Mayor Rouleau still in charge

The council room in Dorval will once again be presided over by Edgar Rouleau. Serving Dorval since 1982, he was first elected mayor in 2005. His last mandate has been a challenging one, with many feisty question periods from residents concerned about lack of green spaces, the McConnell Woods sale, Pointe Picard closing and municipal spending.

Facing a fourth term, the mayor took it all in stride. « It was difficult, but we did the right things. We are looking forward and have a lot of work to do because we want to get a retirement residence built, get engineers to look at our flood relief system, get Pointe Picard back open and work with the airport to stop those night flights, » he said.

Defeated challenger Giovanni Baruffa was pleased with his own results. « I cannot complain at all. I am a new face in the mayoral race and I came in second. I feel pretty good about that, » he said after the results came in, already preparing for the next election.

Although not everything worked out for Mayor Rouleau’s Action Dorval team, as they lost longtime councilor Claude Valiquet who was beaten by retired career civil servant and independent Paul Trudeau. On the positive side for Rouleau, political newcomer Robert (Bob) Le Sage won District 3 for Action Dorval over independent incumbent Daniel Da Chao.

The turnout went from a disappointing 27% in District 2 – La Présentation to a 44% high in District 5 – Strathmore. But Resident Louise Dineen was frustrated with what she saw after spending the day at her polling station. « I am disappointed in the turnout, and the average age of voters was over 50. I only saw 10% or so were younger than that, » she explains.

The new council will be sworn in on Monday, November 20.