By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
A new political party is gearing up to make its mark on the municipal political scene in Sherbrooke. The name Vision action Sherbrooke was reserved with Elections Quebec effective Feb. 2. According to Élections Québec, reserving a party name is an optional preliminary step a person or group can take before formally registering a party. The group’s name does not appear on the list of parties that have formally applied for authorization.
If Vision action Sherbrooke completes the registration process, it will become the second recognized municipal party in Sherbrooke. The council is currently divided between representatives of Sherbrooke citoyen, the party of Mayor Evelyne Beaudin (six seats) and independent councillors (eight seats).
According to Élections Québec, the party leader is Cédrick Hamel, an executive at a Sherbrooke-based sales lead generation company and former president of the Fédération étudiante de l’Université de Sherbrooke. He also worked for the campaign of Philippe Pagé, now a spokesperson for Beaudin, when Pagé was the Québec Solidaire candidate for Richmond in 2022. Hamel, who The Record was unable to contact on Wednesday, told La Tribune he wanted to “improve the debate” in municipal politics. He added that for the new party, “everything remains to be built.”
