The municipal election year has smiled on Projet Montréal, the party of Mayor Valérie Plante, which obtained record funding in 2021.
In total, the party secured $462,600 in donations from 3,381 donors, compared to $158,110 from 1,711 people in 2020.
“When you look at where we started from in 2017, we set ourselves the goal of having a fully funded campaign, it’s fantastic. Especially for a left-wing, popular party,” reacted Guedwig Bernier, president of Projet Montréal, in a telephone interview Monday following the unveiling of the financial statements of political parties by the City.
According to him, the party had set itself the objective of being able to support all of its 103 candidates. “In 2017, we had a gap of about $500,000 with the other team. We were not able to support all of our candidates in the same way in all the boroughs,” he recalled.
Projet Montréal ends the fiscal year with net assets of $349,323. It also has nearly 500 more members than at the same time last year.
For Mr. Bernier, the party’s success can be explained by the proximity it maintains with its voters. “People felt concerned through the various achievements that we had made,” he analyzed.
Moreover, the party is beginning to create local associations, even in the boroughs where it has no elected representative, a novelty according to the president of Projet Montréal.
“It’s the members who ask us, it’s a logical follow-up to the way the last campaign went. We are very proud of that and we will support them to ensure that we are strong everywhere on the island, ”he explained.
Ensemble Montréal also broke its own records, obtaining $607,000 in donations. However, the party has a debt that it currently estimates at $481,600.