Line Hamel

Line Hamel
Montreal City Councillor for Saint-Henri–La Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles
In office 2005–2009
Preceded by	redistribution
Succeeded by	Véronique Fournier
Montreal City Councillor for Louis-Cyr
In office 2001–2005
Preceded by	division created
Succeeded by	redistribution

Line Hamel is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She served on the Montreal city council from 2001 to 2009.

Education

Hamel has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).^[1]

City councillor

Hamel first ran for city council in the 1998 municipal election as Vision Montreal's candidate for Saint-Pierre. She lost to longtime incumbent Germain Prégent of New Montreal.^[2]

Hamel ran again in the 2001 municipal election and was elected for the Louis-Cyr division.^[3] She was re-elected in the 2005 election in the renamed division of Saint-Henri–La Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles. Both elections were won by Gérald Tremblay's Montreal Island Citizens Union (MICU), and Hamel served as a member of the opposition. By virtue of serving on city council, Hamel was also a member of the Sud-Ouest borough council; in 2007, she supported a measure to permit bars and restaurants on Monk Street to construct frontal terraces.^[4]

In September 2007, Hamel's father, Michel Hamel, was charged with three counts of fraud pertaining to accusations that he had taken money from a local developer in return for seeking to obtain a zoning change. Line Hamel, who described herself as "in shock" at the charges, agreed to stand down from Vision Montreal's caucus and sit as an independent while the matter was before the courts.^[5]

Although she resigned from the Vision Montreal caucus in 2007, Hamel did not initially resign from the party itself; she took part in the launch of Vision Montreal's position paper on transit in June 2009.^[6] She was not permitted to run under Vision's banner in the 2009 municipal election, however, and instead ran for borough mayor of Le Sud-Ouest as an independent.^[7] She lost to Benoit Dorais, Vision's official candidate.

In January 2010, Michel Hamel pleaded guilty to fraud. A Montreal Gazette article reporting on the trial indicates that Line Hamel chaired a local urban planning advisory committee at the time of her father's illegal activity.^[8] Line Hamel was not herself accused of any improper activity.

Electoral record

2009 Montreal municipal election results: Borough Mayor, Le Sud-Ouest Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Vision Montreal Benoit Dorais 4,848 28.41 Union Montreal Nicole Boudreau 4,821 28.25 Independent Line Hamel 3,586 21.01 Projet Montréal Mudi Wa Mbuji Kabeya 3,275 19.19 Independent Camillien Delisle 537 3.15 Total valid votes 17,067 100 Source: Election results, 2009, City of Montreal.

2005 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Saint-Henri–La Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Vision Montreal Line Hamel (incumbent) 3,275 44.56 Montreal Island Citizens Union Brenda Paris 2,792 37.99 Projet Montréal Nicole Cloutier 1,283 17.46 Total valid votes 7,350 100 Source: Election results, 2005, City of Montreal.

2001 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Louis-Cyr Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes Vision Montreal Line Hamel 4,773 66.97 Montreal Island Citizens Union Robert Blondin 2,098 29.44 White Elephant Party Daniel Paré 256 3.59 Total valid votes 7,127 100 Source: Election results, 1833-2005 (in French), City of Montreal.

1998 Montreal municipal election results: Councillor, Saint-Pierre Party Candidate Total votes % of total votes New Montreal Germain Prégent (incumbent) 2,016 44.94 Vision Montreal Line Hamel 1,757 39.17 Team Montreal Maria-Ines Osses 456 10.16 Democratic Coalition Jo Lechay 257 5.73 Total valid votes 4,486 100 Source: Official Results, City of Montreal

References

1. Line Hamel, LinkedIn profile, accessed 30 April 2013.
2. Election coverage in the Montreal Gazette lists the name of the electoral division as "Saint-Henri." See "Bourque's Vision Montreal team takes control of council," Montreal Gazette, 2 November 1998, A18. The official city returns list the division's name as "Saint-Pierre."
3. During the election, Hamel called for the Sud-Ouest region to remain affordable. See John Macfarlane, "Sud Ouest on the rise: Revival of blue-collar district becomes balancing act for haves, have-nots," Montreal Gazette, 29 October 2001, A7.
4. Noah Sidel, "A shot in the arm or a waste of taxpayer money?", Montreal Gazette, 14 July 2007, B2.
5. Sue Montgomery and Rene Bruemmer, "Councillor's father charged with fraud; Will quit vision Montreal caucus. Parent is alleged to have demanded money from developer in 2004 for a zoning change," Montreal Gazette, 14 September 2007, A8.
6. "NO to embankments, NO to the demolition of 166 housing units, But YES to the tramway trains and trolleybuses!", Canada NewsWire, 16 June 2009.
7. Éric Clément, "Sud-Ouest: Benoit Dorais candidat, Line Hamel écartée", La Presse, 14 August 2009, accessed 30 April 2009.
8. "Ex-councillor's father pleads guilty to fraud," Montreal Gazette, 15 January 2010, A11.