MONTREAL - It's decision day for 1,100 Quebec municipalities, as voters hit polling stations to choose their next batch of elected representatives.
Election officials were hoping that chilly temperatures barely nudging over the freezing mark for much of the province would not hinder voter turnout, which sat at about 45 percent across the province during the 2009 elections.
It appears that City of Montreal voters are casting ballots at a higher rate than they did in the previous election. Including advanced voting, 34.2 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m. Sunday, a total that is up from 32 percent at the same time in 2009, according to Election Montreal.
Voters will need to present either a Medicare card, driver’s license or Canadian passport. Certificates of Indian status or a Canadian Armed Forces identity card will also be accepted for those who have them.
City of Montreal voters can can ballots up until 8 p.m. at 3,802 polling stations in 530 locations.
“Voting is the noblest of civic duties and it’s also the foundation of all democracy,” wrote Election Montreal President Yves Saindon in a note urging people to cast votes.
A dozen candidates are running for mayor of Montreal including Marcel Côté, Denis Coderre, Mélanie Joly and Richard Bergeron.
Coderre, who voted Sunday morning in the north end of the city, told reporters that he was confident that he would prevail.
Coderre needed four elections before getting elected as federal MP but is considered frontrunner in his maiden effort at municipal politics. One of the few polls conducted during the campaign listed him as having the support of 41 percent of voters, giving him a 17 point lead over second-place Melanie Joly.
In Quebec City, incumbent mayor Régis Labeaume faces four opponents, including David Lemelin.
Laval voters will elect a replacement for longtime former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, who resigned and now faces a variety of criminal charges including gangsterism.
They will have a choice between Jean Claude Gobé, Robert Bordeleau, Claire Le Bel, Guy Landry and Marc Demers, who one poll has pegged as the frontrunner.
The Montreal island municipality with the highest voter turnout in 2009 was Ste. Anne de Bellevue where 60 percent of resident cast ballots. Outgoing mayor Francis Derro is not running for re-election, leaving the race between lawyer Paola Hawa and former police officer Paul Chablo.
The Montreal borough with the lowest turnout in 2009 was Pierrefonds-Roxboro where only 30 percent of voters cast ballots. The choice of borough mayors in that area is now between Jim Beis (Coderre), Christian Dubois (Coalition) Michael Labelle (Projet Montreal) and Karim Metwalli (Team Joly).
On the Plateau Mont Royal, which had a 45 percent turnout in 2009 in a Projet Montreal sweep, incumbent Borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez is pitted against challengers Danièle Lorain (Coalition), Gilbert Thibodeau (Coderre) and Martin Boyer (independent).
In the Mile-End district of the Plateau borough, former Musique Plus VJ Marie Plourde is attempting to win a council seat in her political debut, while Projet councilor Alex Norris moves over to the Jeanne-Mance borough where he faces former colleague Piper Huggins, who quit the party and now represents the Coalition.
Click here and consult the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page for a complete list of candidates in across the city.
Those casting ballots outside of the city of Montreal can find information at the Elections Quebec site.
Several incumbent Montreal-area mayors have already won by acclamation, including Anthony Housefather of Cote St. Luc, Peter Trent of Westmount, Ed Janiszewski of Dollard des Ormeaux, Philippe Roy of the Town of Mount Royal, Claude Pilon of Vaudreuil sur le Lac, Marc Roy of Ile Perrot and Marie-Claude Nichols of Notre Dame de l’Ile Perrot,
Voting trends
Municipal elections attract fewer Quebec voters than other those of other levels of government. About two-thirds of Quebec voters cast ballots in federal elections, while almost three-in-four vote in provincial elections. In comparison, 94 percent of Quebecers cast votes in the 1995 Quebec sovereignty referendum.
When Gerald Tremblay won the last Montreal mayoral vote in 2009, 39.4 percent of eligible voters came out to cast ballots. Second-place finisher Louise Harel would have won the mayoralty in 2009 had the 10 boroughs added to the city under her previous PQ government's municipal mergers not been included in the vote.
The competition for control of Montreal city hall was not always so hotly contested. In 1967, for example, 32 of 48 council seats were acclaimed and Mayor Jean Drapeau received 94 percent of the vote.
One of the highest-ever turnouts for a city of Montreal election took place during the FLQ October Crisis of 1970 when 53.2 percent of voters re-elected Drapeau again in a landslide.
Follow the CTV Montreal site for all the latest updates on the elections.
