Women elected mayor in Westmount, on South Shore

CTV Montreal: Municipal races There were some notable changes, and quite a few women voted in, in municipal races around Montreal.

The municipal elections that took place across Quebec on Sunday delivered several surprises.

While the election of Valerie Plante made her the first female mayor of the city of Montreal, she is not the only female mayor on the island or in the suburbs.

In Westmount Christina Smith, who had been acting as interim mayor since Peter Trent stepped down earlier this year, was elected in a tight race.

“I’m excited that I have a mandate from citizens,” said Smith. “I have been serving as mayor for a few months with a mandate from my colleagues, but I’m excited that citizens got out to vote.”

She had nearly double the vote tally of rival councillor Patrick Martin, while Beryl Wajsman, editor of The Suburban, garnered a bit more than 500 votes.

On the South Shore, Sylvie Parent was elected mayor of Longueuil with a margin of 118 votes over Josée Latendresse. Both were former councillors, although Parent had the support of exiting mayor Caroline St-Hilaire.

In Brossard, Doreen Assad has been elected to become that city's second female mayor. She defeated Paul Leduc who had been seeking a sixth mandate.

In Cote Saint Luc, Mitchell Brownstein was re-elected, handily defeating former mayor Robert Libman who had served as mayor until 2005.

“I’m a mayor that’s a consensus builder and I work with everyone and I think people are happy with what we’ve done in Cote Saint Luc and I’m looking forward to working with everyone,” said Brownstein.

The mayor of Laval, Marc Demers, was re-elected with about 46 per cent of the vote.

In the West Island several mayoral races went to the incumbent, but there were changes in two cities.

Ed Janiszewski, who has been mayor of DDO for 33 years, was ousted and replaced by Alex Bottausci.

The entrepreneur said he was hoping to bring in more transparency.

For Pointe Claire's new Mayor-elect John Belvedere, the second time’s a charm.

"I ran in 2013 for my first time and I got 47 per cent of the vote. And from that day on I made a promise that I would work every day to get close to the people and understand what people want," said Belvedere, who won in a three-way race with 60 per cent of the vite, after former mayor Morris Trudeau said he would not seek a second term.

"I've been a community volunteer everywhere I've lived, since 12 years old I've volunteered. I care about my city and it's up to me to give back," said Belvedere. “There are a lot of new big projects coming to Pointe Claire -- the new REM, environmental programs, bike paths and so on.”

Georges Bourelle was re-elected in Beaconsfield, Paola Hawa was re-elected in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, and Edgar Rouleau was re-elected in Dorval.

Off-island, Jamie Nicholls was elected as mayor of Hudson with more than 70 per cent of the vote after the death of former mayor Ed Prevost.

Nicholls said he plans to continue Prevost’s legacy.

“We had issues of corruption a few years ago and some auditing mistakes that happened, so that was a big thing that we are not out of the woods yet,” he said,

In Quebec City, Regis Labeaume was re-elected as mayor with 55 per cent of votes tallied; still a majority, but much less than the 74 per cent he received in 2013.

In Levis, Gilles Lehouillier was re-elected with 92 per cent of ballots cast.