not keen on it either. “I’ve lived here for over 40 years, I’ve just been on the beach twice. ”
Candidate Sonya Auclair, who had made it her hobbyhorse during her previous mandate, still believes in it. To compensate for the lack of public service on the 2.4 km that separate the wharf from the lighthouse, the municipality could buy waterfront lots in the province, she said. “I could put toilets and accesses”, explains Mme Clear.
“It is a file which is ruled”, considers for his part the mayor Fortin. “Up to the water line, it is in the private domain. All we can do is move around. ”
The race for mayor promises to be once again in Batiscan. “We look at this. There is still one thing to do: it’s in November, ”notes Mr. Brousseau.
“In the next elections, we are no longer going to the South. We’re going to vote, that’s for sure, ”Mr. Poulin promises himself.
Municipal challenges
The participation rate in the 2017 municipal elections was 44.8% for all of Quebec. Compared to the last provincial (66.5% in 2018) and federal (62% in 2021) general elections, it’s starving.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE
Sandra Breux, researcher and professor at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS)
“When we say: ‘People don’t vote’, it’s on average. But when you take the time to analyze the results, the reality can be really different, ”says Sandra Breux, professor at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS).
Several municipalities are indeed showing exemplary participation rates. In 71 of them, at least 70% of registered voters went to vote for a mayoral candidate, including 12 with a turnout of over 80%.
The larger the population, the less likely it is to vote. The average turnout in the 2013 elections was over 62.3% in municipalities with less than 2,000 inhabitants, but in those with more than 100,000 inhabitants, it was only 45.1%, shows an analysis co-conducted by Mme Breux.
“One of the explanations is that the voter [d’une petite municipalité] feels that his vote can make a difference, more than in a large one, where it is perhaps easier to say that it will not change a thing. ”
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Several municipalities have exemplary voter turnout rates in municipal elections. In 71 of them, at least 70% of registered voters went to vote for a mayoral candidate, including 12 with a turnout of over 80%.
Proximity is not enough, we need competitors and challenges that mobilize the population. The fact that older people vote more could also play a role in villages with an aging population.
Conversely, the higher proportion of tenants in large cities could explain the lack of interest in municipal affairs, where many issues affect owners. “But these are still trends, we can’t say: ‘It’s because of the tenants.’ It’s a variety of factors, ”warns Mr.me Breux.
Accidental exposure
It is nevertheless striking to see that in several major municipalities, less than 4 voters out of 10 participated in the choice of their mayor in 2017, notably in Gatineau (38.5%), Brossard (37.7%), Lévis and Saint-Hyacinthe (36.5%), Laval (36.3%) and Longueuil (33.1%).
“The daily impact is perhaps less concrete, because we are less confronted with this level, these are not issues of health, education, early childhood”, suggests Philippe Dubois, doctoral student in political science specialized in municipal politics at Laval University.
The sinews of war, according to him, is information.
The 2017 data shows us that knowledge, information on actors, is what seems to have an effect on voter turnout.
Philippe Dubois, doctoral student in political science specializing in municipal politics at Laval University
The results of a survey of 4,023 respondents shortly after the last municipal elections are striking.
Among voters who know the position of at least one mayoral candidate on at least one issue, almost 9 in 10 (87.5%) went to vote. On the other hand, among those who did not have this minimum knowledge, almost 6 in 10 (59.4%) did not exercise their right to vote.
Consult the study Reasons for voter participation in Quebec municipal elections – The case of 2017
“I am convinced that the news media are an essential link in this chain,” says Mr. Dubois. Not only does coverage of municipal issues make them important to the public, it also increases the chances of “accidental exposure,” he says. “People who are not necessarily interested or informed end up stumbling upon municipal political information and this can have an impact on their civic skills and, therefore, lead to electoral participation. ”
Will the pandemic, during which Quebecers have been more exposed than ever to their municipal spaces and services, increase participation in municipal elections in November?
“I don’t know how far voters are going to make a connection,” said Mme Breux. The pandemic has been very much the Prime Minister who has been in the foreground. ”
With the recognition of cities as local governments and the more active participation of mayors and mayors in public debates, the municipal was already more concrete in the minds of the population, notes Mr. Dubois, however. “We are in the order of assumptions, but the path is marked,” he said.
Voters who answer present
Here are the 10 municipalities whose mayors were elected with the highest participation rates in the last general elections.
- Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows
Participation rate: 91.4%
Number of registered voters: 162
Region: Bas-Saint-Laurent
- Rivière-Saint-Jean
Participation rate: 89.6%
Number of registered voters: 241
Region: Côte-Nord
- Marsoui
Participation rate: 84.4%
Number of registered voters: 282
Region: Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Maddington Falls
Participation rate: 84.4%
Number of registered voters: 366
Region: Center-du-Quebec
- Grande-Vallée
Participation rate: 83.6%
Number of registered voters: 929
Region: Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Mont-Saint-Pierre
Participation rate: 83.1%
Number of registered voters: 189
Region: Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Saint-Severus
Participation rate: 82.7%
Number of registered voters: 249
Region: Mauricie
- Villeroy
Participation rate: 82.6%
Number of registered voters: 403
Region: Mauricie
- Saint-Godefroi
Participation rate: 82%
Number of registered voters: 372
Region: Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine
- Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Madeleine
Participation rate: 81.5%
Number of registered voters: 401
Region: Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Calling everyone – Pictures from your home
Are you proud of your city or town? Send us a photo that represents what you like about your municipality with a sentence that explains to us what makes it a beautiful and good living environment, according to you. We’ll be posting the best shots as part of our coverage of the November 7 municipal elections.
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