Photo: Dimitri Papadopoulos • TLN
Parti au Service du Citoyen leader Robert Bordeleau was devastated
with the election results. “We will continue and we will be there in
the next election”, he said.

Mayoral race candidate Robert Bordeleau was unable to topple Gilles Vaillancourt’s 20-year reign as the city’s mayor last Sunday in the 2009 municipal elections. Head of Le Parti au Service du Citoyen (PSC) de Laval, a municipal political party formed in January 2006, Bordeleau saw his team as “the credible alternative” to the Vaillancourt administration.
However, Vaillancourt was re-elected as Laval mayor for his sixth term November 1st, with 61 per cent of the vote out of 97 965 total ballots cast. Mouvement Lavallois’ Lydia Aboulian came in second, with 23 per cent and Bordeleau garnered 15 per cent support.
Voter turnout
The night of the election, Bordeleau gathered with his team and supporters at Pizzédélic on Saint-Martin blvd ouest to watch the results. “We are very anxious because we put a lot of work into this. We believe we can make change in Laval. We have to wait and see though,” said Souvenir/Labelle candidate, Patricia Sepulveda, early in the evening.
“Feeling very good, very positive, very incredible,” expressed Bordeleau. When some disappointing numbers trickled in, he remained upbeat. “I just reviewed some of our numbers and told myself it’s only the first table. It might just be a concentration in one part where Mr. Vaillancourt and Ms. Aboulian are higher than me.”
However, that didn’t change as the evening wore on and the end result became clearer. Once again, front-runner Vaillancourt had achieved a landslide victory and Bordeleau’s dreams of becoming Laval mayor this election were vanquished. “It’s okay. They have 21 candidates, I only had 14,” he stated. Bordeleau also believes low voter turnout could have played a role. “With 35 per cent, people really don’t care about politics. We have to change that.” He did confirm the PSC Laval will be releasing more information about future plans in the coming days.
Looking ahead
One of PSC Laval’s objectives was to re-vamp the city council, narrowing down the current 21 city councillors to 14.  The team had also highlighted eight specific objectives they hoped to achieve within the first 80 days in office if elected, which included offering citizens the choice of using different instalment plans for paying property taxes, implementing a moratory on all construction in the city’s wooded areas, forest, and wetlands for conservation, and creating a 420 kilometre tram system across the city.
Bordeleau, 51, ran unsuccessfully for city council in the Laval-des-Rapides district in the last three elections and was determined to succeed this time around. He wasn’t disclosing much about his future in politics the day following the election, but he assured the PSC Laval would continue with its mission. “I created it four years ago and I will continue to supporting it,” he said. “Personally, I am feeling very good. I have a company which I will have a bit more time to take care of now. I’m back on track today. It was my first time running for mayor and I am always progressing.” For more information on the PSC Laval, visit www.psclaval.org.