David Courtemanche - Councillor

Councillor

Courtemanche was elected to the Sudbury City Council in the 1997 municipal election and was subsequently appointed as a city representative to the Sudbury Regional Council. He chaired the region's Planning and Development Committee, and was part of a group that developed Sudbury's first comprehensive arts policy. He supported the introduction of a Business Improvement Area, and brought forward an unsuccessful motion to deregulate the city's shopping hours in 1999.

Sudbury and its suburban municipalities were amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury in 2000. During the transition period Courtemanche was strongly critical of a plan for the new city councillors to be designated as part-time rather than full-time workers. He argued that the demands on councillors would be greater after amalgamation and that part-time status would result in bureaucrats controlling city hall.

Courtemanche was re-elected in the 2000 municipal election, winning a seat in the new city's sixth ward. During this campaign he called for a strategic growth model approach to municipal infrastructure that would benefit the entire city. He was appointed to the board of the Nickel District Conservation Authority in March 2001, and later co-chaired a Mayor's Task Force on Volunteerism and Community Involvement, which led to the development of Community Action Networks. Courtemanche also served on the board of directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and was appointed to chair Greater Sudbury's Priorities Committee in December 2002.

In 2002 Courtemanche proposed that Greater Sudbury's largest park be named after former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. He later brought forward a motion to fly the Franco-Ontarian flag at Tom Davies' Square.