Sherbrooke mayor temporarily withdraws from her functions on doctor's advice

Sherbrooke Mayor Evelyne Beaudin takes part in a panel discussion in Montreal, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin announced Monday that she was suspending her municipal activities for an indefinite period on the advice of her doctor.

In a message to Sherbrooke residents on her Facebook page, Mayor Beaudin wrote that the break recommended by her doctor seems “judicious at this moment,” because she wants to avoid

“a state of exhaustion which would be too important and too difficult to overcome.”

Beaudin wrote that she “cannot and does not wish” to identify a particular reason for her break form work. She added that being mayor “is both the most extraordinary and the most difficult thing that has happened” in her life.

Deputy Mayor Raïs Kibonge will take over Beaudin’s duties in her absence, according to a press release sent by Éric Sévigny, the city’s general director.

Sévigny added that the municipal council and the city administration “continue to work together to ensure that this change has no impact on services to the population.”

Councillor Laure Letarte-Lavoie will also assume the presidency of the city's executive committee during Beaudin's absence.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 30, 2023.