The appeal of former Saguenay mayor julie dufour, who was found guilty of a manœuvre électorale frauduleuse by Judge Louis Duguay, will be heard May 13 at the palais de justice de Chicoutimi. The scheduled one-day procedure and hour-long pleadings from Me Charles Levasseur and the Directeur général des élections du Québec (DGEQ) point to a concentrated legal review of the trial record.
Julie Dufour appeal set for May 13 at Chicoutimi courthouse
The confirmed state is tightly defined: the appeal will be heard at the Chicoutimi courthouse on May 13, and court filings anticipate that procedures should be completed the same day. Me Charles Levasseur represents Julie Dufour, and both he and lawyers for the DGEQ have planned one hour each for their pleadings. The judge of the Superior Court, Maxime Roy, is expected to take the matter into deliberation following those presentations.
Charles Levasseur and DGEQ pleadings focus on Judge Louis Duguay’s evaluation
Me Charles Levasseur has framed the appeal around the evaluation of evidence made by Judge Louis Duguay at the 20 août decision that found Julie Dufour guilty in the dossier involving Serge Simard. The conviction on that single charge followed acquittals on the counts linked to Jean-Marc Crevier and Jacinthe Vaillancourt. Me Levasseur highlights the version of witness Serge Simard presented at trial and argues that investigators from the DGEQ modified his testimony; he also points to witness Francine Tremblay Gobeil as contradicting Mr. Simard, and he criticizes the legal interpretation given to article 590 of the Loi sur les élections et les référendums dans les municipalités.
If the appeal is rejected, and Should Saguenay maintain its fees decision — two conditional scenarios
If the appeal is rejected, the context makes clear what follows: the conviction will be confirmed. The original sentence includes a $5, 000 fine and a five-year bar on voting and running in elections, penalties handed down after the judge’s August ruling; the context also notes that the ex-mayor nonetheless took part in the last municipal election and received 2. 46% of the vote.
Should Saguenay maintain its decision not to cover Julie Dufour’s legal fees, the immediate financial picture is also explicit in the available facts. The city has already indicated that about $100, 000 has been billed so far, and Me Levasseur says that the council’s choice does not affect his mandate from his client, while the former mayor has stated she is personally assuming the costs. Michel Potvin, ex-president of Saguenay’s Commission des finances, emphasizes that the large legal items and two major dossiers will be paid from reserves and thus have no direct impact on the municipal budget; he cites the city’s reserves having risen from a little over $23 M in 2021 to more than $41 M in 2024, and he references two settlements of $1. 3 M and $2. 3 M related to other cases.
For now, the legal calendar and municipal finance choices frame competing pressures: an appeal that zeroes in on trial evidence and a municipal decision to withdraw fee coverage that shifts costs to the ex-mayor or to city reserves.
What the context does not resolve is how Judge Maxime Roy will weigh Me Levasseur’s challenge to Judge Duguay’s evaluation of the evidence, or how long Roy’s deliberation will take after the May 13 pleadings. The next confirmed milestone remains the hearing on May 13 at the Chicoutimi courthouse, after which the court will take the cause in deliberation and a written decision will follow in due course.
