Yves Lévesque (French pronunciation: [iv levɛ(s)k]; born 1957) is a Canadian politician who has been the mayor of Shawinigan since 2025. He previously served as Mayor of Trois-Rivières between 2001 and 2018.
Yves Lévesque | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor of Shawinigan | |
| Assumed office November 12, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Michel Angers |
| Mayor of Trois-Rivières | |
| In office November 4, 2001 – December 27, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Guy Leblanc |
| Succeeded by | Jean Lamarche |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1957 (age 68–69) |
| Party | Conservative (federal) Conservative (provincial; 2021–present) |
Other party | CAQ (provincial; after 2003, before 2021) Parti Québécois (provincial; before 2003) |
Career
editCity Councillor
editLévesque 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
editIn 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.[1]
Recently,[when?] Lévesque has been trying to get the Trois-Rivières Draveurs, a franchise of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, back in town.[2]
On December 27, 2018, Lévesque announced he was retiring as mayor for medical reasons.[3]
Federal politics
edit_(cropped).jpg)
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.[4] He joined the Conservative Party because of its stated goal of decentralizing power to the provinces.[5]
On May 30, 2019, Lévesque was named the Conservative candidate for the riding of Trois-Rivières.[6] 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.[7]
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.
Mayor of Shawinigan
editLévesque ran for mayor of Shawinigan in the 2025 Quebec municipal elections, placing first.[8]
Electoral record
editFederal
edit| 2025 Canadian federal election: Trois-Rivières | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Caroline Desrochers | 25,147 | 41.01 | +12.38 | ||||
| Bloc Québécois | René Villemure | 16,921 | 27.60 | −1.89 | ||||
| Conservative | Yves Levesque | 16,708 | 27.25 | −2.10 | ||||
| New Democratic | Matthew Sévigny | 1,437 | 2.34 | −5.71 | ||||
| Green | David Turcotte | 569 | 0.93 | −0.37 | ||||
| People's | Yan Patry | 320 | 0.52 | −1.40 | ||||
| Rhinoceros | Mathieu Doyon | 215 | 0.35 | N/A | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 61,317 | 98.32 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,046 | 1.68 | -0.37 | |||||
| Turnout | 62,363 | 68.11 | +3.91 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 91,563 | |||||||
| Liberal gain from Bloc Québécois | Swing | +7.14 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[9][10] | ||||||||
| Note: number of eligible voters does not include voting day registrations. | ||||||||
| 2021 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 | 58,110 | 97.95 | – | $120,485.08 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,214 | 2.05 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 59,324 | 64.19 | -2.53 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 92,413 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois hold | Swing | -1.58 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[11][12][13][14] | ||||||||
| 2019 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 | 60,538 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,092 | 1.77 | ||||||
| Turnout | 61,630 | 66.73 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 92,362 | |||||||
| Bloc Québécois gain from New Democratic | Swing | +7.82 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[15][16] | ||||||||
Municipal (mayoral)
edit2017
edit| Mayoral candidate | Vote | % |
|---|---|---|
| Yves Lévesque (X) | 26,503 | 51.37 |
| Jean-François Aubin | 23,252 | 45.07 |
| André Bertrand | 1,837 | 3.56 |
2013
edit| 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
edit| Candidate | Party | Vote | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yves Lévesque (X) | Independent | 25,637 | 54.9 |
| André Carle | Force 3R | 21,077 | 45.1 |
2005
edit| Candidate | Vote | % |
|---|---|---|
| Yves Lévesque (inc.) | 34,298 | 70.3 |
| Guy Julien | 13,741 | 28.2 |
| Serge Simard | 754 | 1.5 |
Footnotes
edit- ↑ 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 (23 October 2019). "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 (5 November 2019). "Bittersweet Conservative post-election gathering set for Ottawa Wednesday". The Chronicle-Journal. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
- ↑ https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2194837/yves-levesque-mairie-shawinigan-campagne
- ↑ "Voter information service". Elections Canada. Retrieved May 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Election Night Results - Electoral Districts". Elections Canada. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
- ↑ "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.