Jean-François Parenteau is a politician in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. He was elected as borough mayor of

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

in 2013 and, by virtue of holding this position, is a member of both the Montreal city council and the

Verdun borough council The Verdun borough council is the local governing body of Verdun, a borough in the city of Montreal, Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the pr ...

. He currently sits as an independent and is a member of the

Montreal Executive Committee The Montreal Executive Committee () is the executive branch of the municipal government of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The committee reports directly to city hall and is responsible for generating documents such as budgets and by-laws, which are then ...

Private life and early political career

Parenteau sought election as a borough councillor in Verdun's Desmarchais-Crawford division in the

2009 Montreal municipal election The city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, held a municipal election at the same time as numerous other municipalities in Quebec, on November 1, 2009. Voters elected the Mayor of Montreal, Montreal City Council, and the mayors and councils of each o ...

as a candidate of

Vision Montreal Vision Montreal () 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. Origins Vision Montreal was e ...

. He was narrowly defeated by Ann Guy of the governing

Union Montreal Union Montreal () is an inactive municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the governing party in the city from 2001, when it won its first election under mayor Gérald Tremblay, until 2012. The party remained the largest singl ...

party. When he sought election as borough mayor in 2013, media reports described Parenteau as forty-two years old and the owner of an orthopedics supply store in Verdun.

Borough mayor and Montreal city councillor

Parenteau was narrowly elected as borough mayor of Verdun in the 2013 municipal election. The following March, after an internal investigation into the awarding of construction permits in the borough, he announced the dismissal of Verdun's chief public works director Pierre Boutin. Although Boutin was cleared by the investigation, Parenteau justified the dismissal on the grounds that "the link of trust between a mayor and his borough director is essential to work on any serious administrative reform." Parenteau subsequently said that preferential treatment and insider connections between developers and civil servants had cost taxpayers at least $1.5 million in lost profits. Parenteau arranged to remove about 1,500 tons of soil from an abandoned snow dump near the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

in April 2014, six months after it had been deposited and shortly after it was discovered to have been contaminated with

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood, or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types w ...

. Later in the same year, he advocated for the creation of a new beach in the same area (in conjunction with the cleanup effort), over suggestions from the opposition Project Montreal party and others that the beach should be established near the

Verdun Auditorium Verdun Auditorium (Canadian French, French: ''Auditorium de Verdun'') is an arena located in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, Verdun, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The building opened on November 28, 1939 and holds 4,114 seats. It is the largest a ...

, closer to a

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (, ) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure ...

station. Parenteau eventually reversed his position in the face of public opposition and gave approval for the beach to be constructed near the auditorium. In early 2016, the Verdun borough announced that it would no longer lease a space for ''Réseau d'Entraide de Verdun (REV)'', a

food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

in the community. A representative of REV indicated that the borough had refused to meet with them to work out differences; Parenteau responded that this was not an accurate statement, and that the borough had made efforts to "mend fences" but ultimately ended the lease due to continued acrimony. Parenteau served as an associate member of the

Montreal executive committee The Montreal Executive Committee () is the executive branch of the municipal government of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The committee reports directly to city hall and is responsible for generating documents such as budgets and by-laws, which are then ...

(i.e., the municipal cabinet) with responsibility for water, working in conjunction with

Chantal Rouleau Chantal Rouleau is a Canadian politician who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2018 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Pointe-aux-Trembles as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec. Prior to ...

, the executive committee member responsible for this file. Parenteau was chosen as the third most popular politician in a 2016 YULorama poll of Montreal residents, behind

Denis Coderre Denis Coderre (; born July 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician who served as the 44th mayor of Montreal from 2013 to 2017. Coderre was involved in federal politics as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, serving as the member of Parliame ...

and

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

. Parenteau was reelected in the 2017 municipal election as part of

Équipe Denis Coderre Equipe or Équipe may refer to: ''Équipe'' Équipe may refer to: * team, in French language * ''L'Équipe'', a French newspaper devoted to sports * ''L'Équipe'' (TV series), a television series broadcast in many versions and in many countries ...

. However, shortly after the election, he left the party to sit as an independent upon being named to the

by Mayor

Valérie Plante Valérie Plante (; born 14 June 1974) is a Canadian politician serving as the 45th and current mayor of Montreal since 2017. First elected to Montreal City Council in the 2013 election, she served as leader of the Projet Montréal party sin ...

. He was named executive committee member in charge of citizen services and purchasing.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parenteau, Jean-Francois Living people Montreal city councillors People from Verdun, Quebec Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century mayors of places in Quebec