Gilles Decelles was the new Mayor of Brome Lake long ago…d’ya recall ole timers!
Posted by Brome Lake Election Watcher, 10:32 pm, November 1st
Votor Participation: 50.3% (2499 out of 4966 eligible)
Gilles Decelles – 52.8% (1309 votes)
Pierre Marchand – 34.9% (865 votes)
Stanley E. Neil – 10% (247)
Michel Ayotte – 2.3% (57)
Councillor 1 – Donald Gagne – Incumbant elected without opposition
Coucillor 2- Marta Gomes – 46.4% (192 votes)
Councillor 3 – Jacques Lecours – Incumbant elected without opposition
Councillor 4 – June Call – 57.9% (234 votes)
Councillor 5 – Thomas McGovern – 39% (170 votes)
Councillor 6 – Patrick Ouvrard – 66% (269 votes)
Congratulations everyone! Good luck in the next four years!!
Elections are upcoming in Brome-Lake. Time for all citizens to get out and make a choice as to the leaders they want at the head of the future direction of the Town. It’s time to forget about any gaffes, taxpayer waste, political favoritism, stupid decisions and blatent mismanagement that may have been blamed on the last Mayor and Town Council and look towards a new future for Brome Lake.
Probably the most high-profile position in the election is for the position of Mayor. The voters are being asked to make a choice now for chnage. What is needed for any Town is leadership that is respected and on November 1st TBL will have a chance to achieve this! Voters will be able to elect a new Council and Mayor who they believe will act with respect and vision within a philosphy of sobriety and historical understanding of the English and French residents of the area.
A new Mayor and Council that encourages and listens to the views of residents. Some monthly meetings of Council have been downright embarassing as long-term residents were belittled and poo-pooed as being sticklers and trouble-makers who dared question a decision. There was often criticism of poor communications between residents and the Town. Criticism that the council was acting without consulting the public. Criticism that the Mayor and Council were acting as if some Silent Majority were pulling the strings!
It’s time for the Mayor and Council to be accountable. Wouldn’t it be great if a poorly perfoming municipal politician could be turfed out on their ear if they had a vote of non-cofidence like they do in Ottawa? That won’t likely happen so the voters will have to choose wisely and ensure that the qualities in the candidate are those that match their own philosphies and values.
Is the candidate in your election someone with a family and raising children in the town? Does the candidate have a profession that is something you could respect…a lawyer or an engineer or a real estate agent or a writer are not often cut from the same moral fiber. What are the issues your candidate holds as a priority? What has the old leadership done wrong that should be done differently? What has your candidate done in the past…a briefcase full of degrees or real world experience. Do they have a political affiliation? Are they Nationalists, Separatists, Anarchists, Naturalists, Buddhists?
We will hear the promises and rhetoric but won’t see how the level of spirit and enthusiasm will be integrated in the end until after the vote when it’s too late if it doesn’t work out! It’s a bit like having a pre-arranged mariage…the bride and groom often don’t see each other until their wedding night. Let’s hope the courting during this election will match the honeymoon and future anniversaries better than in the past!
Brome Lake – Lac Brome Election Candidates
Mayor -Mairie
Gilles Decelles
Stanley E. Neil
Michel Ayotte
Pierre Marchand
Councilor – Poste de Conseiller (1)
Donald T. Gagné (Incumbant -Candidat sortant) Elected without opposition – Élu sans opposition
Councilor – Poste de Conseiller (2)
Georges Bristol (Incumbant – Candidat sortant)
Colleen Davis
Marta Gubert Gomes
Councilor – Poste de Conseiller (3)
Jacques Lecours – Elected without opposition – Élu sans opposition
Councilor – Poste de Conseiller (4)
June Call
Alan R. Gauthier (Incumbant – Candidat sortant)
Councilor – Poste de Conseiller (5)
Stewart Bacon
Donald J. Davison
Thomas McGovern
Shelley Lee Mizener
Councilor -Poste de Conseiller (6)
Donald Wing
Lawrence Fairholm (Incumbant – Candidat sortant)
Patrick Ouvrard
In a recent episode of the La Voix de l’Est, Michel Laliberté spoke with Brome Lake’s Mayor. It was made official that Mayor Wisdom would not seek re-election on November 1st 2009. As translated by DK with apologies to the French Language!:
Michel Laliberté
La Voix de l’Est
(Lac Brome) Richard Wisdom will not return to City Hall Lac-Brome. The colorful mayor retires from politics. He left, but takes care to identify candidates that would like to see him succeed or Pierre Marchand.
Mr. Wisdom, 69, says he wants to take more time for him and his family. A great lover of scuba diving, he wants to devote himself more in the coming years, especially in Costa Rica where he and his wife have bought a house. It has also consume a lot of books, something he could do as much as it wished in recent years. “I’m healthy and I enjoy it,” he said in an interview yesterday morning in La Voix de l’Est.
If Mr. Wisdom has taken so long to announce his decision was that he was not very impressed by the candidates pledged to deprive him of his position. Two former mayors are in the running, and Gilles Decelles Neil Stanley, and Michael Ayotte. Mayor Wisdom would not extend time on them, except by saying that none of the three can not “grow” the city.
Quite the contrary for Pierre Marchand, believes Mr. Wisdom. “It can really help the city continue on a good road.”
From the businessman of 42 years, Mr. Wisdom said that a candidate is honest, intelligent, someone who “will not try to reinvent the wheel”.
Mr. Marchand is very little known, however, it remarks. At that, the mayor replied bluntly: “I was not well known either in 2003 when I introduced myself. But people trusted me and I won. ”
Mr. Wisdom will work alongside her foal in the coming days to raise awareness in the community.
Richard Wisdom gives a positive assessment of his six years at City Hall. He listed several projects and issues where the City has played a crucial role sometimes, now support: building the community center, creation of the Festival of Knowlton, developing a plan against blue-green algae, establishment of a tower cell phone, opening a public market (vegetable products).
His biggest disappointment: the services of the Sûreté du Québec. Lac-Brome, said again and again the mayor, pays too much for services received. “Yes, we are very disappointed. But we will not give up, “said he insisted. He has great hopes on the arrival of the Bromont MRC Brome-Missisquoi. “We’ll have an alternative.”
Mr. Wisdom thanked the council members for allowing him to live “an extraordinary experience.” “I’m sure it’ll miss,” he said.
While none of us here at DestinationKnowlton.com can understand how the “foal” fits into the election picture some pundits have postulated that Wisdom made a wise move by not running in November since he likely understood that he had the proverbial snowballs chance in Hell of getting re-elected.
If the exiting Mayor now throws his support behind one of the candidates it could be asked if this is the kind of endorsement that would actually do more damage than good? I guess the “foal” will find out soon enough!
Vote in the Brome Lake Municipal Election on
November 1st 2009
Editors note: People have often asked us at DestinationKnowlton.com if one of us would like to run for mayor because we sound like such “know-it-alls”! Listen…we don’t just SOUND like “know-it-alls”, okay! Politics isn’t for us because politics either requires that you break promises that are made during elections or else it requires you hypnotize the population like a Ponzi Scheming Market Fund Manager while squirreling away as much of your ill-gotten gains as possible during your tenure before you fly south to live a life of snorkeling amongst the clear green waters of the tax havens after the “jig is up” or the election is lost!
At least that’s how we see most elections and politicians! Comments welcome…it’s a free country right!!