Dozens of Quebec mayors and councillors were reelected without opposition in 2025

Dozens of cities in Quebec elected their representatives by acclamation ahead of the municipal election.

The fate of municipal elections across Quebec was settled this weekend, as dozens of cities, big and small, elected their representatives by acclamation because they ran unopposed.

In Chateauguay south of Montreal, Mayor Éric Allard and his entire team didn’t need to put up too many signs, as no other candidate filed their paperwork before Friday’s deadline.

Municipal elections are set for Nov. 2.

• READ MORE: How to make sure you’re registered to vote in Montreal’s 2025 municipal election

“What they’re telling me is that they’re happy with what we put in place in the last four years,” he said.

Allard’s team, from Alliance Chateauguay, are also all heading back to city hall, something they claim shows they’re in tune with the population.

According to the city, it’s the first time in history that all members of Chateauguay’s mayor and council ran unopposed.

“You know, there are 50 cities in the province [where] people are the most happy, and for the first time, Chateauguay entered that top 50,” said Allard.

Chateauguay is not the only place where the mayor was reelected by acclamation. It happened in dozens of cities and towns, big and small, all over Quebec.

For some people, it’s not necessarily a sign of good democracy.

“Well, there could be two reasons explaining that,” said political analyst Raphael Melancon. “The first one being that the population in those cities is satisfied with the current administration, and they don’t feel the need to have any opposition running against the incumbent administration. So that’s one option. The other option is that more and more people are less interested in municipal politics than ever.”

Melancon points out that only small-town mayors used to run unopposed, but now major city officials often bypass elections.

On the Island of Montreal, Dollard-des-Ormeaux Mayor Alex Bottausci ran unopposed in the on-island suburb of just under 50,000 residents.

Neighbouring Kirkland Mayor Michel Gibson is returning to city hall for a fourth term without opposition in the 20,000-resident town.

Quebec’s 10th-largest city is Terrebonne and has a population of almost 120,000 residents. Mayor Mathieu Traversy returns to office unopposed, as does Joliette Mayor Pierre-Luc Bellerose, who represents the town of 21,000 people.

“It raises certainly a yellow flag, if not a red flag, regarding our municipal democracy across the board in the province here, not just in small cities, as we have seen in the past, but also in larger cities,” said Melancon.

Residents can search for any municipality on the Elections Quebec page to see candidates and whether polls will be open on Nov. 2.

With reporting from CTV News Montreal journalist Daniel J. Rowe.