Alain André

Alain André a lawyer, a university and college law professor, a Canadian politician and a City Councillor in Montreal, Quebec.

Before running for office, André was a political attaché and administrative assistant to Yvon Lamarre, Chairman of the City of Montreal's Executive Committee during the time of Mayor Jean Drapeau.

André practiced criminal law, and as a professor taught at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and currently teaches law in the Police and Correctional Technology programs at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue near Montreal.

André was the founder and leader of the Parti Municipal (Municipal Party), a municipal political party that competed with the Civic Party of Montreal for the right of center vote and official opposition status in Montreal from 1989 to 1992.

He ran for the first time City Council in a 1989 by-election in the district of Sault-au-Récollet. He lost with 39% of the vote, against Civic candidate Serge Sauvageau (40%).

In 1990, he finished third in the mayoral election with only 10% of the vote, but was elected city Councillor of the district of Ahuntsic with 38% of the vote and became Leader of the Opposition.

However, the Parti Municipal suffered a number of defections in favor of the Civic Party and by 1991 the Democratic Coalition of Montreal temporarily became the Official Opposition. The Parti Municipal soon merged with the Civic Party and André sat as a Civic Councilmember. He did not run for re-election in 1994.

In that same year, André had been falsely accused of sexual assault and decided not to run for city council in 1994. Following the findings of a private investigation assumed by André, all charges were withdrawn by the crown prosecutor that same year following which, André sued the crown and the police department for accusing him without having properly investigated the alleged charges. In 1999, the city of Montreal as the police employer, was condemned by the Quebec Court of Appeal, to pay him and his wife Lorraine Drouin $366,800 plus costs and interest for a total amount of nearly $700,000 for wrongfully arresting him.

In 2005, André ran as a candidate for city council in the Saint-Sulpice district under the Vision Montreal Banner but was defeated by Jocelyn Ann Campbell of UCIM (later renamed as Union Montreal).

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