A by-election has been called for June 6 in order to elect a new borough mayor for Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles following the resignation of Union Montréal’s Joe Magri. After serving four years as a Rivière-des-Prairies city councillor, Magri had just been elected borough mayor last November.
He announced early this month that he would be stepping down for health reasons, effective March 12th. It had previously been reported that he had been hospitalised after suffering a partial paralysis. Deputy mayor Suzanne Décarie of Vision Montréal is now serving as acting mayor.
During the last election RDP-PAT was a hotly contested borough. On election day the traditionally Italian and middle class Rivière-des-Prairies voted largely for Union Montréal and the working class francophone Pointe-aux-Trembles voted largely for Vision Montréal. Magri narrowly held the mayorship for Union but the borough council majority shifted to Vision.
For Vision this by-election represents an opportunity to firmly take control of the borough. If they win the mayorship, then they will immediately have a majority administration. It will also be the first electoral gauge of popularity for all the parties since last November’s general elections. Currently none of the three parties have selected their candidates for the position.