The upper mezzanine meeting room was almost packed full of residents from both Wards 1 and 2 of Alfred-Plantagenet Township. Event organizer and chair Nathalie Duval expressed great satisfaction with the turnout.

“Very happy because more people turned up than I had expected,” Duval said, following the end of the active debate session.

Duval noted that most of the residents who attended the event were either older adults or seniors. She expressed regret that more younger voters didn’t show up to listen to the candidates, despite efforts to promote the event through Facebook.

The four mayoral candidates, Yves Laviolette, Chantal Gallipeau, René Beaulne, and Marc Prud’homme, and the three Ward 2 candidates, Ian Walker, Antoni Viau, and Émilie Ducharme, took turns explaining their position on several topics that included arts and culture promotion within the municipality, maintaining public library services, forests and the environment, taxes, water and sewer services, and roads.

Before the start of the formal debate, Jean-Pierre Cadieux and Benoît Lamarche outlined their goals as the newly-acclaimed Ward 1 representative for next year’s council.