During a city council meeting a few weeks ago, one at a time, three female Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., councillors spoke out to denounce what they said was a lack of respect, transparency and openness from the mayor and the rest of council.
They each announced they would be resigning from the mayor’s political party, Parti de l’action de Vaudreuil-Dorion, to sit as independents.
Jasmine Sharma, councillor for District 3, says the main reason behind her decision was that the mayor often expected councillors to vote systematically and unanimously for projects he put forward, with no questions asked.
“As a councillor, I felt it was just part of the democratic process to be able to express yourself and ask questions and get to the bottom of issues, especially when you’re having to take some very important decisions at a municipal level and it became — I considered it to be a very toxic work environment,” she said.
Sharma says her work environment became even more tense after she recently found out that she and the two other independent councillors were removed from several municipal committees.
They say the decision was made by the mayor and the rest of council as a punishment for leaving the party.
“It’s just a way to make us silent, but we will not be … silent,” said Karine Lechasseur, councillor for District 4. “We will work hard and we will try to continue to read everything and talk with our citizens and continue to do our best to understand what our citizens want.
Mayor Guy Pilon disputes their argument, saying all councillors have an opportunity to express their opinions.
Meanwhile, he says the decision to rejig membership of the municipal committees was made because he wants everyone on those committees to be on the same political team.
“When you are a team, you are going to say take that, take that,” said Pilon. “But they are not anymore on the team.”
All three independent councillors say they have no plans to resign from their roles.
They say they’re determined to continue to work with the mayor and the rest of council.