By Bryan Laprise
Local Journalism Initiative
Less than two hours after polls closed on election night, Nov. 2, Marie-Claude Bibeau was projected as the winner of the Sherbrooke mayoral race. Bibeau previously served as the member of parliament for Compton–Stanstead and held several ministerial roles in Justin Trudeau’s government.
According to the latest data from the Elections Quebec website, Bibeau won with 47.14 per cent of votes—some 27,550 votes—, with an advance of 10,019 over her closest competitor, Vincent Boutin, who finished with 30 per cent of votes. He was followed by Guillaume Brien with 6,754 votes (11.56 per cent). Raïs Kibonge, leader of Sherbrooke Citoyen, outgoing mayor Évelyne Beaudin’s party, finished with the least number of votes; some 6,607 (11.31 per cent).Bibeau celebrated her victory at Siboire Microbrasserie in downtown Sherbrooke, surrounded by family, friends, her team and supporters. A few minutes before 10 p.m., she gave her celebratory speech.“Thank you to Sherbrookers who trusted me, it’s a great privilege that you’re giving me. It comes with a lot of responsibilities, but I won’t let you down,” she said, in her opening remarks.
She proceeded to thank the other three mayoral candidates for their campaigns, with whom a “campaign of ideas” was led, with all four candidates offering different visions for Sherbrooke. According to Bibeau, the Sherbrooke municipal election campaign was a great example of democracy and of respect of each other’s ideas, creating an example for others to follow. Bibeau congratulated all the district councillors who were elected, saying she is excited to work with all of them.
“As I repeated many times over the campaign, I will be the mayor of all Sherbrookers over the whole territory—a mayor that will work hard with her municipal council to reinstate a sense of belonging and pride [in citizens] from one end of the city to the other,” stated the elected mayor.
First elected to the federal government in 2015 under the Liberal banner, Bibeau has been involved in politics ever since, keeping her MP seat through the 2019 and 2021 elections. Prior to this entrance into politics, she had been involved in many cultural organizations, such as being the director of the Musée de la nature et des sciences de Sherbrooke and being co-owner of the Camping de Compton.
She attributed part of her victory to this history of involvement. “During the last 10 years, I’ve built trusting relationships with the people of the region, which I believe were helpful. Before those 10 years of politics, I already had 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and as a manager as well,” Bibeau said. “I have quite a good network regionally—nationally as well.”
Bibeau had the support of her partner, Bernard Sévigny, who served as the mayor of Sherbrooke from 2009 to 2017. While he explained that all of Bibeau’s engagements were her own, he did answer some of her questions, especially when it came to the feasibility of initiatives, providing a few guideposts. “When she was making an engagement, she knew it was possible and realistic.”
“I think that from now own, Sherbrooke will be well served,” Sévigny added. “I know Marie-Claude well, I know how she does things, and I think that people will appreciate her way of doing things, her way of working with all citizens, partners and institutions. It’s her strength and I think people will see what she’s capable of.”
Part of Bibeau’s campaign included not making specific engagements based on hard numbers. Bibeau explained that this direction was taken to favour working with the municipal council and out of a necessity to see facts. “I need to hear from experts, I want to make real consultations and also speak with the stakeholders. I can do that in a quite expeditious matter,” she said. Being able to hear everyone’s perspectives and figuring out what could be a good consensus is one of her strengths, according to her.
During an interview with The Record after her speech, Bibeau outlined that her first priorities will be to meet with all the individual councillors to better know them, their experience, knowledge and expertise. “I believe one of the key elements to have a good team spirit is to make sure everyone is in their element,” she explained.
She chose to run as an independent to favour collaboration. Meeting with councillors works towards her main campaign promise of solid leadership and collaboration within the council, with the city’s employees and other local organizations.
Within the coming weeks, the first big undertaking will be working on and tabling the next municipal budget, which must be approved before Christmas.
Some of the main concerns of Sherbrookers which will be part of her work within the municipality over the coming years is focusing on municipal responsibilities “starting with roads” and water infrastructure including the water treatment plant. Other areas to work on are homelessness, climate change and sustainable mobility.
“We must work together. The best idea doesn’t have to come from the mayor. It can come from everywhere, I don’t care,” she expressed playfully. “I believe in collective intelligence, and I think we have to put all our resources together to face these challenges.”
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