Yvette Bissonnet

Yvette Bissonnet is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was a member of the Montreal city council from 2001 to 2009, serving as a member of the Montreal Island Citizens Union (MICU; renamed Union Montreal in 2007). She had previously served on the Saint-Leonard council before that city's amalgamation into Montreal.

Bissonnet is married to Michel Bissonnet, a former Liberal member of the National Assembly of Quebec and the current borough mayor of Saint-Leonard. She worked as an administrative secretary before seeking public office.^[1]

Early political career

Bissonnet was first elected to the Saint-Leonard council in the 1986 municipal election, winning a narrow victory in the city's seventh ward as a member of mayor Raymond Renaud's Ralliement de Saint-Léonard (RdSL). She was forty-six years old during this campaign.^[2] The RdSL won ten out of twelve seats on council, and Bissonett initially served as a supporter of Renaud's administration.

In May 1988, Frank Zampino and seven other RdSL councillors resigned from the party to sit as independents. Bissonnet was one of the rebel councillors; she later joined Zampino's Parti Municipal and was re-elected under its banner in the 1990 municipal election.^[3]

The Parti Municipal dominated political life in Saint-Leonard during the 1990s, and Bissonnet was returned without opposition in the 1994 and 1998 elections.^[4]

Montreal city councillor

Saint-Leonard was amalgamated into the City of Montreal in 2001, and Bissonnet was elected as one of the community's three representatives to the Montreal city council in that year's municipal election. The Montreal Island Citizens Union won a majority on council, and Bissonnet supported new mayor Gérald Tremblay's administration.^[5] She was deputy mayor from January to April 2002, from September to December 2002, and again from May to August 2003, and served on the Montreal Transit Corporation.^[6] She was re-elected in the 2005 municipal election also served as interim borough mayor of Saint-Leonard in 2008, following Zampino's resignation.^[7]

In 2005, Bissonnet introduced a resolution at a meeting of the Saint-Leonard borough council to approve a twenty-year contract for the Dessau subsidiary Sogep to manage the community's parks, pavilions, and tennis courts. The resolution was approved. In 2009, the Montreal Gazette reported that Saint-Leonard was paying $1.06 million more under this arrangement than under its previous contract.^[8]

Bissonnet did not seek re-election in 2009.^[9]

Electoral record

2005 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Saint-Léonard-Est Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Montreal Island Citizens Union Yvette Bissonnet (incumbent) 5,682 75.95 Vision Montreal Hugues Surprenant 1,533 20.49 White Elephant Party Alain Perrier 266 3.56 Total valid votes 7,481 100 Source: City of Montreal official results (in French), City of Montreal.

2001 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Saint-Léonard (three members elected) Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Montreal Island Citizens Union Frank Zampino 20,279 26.29 Montreal Island Citizens Union Yvette Bissonnet 18,438 23.90 Montreal Island Citizens Union Dominic Perri 16,818 21.80 Vision Montreal Vincenzo Arciresi 7,555 9.79 Vision Montreal Basilio Giordano 6,417 8.32 Vision Montreal Louise Blackburn 6,190 8.02 White Elephant Party Denis Fournier 896 1.16 Independent Dolly N. Makambo 557 0.72 Total valid votes 77,150 100 Source: Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal.

1998 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Seven Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Parti Municipal (x)Yvette Bissonnet accl. Source: Irwin Block, "Second acclamation in a row for Zampino," Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1998, A6.

1994 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Seven Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Parti Municipal (x)Yvette Bissonnet accl. Source: Mike King, "Voting results: the final count," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 1994, A4.

1990 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Seven Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Parti Municipal (x)Yvette Bissonnet elected Source: Irwin Block, "St. Leonard votes for change as Cote St. Luc re-elects Lang," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 1990, A5.

1986 Saint-Leonard municipal election results: Councillor, Ward Seven Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Ralliement de Saint-Léonard Yvette Bissonnet 790 41.27 Unité de Saint-Léonard Remi Boyer 772 40.33 Rassemblement des citoyens et citoyennes de Saint-Léonard Vincent Rizzuto 182 9.51 Équipe démocratique de Saint-Léonard Micheline Neveu-Dumontet 170 8.88 Total valid votes 1,914 100 Source: "Results of council elections in 18 Montreal-area municipalities," Montreal Gazette, 3 November 1986, A8.

References

1. Debbie Parkes, "Five new candidates join St. Leonard mayor's slate," Montreal Gazette, 2 October 1986, X8.
2. Debbie Parkes, "Five new candidates join St. Leonard mayor's slate," Montreal Gazette, 2 October 1986, X8.
3. Amorell Saunders, "Eight St. Leonard city councillors quit mayor's 'undemocratic' party," Montreal Gazette, 5 May 1988, A3; "St. Leonard councillors aim to inform residents," Montreal Gazette, 19 May 1988, E8; Irwin Block, "St. Leonard votes for change as Cote St. Luc re-elects Lang," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 1990, A5.
4. Mike King, "Zampino, 8 councillors acclaimed in St. Leonard," Montreal Gazette, 18 October 1994, A6; Irwin Block, "Second acclamation in a row for Zampino," Montreal Gazette, 15 October 1998, A6.
5. John MacFarlane and Angus Loten, "'We showed who's boss': Team Tremblay captures the east," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 2001, A7.
6. "A l'attention du directeur de l'information: Sommaire des communiques transmis par CNW le 19 novembre 2001," Canada NewsWire, 19 November 2001, p. 1, "Deputy mayor named," Montreal Gazette, 1 May 2002, A4; Linda Gyulai, "Plenty of extra pay to go around," Montreal Gazette, 14 May 2002, A4; "Deputy mayor again," Montreal Gazette, 27 August 2002, A6; "La conseillère Yvette Bissonnet est nommée maire suppléante de la Ville de Montréal", City of Montreal, 5 May 2003, accessed 21 July 2011.
7. "Elections 2005: Results Montreal & Suburbs," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 2005, A6; Irwin Block, "Dry-run for city polls; By-Elections. Results will serve as barometer of parties," Montreal Gazette, 21 September 2008, A2.
8. Linda Gyulai, "St. Leonard parks contracts costing $1 million more; Borough expenses jump $88,500 per month," Montreal Gazette, 9 May 2009, A4.
9. Guillaume Picard, "Michel Bissonnet sera finalement candidat à la mairie", Progrès Saint-Léonard, 1 June 2009, accessed 21 July 2011.