Gatineau Municipal Elections

[Schattenjager]

So Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin recently became Mayor of Gatineau. I, unfortunately, wasn't really paying much attention to Gatineau politics because there's very little mention of it in the majority of English press in Ottawa.

What does this mean for those living in Gatineau? I've heard that he'll be looking at ways to improve the transit infrastructure and he's even mentioned that he's willing to work with the City of Ottawa to improve inter-provincial transit.

Discuss...

[Aylmer]

He endorsed the idea of LRT to the west of the city and he held a press conference early in the campaign with me where he committed to finishing a prefeasibility study in the first six months on the idea. It's very exciting!

It's also the remarkable revolutionary step of acknowledging the existence of Ottawa (wow!) and it'll be frosty in Hell for the next four years as he actually wants to work WITH Ottawa! It's as if we moved 500km closer to Ottawa overnight! I'm hoping that Ottawa will reciprocate with better integration of transit, data and just a closer relationship.

This is very, very good for Gatineau and indeed the whole region.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

It's also the remarkable revolutionary step of acknowledging the existence of Ottawa (wow!) and it'll be frosty in Hell for the next four years as he actually wants to work WITH Ottawa! It's as if we moved 500km closer to Ottawa overnight! I'm hoping that Ottawa will reciprocate with better integration of transit, data and just a closer relationship.

This is very, very good for Gatineau and indeed the whole region.

Let's see if Ottawa receiprocates, or, as usually, whinges about spending "our" money on "them".

[harls]

I think Bureau goofed up when he declined to do interviews in the last week of the campaign. He wouldn't even do the door-to-door crap like my councillors did in my electoral district. Maybe he wanted out, who knows?

At least we didn't have 4 mayors in one year.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by harls

I think Bureau goofed up when he declined to do interviews in the last week of the campaign. He wouldn't even do the door-to-door crap like my councillors did in my electoral district. Maybe he wanted out, who knows?

At least we didn't have 4 mayors in one year.

Your absolutely right, his avoidance of the media and citizens in general is what made him lose the election.

As for Aylmer's comment, I agree, this could bring long needed change to relationship between Ottawa and Gatineau as one metropolitan region as opposed to a big city loner and a want to be independent suburb. Let's just hope that the politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa (municipal and federal) are ready to co-operate.

[kevinbottawa]

So Destination Gatineau is dead. On one side of the coin it was mostly just a glorified green space along the water, but investing in the Ruisseau de la Brasserie area instead, as the new mayor envisions, seems like a much less ambitious project. I think the Destination Gatineau project would've done a better job of attracting tourists. But I'm happy with the new mayor's views on transit and his dedication to Old Aylmer.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

So Destination Gatineau is dead. On one side of the coin it was mostly just a glorified green space along the water, but investing in the Ruisseau de la Brasserie area instead, as the new mayor envisions, seems like a much less ambitious project. I think the Destination Gatineau project would've done a better job of attracting tourists. But I'm happy with the new mayor's views on transit and his dedication to Old Aylmer.

I think we need a vibrant downtown for citizens before we need a vibrant downtown for tourists.

[kevinbottawa]

A downtown-based tourism strategy vs. a strategy that spreads tourism investment throughout the city. Which one is more effective?

New mayor in Gatineau signals changes to tourism investment plan

OBJ Staff
Published on November 05, 2013

A major waterfront redevelopment in Gatineau is in doubt following the results of the city’s mayoral election on the weekend.

On Sunday, incumbent mayor Marc Bureau was voted out and replaced by challenger Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, who had campaigned against a $135 million riverfront redevelopment plan.

Mr. Bureau had promoted Destination Gatineau as a way to get tourists to see more of the city, rather than just visiting the Canadian Museum of Civilization and heading back to Ottawa.

But Mr. Pedneaud-Jobin has condemned the plan, saying it’s too focused on the downtown area and wouldn’t even succeed at keeping tourists in the city.

During his campaign, Mr. Pedneaud-Jobin proposed a $67 million redevelopment plan called Destination TOUT Gatineau, which he said would benefit residents, as well as tourists, and support other parts of the city.

That plan calls for a $35 million investment for redevelopment in the downtown area, along with $11.5 million for the Aylmer Marina and the Parc des cèdres. It also calls for another $21 million to be spent on smaller projects at other parks in the city.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/Tourism/2013...estment-plan/1

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think we need a vibrant downtown for citizens before we need a vibrant downtown for tourists.

That's true. But both Destination Gatineau and the Ruisseau de la Brasserie project are tourism development projects; they're supposed to give people a reason to stay in Gatineau longer once they've visited the museum instead of going back to Ottawa. I don't know if they're trying to make their downtown vibrant for residents.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think we need a vibrant downtown for citizens before we need a vibrant downtown for tourists.

+11111

And a "vibrant" waterfront is one with as little pointless "green space" as possible.

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think we need a vibrant downtown for citizens before we need a vibrant downtown for tourists.

Personally, I agree very much with this as a basic statement. Once a city feels "bien dans sa peau" with itself, tourists will come check it out. It's a much more durable way to get people interested in your city than put on a show that gets stale quickly (especially if that "show" is... more grass)

[Acajack]

What is fascinating is how the pollsters were hopelessly off the mark.

Bureau was supposed to win by the wide margin that Maxime P-J eventually beat him with!

[J.OT13]

All that Destination Gatineau did (as far as I can tell) was turn mostly NCC land and private land to green space. Nothing but more grass along the river. Not worth 135 million.

Did they (Bureau and his cronies) even talk to the NCC and private land owners about it?

[Mille Sabords]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

All that Destination Gatineau did (as far as I can tell) was turn mostly NCC land and private land to green space. Nothing but more grass along the river. Not worth 135 million.

Did they (Bureau and his cronies) even talk to the NCC and private land owners about it?

I tend to agree. This was not a recipe for a vibrant urban core. In detail, the Kruger lands that were going to be cleared ran the risk of becoming Gatineau's Lebreton. There's so much land there, that clearing it all would have left a gaping hole with the extraordinarily difficult task of regenerating it from scratch. It took 40+ years for Lebreton and it's still at turtle-speed because the market isn't absorbing these new dwelling units at a normal rate (since they're in the middle of an urban void) - how long would it take in Gatineau, a smaller market (despite the waterfront location), factoring in the decontamination time and expense?

Better to leave Kruger there as a legitimate industrial member of the downtown core and its history, and if/when it goes away, re-use the buildings. They are enormous buildings with unique potential. Nobody would purpose-build something like that today.

[Cre47]

Biggest issue first to deal is transit, not just with the Rapibus, but the inconsistencies of service in the Hull sector which probably have the worst on-time performances of all the city. What a mess the Hull routes are during the PM rush hour particularly the 30-series routes which are frequently over 10 even up to 30+ minutes late. I hope they can fix this, because it frequently has overcrowding issues (31, 33, 35, 37). Maybe time to assign articulated buses on those routes and make the schedules more consistent. It is already inconsistent on the actual schedule by look at the User Guide.

But I think it's a good thing Bureau has been defeated, as at the end he looked like someone who was no longer interested in the job participating in only one debate.

[Cre47]

Little negativity though about the new mayor, it's the second straight mayor who has named an ultra-separatist (ex-PQ candidate) in a key mayor's cabinet position, this time the press secretary spot and I'm not a big fan of that guy.

However, excellent choice regarding the Cabinet chief, much better than Mayor Bureau's choice

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Little negativity though about the new mayor, it's the second straight mayor who has named an ultra-separatist (ex-PQ candidate) in a key mayor's cabinet position

I'm not very familiar with Gatineau/Quebec politics, is controversy over this sort of thing common?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Little negativity though about the new mayor, it's the second straight mayor who has named an ultra-separatist (ex-PQ candidate) in a key mayor's cabinet position, this time the press secretary spot and I'm not a big fan of that guy.

However, excellent choice regarding the Cabinet chief, much better than Mayor Bureau's choice

Who is the new attaché de presse then? Can't find his name in the news.

Also, Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin has a lot of personal history with the PQ himself.

This is very rarely an issue for most people in Gatineau. It's one of the things that surprised me when I moved here from Ontario. In the Franco-Ontarian community this would the kiss of death politically.

[begratto]

Originally Posted by Acajack

This is very rarely an issue for most people in Gatineau. It's one of the things that surprised me when I moved here from Ontario. In the Franco-Ontarian community this would the kiss of death politically.

Well, most of us québécois have voted for the PQ at one point or another in our life: for most voters, the PQ is the only alternative to the Liberals, and was, for a very long period, the only alternative on the left of the political spectrum.

In Quebec, there's generally no stigma associated to the fact that someone has been a supporter of the PQ, even in the Franco-federalist circle (yes, they exist! But they are usually not very passionate about this). Very few people care about your past political affiliations, really.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by begratto

Well, most of us québécois have voted for the PQ at one point or another in our life: for most voters, the PQ is the only alternative to the Liberals, and was, for a very long period, the only alternative on the left of the political spectrum.

In Quebec, there's generally no stigma associated to the fact that someone has been a supporter of the PQ, even in the Franco-federalist circle (yes, they exist! But they are usually not very passionate about this). Very few people care about your past political affiliations, really.

Exactly. The difference is as I said very striking when you compare to Franco-Ontarians. There even a suspicion of PQ sympathies in many circles is enough to have more people than you think want to have nothing to do with you.

I've been on the board of francophone cultural organizations in Ontario where half the ''house'' was adamant about not inviting singers and bands from Quebec that were pro-independence or suspected of being so. We finally won the day after a long battle when we explained that their lineup would be mostly empty (and would also exclude certain Franco-Ontarians, Franco-Manitobans and Acadians) if they went all the way with this.