A return to politics

Former Aylmer MNA Charlotte L'Écuyer launches warden campaign

Allyson Beauregard

After officially announcing her candidature on June 7 for the position of elected warden in this fall’s municipal elections, Charlotte L'Écuyer, former Pontiac MNA from 2003 until 2014, held a press conference at Langford's Grocery, June 12, to officially launch her campaign.

An avid supporter of an elected Warden, L'Écuyer stated in the past that she was uninterested in the position. “When I said it, it was true,” she said, noting she began having a change of heart after beginning a chronicle related to municipal and regional politics with local radio station CHIP FM and then touring most Pontiac municipalities in the summer of 2016 to hear about their concerns and relationships with the MRC.

The lack of awareness about the MRC's role and how it functions, encouragement from peers, and a desire to better support local businesses and better promote the Pontiac is what encouraged her to run for the position. “Our MRC has to play a greater role in supporting municipalities and promoters who have ideas and projects... we have a lot of human resources and we have to work closer with them,” she said, noting a better transfer of information from the MRC to the municipal level is needed.

If elected, L'Écuyer said her first step would be to listen to both the population and municipal elected representatives. “I'm not going there to take over. I'm a team player and don't work by myself,” she said, noting she will not be making any campaign promises regarding certain issues, such as paid parking at the Pontiac Community Hospital.

“I never make promises, I just work hard. I make sure I can deliver what I say. You never say you are going to do something before asking the mayors sitting at the table; they're the ones making the decision. [The warden explains] why it should be done or not, the costs, [etc.],” she concluded.

The MRC Pontiac's mayors voted earlier this year to allow the public to elect the next warden during the November 5 municipal elections.