Already 120 days in office for Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette

Drazen Seslija

It was time to take stock on the morning of March 11 at Gatineau City Hall, when Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonette held a press conference to review her first 120 days in office. On the agenda: priority issues, the direction to take, and major challenges.

At the beginning of her speech, Mayor Maude-Marquis Bissonnette stated transparently that she wishes to improve her collaboration with the Quebec government to move her projects forward.

“We are in a large city in Quebec in the border region, and sometimes we feel far from Quebec City, so it's clear that a large part of the activities during the first 120 days focused on promoting Gatineau's voice everywhere,” she explains. "Concretely, I took advantage of the presence of the major cities in the UMQ. We participated in a parliamentary committee in Quebec City on Bill 1."

Ms. Marquis-Bissonnette also discussed the current situation and the direction to take with the resources at her disposal, presenting the city's priority issues for the good of the population.

Ms. Marquis-Bissonnette also discussed the current situation and the direction to take with the resources at her disposal, presenting the city's priority issues for the good of the population.

“Obviously, the mobilization around the tramway is a strong mobilization at the beginning of this term. So being at the table means defending Gatineau's reality, our infrastructure and housing needs, the rapid increase in homelessness, and our economic development assets to raise awareness of our reality. I would say that this is more important than ever”, she said.

She confirmed that discussions with the Quebec government regarding the tramway are still ongoing to move the project forward.

About homelessness, she specified that the Gatineau city will also address hidden homelessness in Buckingham, which she describes as a fragile situation, as well as homelessness among women and young people aged 18 to 25.

In her list of issues, Ms. Marquis-Bissonnette mentioned the proper allocation of the budget and infrastructure challenges, with municipal project costs skyrocketing, due in part to new provincial regulations, which account for approximately 40% of the increase, among other factors.