‘This administration’s third term is one too many,’ says party’s deputy chief of staff at city hall
Action Laval has chosen a university lecturer who is also a senior member of its staff to be Action Laval’s mayoralty candidate in the municipal elections set for Sunday November 2.
Val-des-Arbres councillor Achille Cifelli, the city hall opposition party’s president, made the announcement at a press conference last week that Frédéric Mayer will spearhead their efforts leading towards election day.
They were surrounded by three current Action Laval city councillors and a few candidates who will be on the Action Laval slate this fall.
A Vaillancourt opponent
According to biographical notes furnished by the party, Mayer is a native of Laval and has two teenage sons. He began his involvement in municipal politics in 2009 as a political organizer who was galvanized into action by his opposition to then-mayor Gilles Vaillancourt.
Mayer’s academic credentials are noteworthy. He holds a PhD in public administration from École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ÉNAP), where he is a part-time lecturer. Mayer also completed a Master’s degree in management and international relations.
As well, he completed a thesis on relations between Canadian provinces and China while working for Services Canada and Elections Canada. He was most recently deputy chief of staff for Action Laval’s opposition team at city hall.
From China to Laval
According to his biography, Mayer spent time in China, where he lived and worked for four years. On his return, he was employed as an attaché to former Bloc Québécois MP for Alfred-Pellan Robert Carrier, who was present last week for the announcement.
In 2009, Mayer began working with city councillor for Saint-Bruno David De Cotis to set up the Mouvement lavallois, where Mayer was responsible for the party’s organization and communications. From 2014 to 2016, he was director of the Mouvement lavallois’ office for its elected officials at city hall.
Following De Cotis’s rift and departure from the Mouvement lavallois which he had co-founded, he turned to Mayer to organize Action Laval’s 2021 election campaign.
‘Time to focus,’ says party
Mayer said he intends to draw on his experience as an administrator in both the private and public sectors, as well as his doctoral training at the ÉNAP, in an effort to take control of the city’s finances.
“The city has been suffering from a lack of coherence and vision for too many years and this administration’s third term is one too many,” said Mayer. “It’s time to focus on the services for which citizens pay their city taxes.”
In a statement outlining what is likely to become a part of Action Laval’s election platform, the party said they intend to set up a commission on the city’s finances, as well as to review the relevance of the costs of some of the Boyer administration’s projects.
They also want to lower the city’s debt by carrying out projects paid for in cash up-front rather than through long-term loan by-laws, and to return to the city’s core mission, which they said “is to ensure the delivery of community services at the highest standard.”
Lower council presence
Action Laval has been reduced to three members of Laval city council after recently losing two councillors. Saint-Vincent-de-Paul councillor Paolo Galati left the party caucus after being investigated for spending irregularities by the Quebec Municipal Commission.
Although he was exonerated of wrongdoing, party president Achillle Cifelli said last week that Galati is not being taken back in. In the meantime, longtime Action Laval city councillor for Chomedey Aglaia Revelakis announced during the February 4 city council meeting that she decided to leave the party and will run as an independent in the November elections.
