Montreal municipal election, 1986

The 1986 Montreal municipal election took place on November 9, 1978, 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

Mayor

Council

Information about the candidates

Independents

• Marcel Paquet (Gabriel-Sagard) was a shopkeeper in Montreal.^[2] He was an independent candidate for council in Gabriel-Sagard in the 1982 and 1986 elections and was defeated both times.
• Roger Larivée (Laurier) was elected as a Montreal city councillor in the 1978 municipal election after an unsuccessful bid in 1974. He served for four years as a member of Mayor Drapeau's Civic Party and was defeated by MCM candidate Robert Perreault in 1982.^[3] Larivée had intended to run as a Civic Party candidate again in 1986, but was denied the nomination and ran as an independent.^[4]

Results in suburban communities

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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7]
• Quintino Cimaglia (Ward Eight) was a forty-six-year-old entrepreneur, running in his first election.^[8]

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.^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• 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).^[11]
• Antonio Barretta (Ward Eight) was a thirty-six-year-old salesman in 1986. He was a first-time political candidate.^[12]
• Jules Lauzon (Ward Ten) was an engineer.^[13] 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.^[14] He attempted to change the board's summer hiring policy in 1987, charging that it was plagued by nepotism.^[15] He sought re-election to the Saint-Leonard council as an Équipe démocratique candidate in 1986 and was narrowly defeated.^[16] He did not seek re-election to the school commission in 1987.^[17]
• Jacques Amyot (Ward Twelve) was a forty-three-year-old employee of the Montreal Urban Community Transit Corp..^[18]

Rassemblement des citoyens et citoyennes de Saint-Léonard

• Liborio (Bob) Sciascia (Ward Five) was a thirty-eight-year-old accountant.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23] In 2000, he was hired as adult education director for the English Montreal School Board.^[24]
• Michelangelo Cannistraro (Ward Twelve) was a forty-eight-year-old company manager.^[25]

References

1. ^ Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal, accessed 16 May 2011.
2. ^ "East-end areas may be linked but have distinct issues," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 1986, p. 7.
3. ^ Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal, accessed 16 May 2011.
4. ^ Ingrid Peritz, "For Civic Party, picking candidates is a real shot in the dark," Montreal Gazette, 25 October 1986, A4.
5. ^ Le Devoir, 8 November 1982, p. 1.
6. ^ Amorell Saunders, "Eight St. Leonard city councillors quit mayor's 'undemocratic' party," Montreal Gazette, 5 May 1988, A3.
7. ^ "St. Leonard party unites defectors and former rivals," Montreal Gazette, 9 October 1986, p. 8.
8. ^ "St. Leonard party unites defectors and former rivals," Montreal Gazette, 9 October 1986, p. 8.
9. ^ "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.
10. ^ "New party unveils slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 4.
11. ^ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
12. ^ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
13. ^ "New party picks slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazettee, 16 October 1986, p. 6.
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ "Le Royer commissioners criticized for board's summer job hiring policy," Montreal Gazette, 3 July 1986, p. 10.
16. ^ "St. Leonard gears for recounts as mayor's party scores near-sweep," Montreal Gazette, 6 November 1986, p. 1.
17. ^ Jeannie Stiglic, "School board factions battle in the East End," Montreal Gazette, 22 October 1987, p. 13.
18. ^ "New party unveils slate for vote in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 16 October 1986, p. 4.
19. ^ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
20. ^ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
21. ^ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.
22. ^ "Ultimatum to Renaud latest salvo in suburb war of words," Montreal Gazette, 2 January 1985, p. 1.
23. ^ "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.
24. ^ "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.
25. ^ "St. Leonard party vows it will sweep every council seat," Montreal Gazette, 23 October 1986, p. 1.