The head of Projet Montreal, Valérie Plante, deplores the lack of “transparency” of the aspiring mayor Denis Coderre, who unveiled Wednesday the list of his clients for the last four years in the private sector, except one. She also believes that his role as strategic advisor for a real estate giant in recent years disqualifies him from addressing housing issues.
Mr. Coderre, who pocketed more than $ 458,000 last year, disclosed on Wednesday the list of companies he has worked for since his loss in the last mayoral race in Montreal, in November 2017, following repeated requests from many media. However, one of these eight employers is described as “confidential” in the document made public shortly before 1 pm. A situation that made Mr.me Plant Wednesday.
“Who is Mr. Coderre’s employer who is not disclosed and why is it not disclosed? », Asked the candidate for mayor on the sidelines of a press conference in Rosemont – La Petite-Patrie. The mayoress has also criticized Mr. Coderre on several occasions in the last days on his refusal to reveal his income of recent years. For her part, she made public her tax return for 2020 last Sunday.
“What Montrealers understand from this whole story is that transparency is not an à la carte menu. We are transparent or we are not. Especially when you aspire to become mayor of the City, you have to be transparent in all areas, ”added Mr.me Plant.
A few days before the vote, the mayoral candidate has also again compared this case to the scandal of the Electric Formula, which haunted Denis Coderre in 2017. For weeks, the former mayor of Montreal had remained silent on the number of tickets actually sold in anticipation of this event. “This is exactly the same person as in 2017, who hides information and for whom transparency is not a fundamental value”, launched Mme Plante, who also hopes to make gains with voters because of this affair.
“It’s an electoral campaign and Mr. Coderre is well aware that he has been losing momentum for several weeks, while we are in a trend that is rising,” she said. The latest polls available put Mme Plante and his main adversary neck and neck.
A mandate with a promoter
At a time when the housing crisis quickly established itself as the number one issue of this electoral campaign, Valérie Plante said she was particularly concerned on Wednesday to learn that Mr. Coderre was strategic advisor in international development for the real estate giant Cogir , from 2019 to March 2021. The developer, who owns rental apartment buildings and condos all over the city, has also been singled out several times in recent months by community groups and tenants , who deplored cases of rent increases they consider abusive.
“Montrealers are right to doubt: is Denis Coderre there for Montrealers? Or is he there for the promoters? », Launched Mme Plante, who notably recalled Denis Coderre’s commitment to abolish the City’s By-law for a mixed metropolis and to explore and invest $ 40 million to convert empty office towers into residential buildings.
With Jeanne Corriveau