# Yves Lévesque

Yves Lévesque (French pronunciation:; 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. 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 against favourite candidate and Cap-de-la-Madeleine Mayor Alain Croteau. In the 2003 provincial election, he campaigned in favour of the re-election of Parti Québécois incumbent 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, a franchise of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, 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 in May 2018, taking out a party membership and speaking at the party's convention in Saint-Hyacinthe. 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. During the race, he was expected to win; however, he lost the race, standing third. Lévesque blamed party leader Andrew Scheer'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 and gained 17,027 votes (an increase of 1,787) but came in second.

## Electoral record
### Federal

vte2021 Canadian federal election: Trois-Rivières :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Bloc Québécois | René Villemure | 17,136 | 29.49 | +1.01 | $16,854.26 |
| | Conservative | Yves Lévesque | 17,053 | 29.35 | +4.17 | $40,285.49 |
| | Liberal | Martin Francoeur | 16,637 | 28.63 | +2.57 | $80,504.68 |
| | New Democratic | Adis Simidzija | 4,680 | 8.05 | -8.61 | $4,281.85 |
| | People's | Jean Landry | 1,115 | 1.92 | +0.99 | $0.00 |
| | Green | Andrew Holman | 754 | 1.30 | -1.17 | $0.00 |
| | Free | Gilles Brodeur | 735 | 1.26 | – | $1,244.68 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 58,110 | 97.95 | – | $120,485.08 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 1,214 | 2.05 | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 59,324 | 64.19 | -2.53 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 92,413 |
| | Bloc Québécois hold | Bloc Québécois hold | Swing | Swing | -1.58 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||
vte2019 Canadian federal election: Trois-Rivières :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Bloc Québécois | Louise Charbonneau | 17,240 | 28.48 | +11.48 | $19,118.47 |
| | Liberal | Valérie Renaud-Martin | 15,774 | 26.06 | -4.16 | $59,713.01 |
| | Conservative | Yves Lévesque | 15,240 | 25.17 | +6.54 | none listed |
| | New Democratic | Robert Aubin | 10,090 | 16.67 | -15.16 | none listed |
| | Green | Marie Duplessis | 1,492 | 2.46 | +0.75 | none listed |
| | People's | Marc-André Gingras | 565 | 0.93 | – | $5,574.25 |
| | Independent | Ronald St-Onge Lynch | 137 | 0.23 | – | $0.00 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 60,538 | 100.0 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 1,092 | 1.77 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 61,630 | 66.73 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 92,362 |
| | Bloc Québécois gain from New Democratic | Bloc Québécois gain from New Democratic | Swing | Swing | +7.82 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||

### Municipal (mayoral)
#### 2017

| Mayoral candidate | Vote | % |
| Yves Lévesque (X) | 26,503 | 51.37 |
| Jean-François Aubin | 23,252 | 45.07 |
| André Bertrand | 1,837 | 3.56 |

#### 2013

| Party | Mayoral candidate | Vote | % |
| Independent | Yves Lévesque (X) | 29,204 | 49.25 |
| Independent | Sylvie Tardif | 18,491 | 31.18 |
| Independent | Catherine Dufresne | 8,324 | 14.04 |
| Independent | Marcelle Girard | 1,609 | 2.71 |
| Force 3R | Richard St-Germain | 1,321 | 2.23 |
| Independent | Pierre Benoit Fortin | 352 | 0.59 |

#### 2009

| Candidate | Party | Vote | % |
| Yves Lévesque (X) | Independent | 25,637 | 54.9 |
| André Carle | Force 3R | 21,077 | 45.1 |

#### 2005

| Candidate | Vote | % |
| Yves Lévesque (inc.) | 34,298 | 70.3 |
| Guy Julien | 13,741 | 28.2 |
| Serge Simard | 754 | 1.5 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Yves Lévesque l'emporte facilement, Radio-Canada, November 7, 2005
* ↑ Le retour des Draveurs ?, Radio-Canada, May 30, 2007
* ↑ Yves Lévesque quitte la mairie de Trois-Rivières, Radio-Canada
* ↑ Marquis, Melanie (12 May 2018). "Ex Bloc Quebecois leader Michel Gauthier joining Conservatives". iPolitics. Retrieved 14 July 2019. One of those being courted by the party is the well-known mayor of Trois-Rivieres, Yves Levesque, who said Saturday that he was seriously considering whether to make the leap to federal politics.
* ↑ Lepage, Caroline. "Yves Lévesque digère déjà bien sa "défaite"". Le Journal de Montréal. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
* ↑ "Yves Lévesque devient candidat du Parti conservateur". Le Nouvelliste Trois-Rivières. La Presse. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
* ↑ Stephanie Levitz. "Bittersweet Conservative post-election gathering set for Ottawa Wednesday". The Chronicle-Journal. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
* ↑ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
* ↑ "Election Night Results - Electoral Districts".
* ↑ "Election 2021 Results Map | CTV News | Canada Election Coverage".
* ↑ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
* ↑ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
* ↑ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 9, 2019.