Gatineau's Robert Bussière calls it a career
Tashi Farmilo
Robert Bussière has spent more than 36 years in public life, the last eight of them holding a Gatineau seat that only a Liberal had won since 1962. He announced his exit on May 31. In a letter to constituents posted to Facebook, the 70-year-old MNA said he will not run in the October provincial election and will retire when his term ends this fall, setting aside the third mandate he had been promising as recently as January.
His parting message leaned on a record built in one of Quebec's largest ridings by area, a sprawling territory that runs from the northern edge of Gatineau up through the Collines-de-l'Outaouais and the Vallée-de-la-Gatineau. The accomplishment he has pointed to most often is the Maison des aînés et alternative in Maniwaki, a roughly $120 million seniors' residence offering about 100 spaces that opened last year and replaced the aging Foyer Père-Guinard. He has also highlighted roughly $5 million in repairs along Route 105, more than $1.3 million to extend the paving of the Véloroute des Draveurs cycling path, funding for the Gino-Odjick sports centre, a new daycare confirmed for Maniwaki, and the extension of courthouse services in Maniwaki to residents of Gracefield and Cayamant. By his own tally, close to half a billion dollars in provincial money flowed into the riding during his first mandate alone.
The seat capped a long climb through Outaouais public life. Bussière was a municipal councillor from 1989, served two decades as mayor of La Pêche, and was prefect of the MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais from 2009 to 2017, also sitting on the region's local development centre and health board, before flipping Gatineau to the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2018. He held it comfortably in 2022, taking about 47 per cent of the vote and finishing more than 10,000 ballots ahead of his nearest rival.
He leaves as his party absorbs a difficult stretch. Premier François Legault, who founded the CAQ and won back-to-back majorities, resigned as leader in January amid sinking support; Christine Fréchette won the spring leadership race to become Quebec's first woman to lead the party and its premier, but the CAQ has been trailing in the polls, and Bussière is among a long line of members, including Legault himself, who are not seeking re-election. He is the notable departure in the Outaouais, where colleagues such as Mathieu Lacombe in Papineau and Suzanne Tremblay in Hull had signalled they intend to run again.
The contest to replace him is already underway. Quebec Liberal members chose David Logue, general manager of the Caisse Desjardins de la Haute-Gatineau, to carry their banner at a nomination meeting on May 30. A native of the Vallée-de-la-Gatineau, Logue beat former Cayamant mayor Nicolas Malette for the nomination and joins André Fortin in Pontiac and Michel Langevin in Chapleau as confirmed Liberal candidates in the region. The CAQ has yet to name anyone to defend Gatineau.
Quebecers go to the polls October 5, to fill all 125 seats in the National Assembly.
Robert Bussière, who broke a six-decade Liberal hold on Gatineau when he won it for the CAQ in 2018, has announced he will not seek a fourth term and will retire from politics this fall after more than 36 years in public life. Photo: Tashi Farmilo
