- Yves Ducharme
Infobox_Politician
name =Yves Ducharme
caption =
birth_date = 1958
birth_place =Montreal, Quebec
office = 15thMayor of Gatineau
term_start = January 1, 2002
term_end = November 5, 2005
predecessor = none
successor =Marc Bureau
party = `
religion =
constituency =
majority =
spouse =Yves Ducharme (born in
Montreal c.1958) was themayor of Hull,Québec , in theOutaouais region, from 1992 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2005 mayor ofGatineau after the city had been merged with its neighbor which were part of the supra-organization the Communaute Urbaine de l'Outaouais. He was defeated in an election in 2005 byMarc Bureau and decided to quit municipal politics.He first entered municipal politics in 1986 and was elected mayor of Hull in 1992. He remained a popular mayor and was re-elected a number of times until 2002 Hull was forced to merge with the surrounding cities of Gatineau, Aylmer, Buckingham and
Masson-Angers, Gatineau, Quebec . The bigger city was named Gatineau and Ducharme became its first mayor in 2002 after beating in the election Gatineau's former mayorRobert Labine . In 2005 his reign came to end when he lost to first-time candidate, fellow councillor Marc Bureau, who won 68% of the vote, in an election in which the participation rate was 47,3%.Although he lost by a landslide in his last election Ducharme's name is still associated in Hull and the new city with a number of achievements, including his negotiations with the federal government that allowed Canadian cities to receive a gas tax refund for municipal infrastructures, roads and
public transit .Critics point out the "executive" style of Ducharme's governance and its lack of
transparency . Some citycouncillor s pointed out that all decisions were taken behind closed door by the executive committee (Yves Ducharme, André Levac,Jocelyne Houle and others) creating a "black box" effect. While decision rationale were negotiated behind closed doors, the final word was given to city council with very limited information. The city council would then vote Yes or No on most resolutions without a single clue of the information. City councillorsMarc Bureau and Thérèse Cyr criticized this kind of opaque governance and Bureau promised during the 2005 election campaign to be more transparent then Ducharme.
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