Baie-Comeau’s council outspends 95% of Québec’s local municipalities, per resident

Who to ask

Green: municipal. Gold: provincial. Grey: federal.

MRC Manicouagan is Baie-Comeau’s regional county municipality, which sets the land-use plan the municipalities follow.

1. 1

   Baie-Comeau councilelected November 2025
   Michel Desbiens
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   National Assembly of QuébecRené-Lévesque
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   House of CommonsCôte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan
   Marilène Gill

Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada

9 members and how they were elected

A single seat was filled without a contest. Each electoral district elects one councillor; the mayor is chosen by all of Baie-Comeau. No team or party won a seat on Baie-Comeau council: every member ran on their own.

Councils and results: Résultats des élections municipales générales de 2025, MAMH (CC BY 4.0)

45% of electors voted for mayor, below the 51% median of Québec’s contested mayoral races. A lead of 6,072 votes over Mélanie Bernier Savard gave Michel Desbiens the mayor’s seat, with 92% of the votes. The outgoing mayor, Michel Desbiens, was re-elected.

How Baie-Comeau voted: same source as Councillors, above.

4 November 2029 is the next council election in Baie-Comeau, fixed by the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities for the first Sunday in November every four years. Voters last chose the National Assembly of Québec on 5 October 2026 and the House of Commons on 28 April 2025. Elections Canada’s open records end with the 2021 election; its 2025 results are under terms that rule out commercial use.

Election dates: the legislatures, MMAH and MAMH

The riding is René-Lévesque: it sends one MNA to the National Assembly of Québec, and Baie-Comeau votes in it.

Québec ridings: Répertoire des municipalités, MAMH (CC BY 4.0)

Marilène Gill is one of 22 Bloc Québécois MPs from Quebec, where the Liberal Party of Canada has the most seats: 44 of 78.

The MP’s record

On today’s boundaries, the 2021 vote in Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan would have gone to the Bloc Québécois with 53%, and Marilène Gill kept it for them in 2025. First elected in 2015, Marilène Gill is serving the 4th term of a Commons career.

MPs: Wikidata (CC0), 45th Parliament statements, read 7 November 2026; ridings: 2023 Representation Order, Statistics Canada · MPs’ records: Wikidata (CC0), positions held and party memberships, read 8 November 2026

Manicouagan turned out at only 50% in 2021; the country managed 63%. In 2019, Marilène Gill had won the same riding with 54%. Marilène Gill (Bloc Québécois) took Manicouagan in 2021 with 53% of the vote, 10,779 votes ahead of Rodrigue Vigneault (Conservative Party of Canada).

Federal results: Elections Canada, 43rd and 44th general elections and the 44th’s transposition to the 2023 ridings, via open.canada.ca. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada

Property taxes and payments in lieu brought in 60% of revenue, against 63% across the province’s returns. Debt Baie-Comeau council owes over the long term came to $88.6M, $4,285 a resident, higher than the median of $2,461. Of every dollar spent, 34% went on pay and benefits. In 2024 the median among Québec’s local municipalities was $2,394 a resident; Baie-Comeau council spent $4,417. No service costs more than electricity and gas, at $1,068 per resident and 24% of the total.

Money: rapport financier and profil financier 2024, ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation (CC BY 4.0)

Baie-Comeau council has one seat for every 2,300 residents, more than in 90% of Quebec municipalities.

Residents: 2021 Census; seats: the province’s council list