Yves Ducharme
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| Yves Ducharme | |
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15th Mayor of Gatineau
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| In office January 1, 2002 – November 5, 2005 |
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| Preceded by | none |
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| Succeeded by | Marc Bureau |
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| Born | 1958 Montreal, Quebec |
| Political party | ` |
Yves Ducharme (born in Montreal c.1958) was the mayor of Hull, Québec, in the Outaouais region, from 1992 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2005 mayor of Gatineau after the city had been merged with its neighbor which were part of the supra-organization the Communaute Urbaine de l'Outaouais. He was defeated in an election in 2005 by Marc Bureau and decided to quit municipal politics.
He first entered municipal politics in 1986 and was elected mayor of Hull in 1992. He remained a popular mayor and was re-elected a number of times until 2002 Hull was forced to merge with the surrounding cities of Gatineau, Aylmer, Buckingham and Masson-Angers, Gatineau, Quebec. The bigger city was named Gatineau and Ducharme became its first mayor in 2002 after beating in the election Gatineau's former mayor Robert Labine. In 2005 his reign came to end when he lost to first-time candidate, fellow councillor Marc Bureau, who won 68% of the vote, in an election in which the participation rate was 47,3%.
Although he lost by a landslide in his last election Ducharme's name is still associated in Hull and the new city with a number of achievements, including his negotiations with the federal government that allowed Canadian cities to receive a gas tax refund for municipal infrastructures, roads and public transit.
Critics point out the "executive" style of Ducharme's governance and its lack of transparency. Some city councillors pointed out that all decisions were taken behind closed door by the executive committee (Yves Ducharme, André Levac, Jocelyne Houle and others) creating a "black box" effect. While decision rationale were negotiated behind closed doors, the final word was given to city council with very limited information. The city council would then vote Yes or No on most resolutions without a single clue of the information. City councillors Marc Bureau and Thérèse Cyr criticized this kind of opaque governance and Bureau promised during the 2005 election campaign to be more transparent then Ducharme.
