There are more women — and harassment — in Quebec municipal politics, report shows

More women are entering municipal politics, but elected officials are facing more psychological harassment and even intimidation, according to a new report from the Quebec Federation of Municipalities (FQM).

This report, which surveyed 615 elected representatives, follows a similar survey done by the FQM back in 2017. Since then, the number of women elected as municipal councilors went up by about 7 per cent. Today, almost 40 per cent of councilors in Quebec are women.

There has also been a notable increase in the number of women elected as mayors. Nearly a quarter of Quebec municipalities are headed by women. In their last municipal elections, five major cities elected a woman mayor: Montreal, Longueuil, Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Saguenay.

"It's a big wind of change," said Line Fréchette, mayor of Saint-Majorique-de-Grantham, where four of the six councilors are women.

She says when she started in politics more than ten years ago, there were only two women on council — and priorities have shifted as more women got a seat at the table.

"We used to talk more about asphalt!" she said.

"Now we're talking about the well-being of our population, about healthy lifestyles."

Marylin Nadeau, the mayor of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, where there is parity between the six municipal councillors, agrees. She says both men and women's priorities increasingly align.

Psychological harassment is not only more present than ever before in the lives of elected representatives, but it also remains the issue most often highlighted by respondents, according to the report.

Almost 40 per cent of respondents said they had experienced harassment at least once in their political career. This compares with 28 per cent in the FQM's previous report in 2017.

According to the document, young elected officials and mayors are more likely to be targeted

"The population is less patient than it used to be; it wants answers immediately. They're asking for change, but they're afraid of change," says Fréchette.

Pleasing all residents is a difficult task, she says.

Nadeau believes citizens sometimes misunderstand the role of elected representatives. She would like to see more public education in this area.