Yves Lévesque (; born 1957) is a Canadian politician who served as Mayor of Trois-Rivières between 2001 and 2018.

Career

City Councillor

Lévesque won his first electoral victory in 1994, when he became city councillor in

Trois-Rivières-Ouest Trois-Rivières-Ouest () is a former city in Quebec, Canada, now in the City of Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice Ri ...

. He was re-elected in 1998.

Mayor of Trois-Rivières

In the wake of the province-wide municipal merging of 2001, he ran for Mayor of Trois-Rivières and won an

upset victory An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the "favorite") is defeated by (or, in the case of sports, ties with) an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying ...

against favourite candidate and

Cap-de-la-Madeleine Cap-de-la-Madeleine () is a former city in Quebec, Canada at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River and the St. Lawrence River. It was amalgamated into the City of Trois-Rivières in 2002. Population (2006 census) 33,022. History Cap- ...

Mayor Alain Croteau. In the 2003 provincial election, he campaigned in favour of the re-election of

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Guy Julien, who lost. In 2005, Julien ran against Lévesque for mayor, but the incumbent was easily re-elected with 70% of the vote. Recently, Lévesque has been trying to get the ''

Trois-Rivières Draveurs The Trois-Rivières Draveurs ("Raftmen") were a Canadian junior ice hockey team playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). They played home games at the Colisée de Trois-Rivières, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The team was origin ...

'', a franchise of the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

, back in town. On December 27, 2018, Lévesque announced he was retiring as mayor for medical reasons.

Federal politics

Lévesque officially joined the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in May 2018, taking out a party membership and speaking at the party's convention in

Saint-Hyacinthe Saint-Hyacinthe ( , ) is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 57,239. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie regi ...

. He stated at the time that he was considering running for the party in the 43rd election. He joined the Conservative Party because of its stated goal of decentralizing power to the provinces. On May 30, 2019, Lévesque was named the Conservative candidate for the riding of

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

. During the race, he was expected to win; however, he lost the race, standing third. Lévesque blamed party leader

Andrew Scheer Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who is the Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Opposition since 2025 and previously from 2017 to 2020 as Leader of the Conservative Party (Canada), leader of ...

's first French-language debate, wherein Scheer's perceived inability to defend his personal views from the other leaders shifted support from the Conservatives in Quebec, which never recovered. Lévesque ran in Trois-Rivières again as a Conservative in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and gained 17,027 votes (an increase of 1,787) but came in second.

Electoral record

Federal

Municipal (mayoral)

2017

2013

2009

2005

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levesque, Yves 1957 births Living people Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Mayors of Trois-Rivières 21st-century mayors of places in Quebec Quebec candidates for Member of Parliament Candidates in the 2019 Canadian federal election Candidates in the 2021 Canadian federal election Conservative Party of Canada candidates in the 2025 Canadian federal election