Robert Laramée is a Canadian politician and was a city councillor

Montreal City Council

The Montreal City Council is the governing body of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal...

 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

Background

Laramée holds a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation

Recreation

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

. According to Fugues

Fugues (magazine)

Fugues is a gay magazine, which publishes monthly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, since April 1984. The magazine is primarily in French, although some English content is published as well. It focuses on news related to LGBT communities, gay culture, nightlife, health, fitness, fashion, travel,...

magazine, he is openly

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

.

City Councillor

Laramée successfully ran as Vision Montreal

Vision Montreal

Vision Montreal is a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has been in existence since 1994 and presently forms the Official opposition on Montreal City Council under leader Louise Harel.-Origins:...

 candidate to the City Council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

 in the district of Père-Marquette in 1994 with 52% of the votes. In 1997 he left Vision Montreal to sit as an Independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

, as several of his colleagues did. He ran as a candidate of Jacques Duchesneau

Jacques Duchesneau

Jacques Duchesneau, CM is a French Canadian civil servant and former Chief of Police.He holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the École nationale d'administration publique and a Bachelor of Science degree from the Université de Montréal...

's Nouveau Montréal in 1998, but lost against Vision Montreal candidate Jean-François Plante

Jean-François Plante

Jean-François "Jeff" Plante is a Canadian conservative/self-described libertarian activist and supporter of men's rights. He has been an internet radio host, and was also running for leadership of the Action démocratique du Québec , following Mario Dumont's resignation after the 2008 Quebec...

 with only 33% of the vote.

He was re-elected in the district of Saint-Jacques in 2001 as a Vision Montreal candidate with 48% of the vote, against incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 and former colleague Sammy Forcillo

Sammy Forcillo

Savino "Sammy" Forcillo is a Canadian politician and a City Councillor in Montreal, Quebec.-Background:He has Italian ancestry and has a degree from the École nationale d'administration publique .-Civic Party:...

 (44%).

Borough mayoral candidate

In 2005, Laramée tried to get elected Borough Mayor for Ville-Marie. He lost with 35% of the vote against Benoît Labonté (40%).

Retirement from political office

Laramée has been Vision Montréal Executive Director since 2006.

See also

• Vision Montreal Crisis, 1997
  Vision Montreal Crisis, 1997
  The Vision Montreal Crisis of 1997 was one of the most severe internal party crises in Montreal politics.-Origins:In January 1997, Mayor Pierre Bourque tried to dismiss two members of Montreal's Executive Committee: Deputy Chairman Sammy Forcillo and Pierre Goyer. Yet, the City Charter of 1921...