Campaign spending

The candidates’ election expenses reports are out

Bulletin staff

Gatineau published on March 2 the election expenses summary from the 2017 municipal campaign.

The candidate who spent the most during the mayoral race was the winner and incumbent Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin who spent $80,747. Not far behind, was Denis Tassé who put up $75,882 for the race. Sylvie Goneau ended up with a bill of $22,131 while Clément Bélanger’s expenses were significantly lower at $4,173. As for Rémi Bergeron, he only spent $558. It is interesting to note that this order matches the elections results.

In the Aylmer ward, contrary to the mayoral race, it is not the candidate who spent the most who won. The Action Gatineau candidate François Sylvestre dished out $4,376. Audrey Bureau, who won the ward with more than 76% of the votes, spent $3,932. David Inglis, who obtained less than 4% of the votes, has (according to the report) yet to file his paperwork.

In the Lucerne ward, where four candidates were facing off to succeed Mike Duggan, it is Mamadou Garanké Bah, a newcomer to the political scene, who finished with the biggest bill, one of $4,464. Véronique Boyer, Action Gatineau’s candidate, who replaced François Roy in the last months of the campaign, ended up spending $3,803 while the winner, Gilles Chagnon, spent $3,516. Roch Givogue was the candidate who used the least amount of money and he also finished last.

In the hotly contested ward of Deschênes, Mike Duggan, who won with 53.14% of the votes, spent considerably more than his opponent Richard Bégin. Duggan invested $5,298 while incumbent Bégin spent $3,568. Duggan is the only councillor candidate who surpassed the $5,000 bar and is therefore the one who (aside from the mayoral candidates) ended up with the most expenses for the municipal elections.

In the last municipal elections, Deschênes was the ward where Action Gatineau had invested the most money. The municipal party had invested $4,840 towards their all-star candidate Bégin, who was facing their chief critic Alain Riel. Bégin won the election with 54.23% of the votes in the two-way race.