Claire St-Arnaud

Claire St-Arnaud is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She served on the Montreal city council from 1994 to 2009, representing the east-end division of Longue-Pointe. St-Arnaud was a member of Vision Montreal until resigning to sit as an independent in 2008.

Claire St-Arnaud
Montreal City Councillor for Longue-Pointe / Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe
In office
1994–2009
Preceded byNicole Boudreau
Succeeded byLouise Harel
Leader of the Official Opposition on Montreal City Council
(equivalent of House Leader)
In office
2003 or earlier – 2008
Succeeded byAnie Samson
Chair of the Vision Montreal Caucus
In office
2003 or earlier – January 2006
Preceded byLuc Larivée (until 2002)
Succeeded byFrançois Purcell
In office
September 2007 – November 2008
Preceded byFrançois Purcell
Succeeded byGaëtan Primeau
Chair of Montreal Urban Community's Public Security Committee
In office
1997–2001
Preceded byKettly Beauregard
Succeeded byposition eliminated[1]

City councillor
First term

St-Arnaud was first elected to city council in the 1994 municipal election, defeating incumbent councillor Nicole Boudreau of the Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM). Vision Montreal won a majority government in this election under Pierre Bourque's leadership, and St-Arnaud served as a supporter of the administration. She was appointed as an assistant to Montreal executive committee chairman Noushig Eloyan and was given responsibility for community groups and for sports and recreation.[2] In 1996, she took part in difficult negotiations with municipal day camps and oversaw fee increases for children's hockey, baseball, and soccer.[3]

St-Arnaud became chair of the Montreal Urban Community's public security committee in February 1997.[4] Soon after her appointment, she oversaw the adoption of a community policing initiative proposed by police chief Jacques Duchesneau.[5] In 1998, she rejected a proposal by fellow Montreal councillor Marvin Rotrand for public consultation in the selection of the urban community's next chief.[6]

She circulated a letter to other councillors in 1996, informing them that Montreal had a $125,000 surplus and encouraging them to apply for youth and anti-poverty funding. Montreal Gazette, while endorsing the funding initiatives, criticized St-Arnaud for only sending the letter to Vision Montreal councillors and not to members of the opposition. St-Arnaud responded that this had been an innocent mistake.[7]

St-Arnaud was an ally of Mayor Bourque during Vision Montreal's internal divisions in the late 1990s. In March 1998, she joined Bourque in delivering a major statement on Montreal's medical health needs at a public hearing of the Montreal regional health board.[8]

Second term

St-Arnaud was re-elected in the 1998 municipal election, in which Vision Montreal won a second consecutive majority. She continued to serve as chair of the urban community's public security committee. In 2000, Gazette journalist Henry Aubin wrote a strongly critical editorial describing the committee as "mild and accommodating" to the police and describing St-Arnaud as "completely unknown to the public whom she theoretically represents."[9] (Not long after this editorial was published, a large-scale riot took place in downtown Montreal during a vigil against police brutality. St-Arnaud asked the police for a full report on the matter.)[10]

St-Arnaud also chaired a municipal committee on prostitution. In March 2000, she argued that repressive approaches such as arrests and prosecutions had not been successful and announced a pilot project in two districts aimed at getting prostitutes off the streets through social work.[11] The project was cancelled following vociferous opposition from local residents, who feared it would result in increased prostitution and crime.[12]

Third and fourth terms

St-Arnaud was elected to a third term in the 2001 municipal election, in which Vision Montreal was defeated by Gérald Tremblay's Montreal Island Citizens Union (MICU). During the term that followed, she served as both Vision Montreal council chair and leader of the official opposition party on city council (an equivalent position to that of House Leader in the House of Commons of Canada).

She was again returned for the renamed division of Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe in the 2005 election, which was also won by MICU. She remained leader of the opposition party on council but was for a time replaced as caucus chair by François Purcell. Purcell resigned in 2007, and St-Arnaud resumed the office as his successor. She continued to serve in both capacities until November 28, 2008, when she resigned from Vision Montreal to sit as an independent.[13]

St-Arnaud joined Tremblay's party, by now renamed as Union Montreal, in June 2009 and ran under its banner for borough mayor of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the 2009 municipal election.[14] She finished third against Vision candidate Réal Ménard.

From 2001 to 2009, St-Arnaud served on the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough council by virtue of holding her seat on city council.

Electoral record
2009 Montreal municipal election results: Borough Mayor, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
2005 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe
2001 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Longue-Pointe
1998 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Longue-Pointe
1994 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Longue-Pointe
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References
  1. The Montreal Urban Community ceased to exist on December 31, 2001. Peter Yeomans chaired the successor body to the MUC's public safety committee in the newly amalgamated city of Montreal.
  2. Charlie Fidelman, "City snubbing Cote des Neiges: group; Coalition angry as district is left out of Eco-Quartier cleanup program," Montreal Gazette, 12 April 1995, G1.
  3. Michelle Lalonde, "City's move could close day camps - operators," Montreal Gazette, 10 May 1996, A3; Aaron Derfel, "City sports `partnership' means parents pay more: Committee urged to reconsider," Montreal Gazette, 15 May 1996, A5.
  4. Aaron Derfel, "Mayor packs committees with Vision councillors," Montreal Gazette, 20 February 1997, A4.
  5. Aaron Derfel, "Community policing gets boost: Despite concerns about lack of staffing, MUC approves Phase 2 of project," Montreal Gazette, 19 June 1997, A3. Henry Aubin of the Montreal Gazette later argued that this initiative resulted in overworked police officers who could not devote sufficient attention to Montreal's traffic concerns, resulting in diminished road safety and lower revenues from fines. See Henry Aubin, "Road safety is neglected issue," Montreal Gazette, 2 September 1998, B3.
  6. Aaron Derfel, "Public won't be asked to help select top cop," Montreal Gazette, 15 April 1998, A5.
  7. "Vision Montreal's lack of scruples" [editorial], Montreal Gazette, 29 April 1996, B2.
  8. Yvonne Zacharias, "Montreal in crisis: Bourque," Montreal Gazette, 11 March 1998, A1; Aaron Derfel, "Stability takes top priority," Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1998, A1.
  9. Henry Aubin, "When watchdogs become lapdogs: Montrealers don't have to worry about police union revolting against civilian authority because it does precious little" [editorial], Montreal Gazette, 2 February 2000, B3.
  10. Mike King, "Explain rampage, city tells police," Montreal Gazette, 17 March 2000, A5.
  11. "Residents denounce Montreal's planned new approach to prostitution," Canadian Press Newswire, 8 March 2000.
  12. Michael Mainville, "Plug pulled on prostitutes project: Massive public outcry erupts against plan to end hooker arrests in two police districts," Montreal Gazette, 17 March 2000, A5.
  13. Linda Gyulai, "Office politics get catty in Mercier," Montreal Gazette, 23 January 2009, A4; "'Mother taught me dignity,' St-Arnaud says after move," Montreal Gazette, 31 January 2009, A8. The article titles refer to St-Arnaud's eviction from a corner office to a different room in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough council.
  14. Steve Caron, "Claire St-Arnaud se joint à Union Montréal", Les Nouvelles Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, 30 June 2009, accessed 21 August 2013.
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