“I had the privilege of being the mayor of Trois-Rivières for 17 years. In mergers, we took a city in decrease, which was poorly perceived, and it was given a pride. Today I make the choice to take up a new challenge, ”says Yves Lévesque.
To those who have criticized his waltz-hesitation since his defeat in the last federal elections-Trois-Rivières one day, Shawinigan the next day-the politician replies that he makes the least easy choice.
“I know that there are big files, drinking water, revitalization of avenue grandmother, Belgo … There are even internal people who wrote to me not to go there, that I was going to tear my hair on my head!”
— Yves Lévesque, candidate for the town hall of Shawinigan
At 67, he said he had all the energy to tackle the task of responding to the aspirations of the Shawiniganais.
“I am told that I was shopping for a job!” I did not shop, it was the people who came to bang at my door, ”observes Yves Lévesque, in response to his detractors.
“I want to serve”
His hesitation, he maintains, was linked to a journey which was played unilaterally in the Trifluvian municipal apparatus, and three attempts to be elected to the federal, in the regional capital still. A change of course deserved reflection, he argues.
“I want to serve. It is certain that Trois-Rivières was the natural choice, I know everyone, I know the machine, I was there for 24 years, “concedes the one who becomes the third candidate to enter the race for the succession of Michel Angers.
However, his quality of life on the shores of the lake at the turtle, the many discussions he had with different actors in the community, and the prospect of devoting the development of his adopted city in the coming years will have had the upper hand.
Yves Lévesque indicates that his decision was made upon his recent return of a stay in the United States. The great seduction operation on Friday morning, orchestrated by Shawinigan business people, did not tip the scale, he assures. At most, the support of the fifty people present will have reinforced in its choice.
Then, in front of the rumor machine which only brought up, he invited us to his house, alone, to tell us about his decision, without any other form of ceremony. “It’s Shawinigan!”
The word to citizens
Yves Lévesque is campaigning in the tone of humility. “I want to hear people, I want to listen to civil servants. Knowledge of the field starts from the base, it starts from citizens, ”he observes.
The aspiring mayor of Shawinigan relates to having heard a lot that the administrative heaviness strengthened the entrepreneurs in their momentum, that citizens came up against a municipal apparatus in lack of agility, that the general feeling suggests that the Shawiniganais “do not have much for their money”.
“Not normal that for months, you call the city seven times for a broken drain tank, and that each time you are told that a request has been opened and that someone will remind you,” he explains about a very personal experience.
However, what he himself has noted is also reported to him on all tones, by business people as well as by citizens.
The experienced politician believes that bringing the public service back to the heart of the processes will result in a valuation of their work and a better yield of the municipal apparatus.
“A mayor and ten advisers to manage emptying and snow removal, it’s too many people, too well paid. It’s part of our task, but our greatest task is to mobilize the staff, to make them proud to work for the organization of Shawinigan, and to give them tools to perform. ”
— Yves Lévesque, candidate for the town hall of Shawinigan
Yves Lévesque refrains from criticizing the Angers administration. However, he suggests that it is not him that we will see in missions abroad or on the stands of the UMQ to lather the image of his city. “We must prioritize our interventions,” claims the one who says he wants to do more with less. Pride, it comes with the results! ”
No too sharp commitments, however, at least for the moment. The candidate also describes as “ridiculous” that of his opponent Jacinthe Campagna, on a tax gel in a first budget. “If she takes the surplus to get there, to settle recurring expenses, it is mismanagement,” says the one who unchecks a first electoral arrow.
“What to do is become more efficient. If we get there, there we will have more money. And from there, to prioritize projects, ”thinks he who wants to bet on actions capable of improving the attractiveness of Shawinigan and attracting new generations there.
Luc Trudel and Jacinthe Campagna will therefore have to compete in Yves Lévesque in their ambition to succeed Michel Angers, who will soon draw the curtain over 16 years of reign at the town hall of Shawinigan. The ballot will be held on November 2. And the possible arrival of new applications could still change the situation.
