The candidate for the town hall, François Roy, at the head of the François Roy team, announces a new promise for the municipal election of November 2. He confirms that he would abolish the mayor’s office if he were to be elected.
In response to the chief of the Éric Latour coalition, who spoke in favor of a cabinet of the neutral mayor last week, François Roy said that he would remove the cabinet and his three posts. According to him, this is an unjustifiable expenditure.
In a press release sent to French CanadaMr. Roy denounces the fact that around $ 500,000 from the city’s budget be allocated each year to the town hall’s office. Any municipality of more than 50,000 inhabitants can have a cabinet, at the discretion of the mayor; The firm’s budget is calculated from the overall city budget.
“We take money from my citizens to enhance the image of the mayor, to deal with his social media, to prepare his political strategies and manage his communications. Citizens’ money must be used for services that go directly to citizens, ”says François Roy in an interview.
“I describe it as a political luxury, totally,” he adds.
A complicated history
According to François Roy, the usefulness of the town hall’s office still remains to be proven. “We get along in Saint-Jean, it has always been a source of baffles. It makes the decisions that are made at the Town Hall very opaque because everyone has to go through the town hall’s office, “he said.
Since the spring of 2024, the firm of the mayor Andrée Bouchard has been working for the political elected officials of her team only, taking care of the communications and social networks of the advisers, for example. To date, only three out of 12 municipal councilors are part of the political training of the mayor.
The independent elected officials were invited to ask their questions to the general management of the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. This is the way of doing things according to Mr. Roy since his posting as a municipal councilor, in 2021. If he says he is very satisfied with the work done by the general management, François Roy is distressing that the resources of the town hall of the town hall are made available to a low minority.
In the press release, he suggested using the sum allocated to the office to subsidize promising projects for citizens, or even give this money to organizations like the Saint-Vincent de Paul.
Politics and Administration
The town hall candidate recalls that the cabinet exists away from the municipal administration and depends only on the mayor in office. By talking to citizens, “no one knew that the mayor has a discretionary envelope that he can use as he wants for his town hall cabinet”, recalls François Roy.
He believes that the general management and its employees will be sufficient to respond to the requests of the municipal councilors who use it to find answers to the questions asked by the citizens or obtain information.
“What the citizens expect from a mayor is that we give them what belongs to them and that we defend their interests above all. This is my role, to put money and power in the hands of citizens; It is not to build a cabinet to serve my image, ”says the candidate.
