Marianne Giguère

As a teenager, when Marianne Giguère pedaled her bike to join her friends in the village, cycling was not a way of life that was part of her identity: it was simply the only means of transportation available! Arriving in Montreal for her studies in the mid-1990s, she became a four-season urban cyclist, which gave her a whole new vision of the city and road safety. 18 years later, now a mother, Marianne mobilized a group of parents to make the area around her neighbourhood school safer: their interventions at the borough council led to the installation of a traffic light... and to her arrival in active politics. Marianne was first elected as borough councillor in De Lorimier in 2013, and then as city councillor in the same district in 2017.

Following the election, Marianne noticed that relations between the elected officials of the Plateau-Mont-Royal (then in the official opposition) and City Hall were not at their best. However, Marianne quickly felt supported by her fellow citizens, who confirmed that the tight-knit team of which she was a part was moving in the right direction. She sees that the residents are eager to come up with bold ideas, which gives them the desire to continue the work and move forward. Because each project is carefully prepared to assess all the impacts (on traffic, parking, the environment, etc.), Marianne and her colleagues always take the time to explain their decisions and answer questions from citizens.

Marianne is no stranger to pedagogy, having studied education after a first degree in geography. She then worked as a consultant and pedagogical advisor: with a team of specialists, Marianne gave teachers in the social world the tools they needed using new technologies to help young people learn. Now a politician, Marianne can count on the pride and support of those around her, which helps her to persevere.

In this regard, she is pleased to be involved in rebuilding the City's urban planning and mobility team. The necessary shift undertaken by the Projet Montréal administration is encouraging the departments to take a broader view of their work and encouraging collaboration among them. Every day, Marianne meets engineers and planners who push her ideas further, a dynamic that leads her to think bigger for her neighbourhood and her city. She is also a fan of small public spaces, urban agriculture and the well-equipped parks that are springing up all over the city.

On the Executive Committee, Marianne is the Associate Councillor for Mobility and Active Transportation. Needless to say, she is extremely pleased with the first sections of the ASR, which set new standards for quality cycling facilities: it will be hard to go back, she says. No doubt yesterday's teenager would be pleasantly surprised at how far she's come on her old bike...