Pierre Tremblay vs Pierre Tremblay: two Quebec mayoral candidates have same name

MONTREAL — The next mayor of Les Eboulements, Que. will definitely be Pierre Tremblay, but voters will have to decide which one.

That’s because both the candidates running to be mayor of the municipality 100 kilometres northeast of Quebec City have the same name.

While the two Tremblays share a moniker, they say their visions for the area are very different. 

One of the candidates is the incumbent mayor, who says the 1,330-person municipality on the banks of the St-Lawrence could realize its full potential through further development.

“I feel there are a lot of possibilities at the touristic level, at the agricultural level,” he said in a phone interview.

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“We should try to develop the advantages we have here, especially tourism.”

The other Tremblay, who is currently a city councillor, thinks the town’s development should proceed more slowly.

He’s concerned that people from out of town buying vacation homes are pushing up the value of land, and wants to protect local farmers from the bigger tax bills they could face as a result.

“I’ve lived here all my life, I’m a person who communicates a lot with others,” he said in an interview.

“The current mayor keeps things to himself, he comes to council and things have to be adopted right away, it’s too fast.”

The men, who are both in their 60s, say they’re not related.

Tremblay, however, is Quebec’s most popular surname, accounting for over one per cent of the population in 2006.

A online search for “Pierre Tremblay” in the province’s phone listings currently yields over 1,500 results. 

To ensure voters can tell them apart, the two candidates are featuring their street addresses prominently on their campaign material.

Since photos aren’t allowed in the voting area, the candidates’ full addresses will appear on the ballots along with their names.

The city held a draw to see which candidate will be listed first on the ballot.

While such coincidences are rare, they’re not unheard of.

Ten of 24 candidates who recently ran for council in Trout River, N.L. all had the same last name — Crocker.

And in 2016, three candidates named Vasile Cepoi ran for mayor in a town in Romania, according to The Associated Press.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press