Marc-André Esculier is one of six candidates running in the district 4 by-election. Voting will take place Sept. 25, with advance polling being held Sept. 18. (Photo by Kristina Edson)
District 4 vote Sept. 25
A by-election taking place later this month in Saint Lazare’s district 4 is shaping up to be a battle with six candidates vying to fill a seat left vacant in June by councillor Denis Briard, who resigned for unspecified reasons. Only district 4 voters will be able to cast ballots on Sunday Sept. 25, or in the advance poll, taking place Sunday, Sept. 18. All voting will be held at the Saint Lazare Community Centre, 1301 rue du Bois. The candidates seeking to represent the district, a largely residential zone that includes within its limits the new fire station, the public works building, Parc Bédard, as well as a good portion of the downtown core, include: Marc-André Esculier, Paul Lavigne, Michel Lambert, Alvaro Martinez, Hugo Castonguay and Martin Couture. Among the candidates is a former town councillor, Lambert, who represented district 4 for four years and who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2013, a young newcomer, Castonguay, and Esculier, who a grassroots group opposing much of what the town’s elected officials do, is supporting. Esculier, a former Canadian Air Force member who has lived in district 4 for 37-years, says his primary goal for the remainder of the one year two month mandate will be trying to curb what he sees as irresponsible spending. Citing such recent expenditures as a “luxurious” newly built $5-million fire station, an “extravagant” $10-million town hall currently under construction, as well as a 75-percent pay raise and 90-percent expense account raise the town’s council approved themselves, Esculier says priorities need to change. “This district has been badly neglected, there are serious infrastructure problems with the sewage network yet council has approved more than 1,000 new houses that will link into it. We need to change the sewers and aqueducts and widen Ste-Angélique to accommodate all the cars, not plan a little horse festival that cost more than $2.1 million over two years,” he said while knocking on doors in district 4 Monday afternoon. Richard Meades, 72, a 30 year resident of Saint Lazare’s Chaline Valley and regular council meeting attendee, believes Briard resigned out of frustration. “He was discouraged, he couldn’t do anything. No matte what he said, how much research he did, his voice made no difference…. it’s a clique in there and if you’re not in it you can’t get anything done,” Meads, who has been publicly critical of the administration, said. Saint Lazare resident Richard Masys, who does not live in district 4, thinks it’s time for a shakeup within the municipal council. “They spend too much and they’re not working for us,” the retired widower said.
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