On the mission, Mayor Marchand is “never where he should be.”

“It’s time for him to go to the United States,” says official opposition leader Claude Villeneuve.

Mayor Bruno Marchand is fully preparing for a new mission abroad, which will take place from October 6 to 15. For the fourth time in as many missions since his arrival at the helm of Quebec City, he will visit European cities.

A decision unanimously criticized by the two main opposition members of Quebec City Council.

“This week, half the members of the Quebec government, Mayor Valerie Plante and many of the economic players in Quebec’s energy transition were in New York. The mayor says he takes care of the environment, and that is what happened in New York this week. “This is where the president should have been Municipality,” points out Claude Villeneuve.

He believes that such a mission with a “major” economic partner could have been carried out “at low cost” and in a “snap” manner.

In New York, decision makers met to discuss the fight against climate change and sustainable finance, in particular, on the occasion of World Environment Day Climate Week.

“The mayor will go to Europe by bike instead of being among our closest neighbors wherever it matters. His choice of mission shows that he is very far from the concerns of citizens,” adds Mr. Villeneuve.

“In the end, the mayor never got to where he should be.”

— Claude Villeneuve, leader of the official opposition

His colleague Stevens Melanson, elected in the second opposition party, shares this view. The missed appointment in New York was, he said, “essential” to the nation’s capital.

“I don’t know if there is a position he would want to aspire to in Europe,” laughs the Chute-Montmorency-Seigneurial municipal councilor. I find that we are not in the right place at the right time. »

In his view, Mayor Marchand would benefit from traveling somewhere other than the Old Continent to get ideas for the largest project in Quebec City.

“I wouldn’t send it any further than Ottawa or even to Boulder, Colorado,” Mr. Melanson suggests, citing the failures and successes these cities have faced as structural public transit networks have been developed.

Mayor Marchand began participating in missions less than a year ago, the first of which dates back to November 2022, when he traveled to France and Tunisia.

“He does too much,” criticizes Stevens-Melansons. He explains that Bruno Marchand is committed to carrying out three or four operations a year, even if he could do more.

His predecessor, Régis Labeaume, participated in some fifty missions outside Quebec during his 14-year reign as mayor of Quebec.