James V. Infantino is a retired politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was a member of the Montréal-Nord city council from 1994 to 2001 and a member of the Montreal city council from 2001 to 2009.
Montréal-Nord city councillor Infantino ran in the 1994 Montréal-Nord municipal election as a candidate of mayor Yves Ryan's Renouveau municipal and was elected without difficulty.Mike King, "Battling 272 years of experience; Mayor and his team have been in power since 1963," Montreal Gazette, 21 October 1994, A4; "Voting results: The Final Count," Montreal Gazette, 8 November 1994, A4. A vocal supporter of the mayor, he was re-elected in 1998.Charlie Fidelman, "Montreal North? Just bet on Ryan," Montreal Gazette, 8 October 1998, A8; "Vote recount abandoned," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 2001, A4.
Montreal city councillor All of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal, including Montréal-Nord, were amalgamated into a single city on January 1, 2002. Infantino was narrowly elected to one of Montréal-Nord's three city council seats in the anticipatory 2001 Montreal municipal election as a candidate of Gérald Tremblay's Montreal Island Citizens Union (MICU).John MacFarlane and Angus Loten, "'We showed who's boss': Team Tremblay captures the east," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 2001, A7; Mike King, "Megacity council candidate Allaire granted recount in Montreal North," Montreal Gazette, 10 November 2001, A4; Mike King, "Recount decision by noon: Montreal North candidate asked court for help," Montreal Gazette, 14 November 2001, A4; "Vote recount abandoned," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 2001, A4. Tremblay won the mayoral election and his party won a majority of seats on council, and Infantino served as a supporter of Tremblay's administration. He was appointed to the Montreal Metropolitan Community in 2002,Linda Gyulai, "Plenty of extra pay to go around," Montreal Gazette, 14 May 2002, A4. and by virtue of holding his city council seat he automatically served on the newly created Montréal-Nord borough council.
In 2004, Infantino argued that amalgamation had benefited Montréal-Nord by ensuring that road repairs would be covered by the city's central budget.Linda Gyulai, "Pothole paradise: Emergency state requires $200 million a year," Montreal Gazette, 8 February 2004, A1. The following year, he supported an extension of Quebec Autoroute 25 to Laval, which he said would improve pedestrian safety in his borough.Catherine Solyom, "North-end mayors line up to back Highway 25," Montreal Gazette, 6 May 2005, A6.
Infantino was re-elected in the 2005 municipal election, in which MICU won a second consecutive majority. He supported a controversial proposal to rename Montreal's Park Avenue after former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa in 2006; on the night of the vote, he was quoted as saying, "I think it's a one-for-one change. Park Ave. was great. Robert Bourassa was great."Linda Gyulai, "No Walk in the Park," Montreal Gazette, 29 November 2006, A1.
He did not seek re-election in 2009."Councillor won't run," Montreal Gazette, 11 July 2009, A8.
Electoral record
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