Louise Roy is a former politician in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. She was a member of the

Montreal city council The Montreal City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Montréal) is the governing body in the mayor–council government in the city of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the ...

from 1994 to 1998 and served as president of the

Montreal Citizens' Movement The Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM, french: Rassemblement des citoyens et des citoyennes de Montréal or RCM) was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It existed from 1973 to 2001. Origins The Montreal Citizens' Movement ...

(MCM) party. Since retiring from politics she has served in some managerial roles. She is not to be confused with another Louise Roy, who is the chancellor of the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

and has served as president of the Montreal Urban Community Transit Corp. and chair of the Montreal Arts Council. The other Louise Roy was also an MCM supporter and was sometimes rumoured as a mayoral candidate for the party.

Early life and career

Roy was an activist in 1980, campaigning for

bicycle lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor v ...

s in Montreal. She later served as president of the Tour de l'ile de Montreal, worked with

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

, and led a regional tourist association in the

Lac-Saint-Jean Lac-Saint-Jean () is a federal electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, northeast Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004, and has been represented since 2015. Demographics :' ...

area. She was chosen as MCM president in February 1994 and, in her first press conference, argued that the traditionally

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

party would need to take a more pro-business direction.

City councillor

Roy ran for Montreal city council in the Laurier ward in the 1994 municipal election; at one stage in the campaign, she stood in for party leader and incumbent mayor

Jean Doré Jean Doré (12 December 1944 – 15 June 2015) was a Canadian politician and mayor of the City of Montreal, Quebec. Background Doré studied law at the Université de Montréal, where he was president of the student union from 1967 to 1968. ...

in a debate on women's issues. The MCM was defeated by the

Vision Montreal Vision Montreal (french: Vision Montréal or VM) was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1994 and dissolved in April 2014. Between 2001 and 2013 it formed the official opposition on Montreal City Council. O ...

party on election day, although Roy won her own seat and joined council as an opposition member. Pierre Bourque, Montreal's new mayor, appointed her to chair the city's finance committee as part of a bid to include opposition parties in the governing process. She served in this role until 1997, when Bourque replaced her with a Vision Montreal councillor. In 1996, Roy led the MCM in opposing Bourque's plan to privatize municipal water services. She resigned as party president in April 1997 and later served as its public safety critic. The MCM subsequently went through serious internal divisions, and Roy and two other councillors resigned from the party in April 1998. She later joined the New Montreal Party and ran under its banner in the 1998 election. She was defeated by an MCM candidate.

Since 1998

Roy later served as publicity director for the group

Divers/Cité Divers/Cité was an LGBT multidisciplinary arts and music festival taking place each year in the heart of Montreal, since 1993. A week-long avant-garde event in the heart of downtown Montreal and in Montreal's Gay Village area held usually on the e ...

. She was the marketing director for Montreal

Gay Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...

events, and in 2001 she served on the bidding committee for Montreal's campaign to host the 2006

Gay Games The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals. Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was starte ...

. Although Montreal's bid was successful, the city and the Federation of Gay Games later failed to agree on financial oversight of the event, and the games were moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In response, Roy helped to organize a rival Outgames competition in Montreal. The latter event was not a financial success, and Roy's early prediction that it would show a profit proved to be inaccurate.Jan Ravensbergen, "Outgames creditors grudgingly accept settlement," ''Montreal Gazette'', 26 April 2007, A7.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Louise Living people Montreal city councillors Women in Quebec politics Women municipal councillors in Canada Year of birth missing (living people)