Remained discreet since his defeat last Sunday, Denis Coderre will meet with the Ensemble Montreal caucus on Friday morning to notify the newly elected officials of his intentions. The candidate for mayor of Montreal is unlikely to occupy the post of leader of the opposition at city hall.
“There will be no surprises,” said a source at Ensemble Montreal about the future of Mr. Coderre.
Denis Coderre, who failed in his attempt to regain Montreal town hall, has not come out of his silence since Sunday’s elections. Several sources indicated that he was unlikely to want to stay at City Hall after his defeat.
“He is too proud to sit down in front of Valérie Plante every month and remember that he has lost and that she has won”, believes Anie Samson, former mayor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension .
If he decided not to occupy the position of leader of the opposition at city hall and quit political life, Denis Coderre would leave a party in debt, but not in as bad a financial position as in 2017, indicates t -on to Ensemble Montreal.
In 2017, the very evening of his defeat, Denis Coderre announced his departure from city hall, which he did not do last Sunday. And four years ago, he left behind a party struggling with a debt of $ 223,000, which rose to $ 424,000 as of December 31, 2020.
Anie Samson believes he is quite capable of repeating this scenario. In 2001, Pierre Bourque stayed behind after his loss to Gérald Tremblay for the sake of settling Vision Montreal’s debt before retiring. “He was a gentleman,” she said.
Ensemble Montreal is in a better financial situation than in 2017, however, indicates a source to the party. “The financial structure is much more responsible and autonomous,” we say.
Ensemble Montréal had 38 candidates elected, more than the number of elected officials the party had before the election. However, he lost important pillars, including Lionel Perez, who lost to Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, at the town hall of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and Karine Boivin-Roy, who had to concede the victory for Pierre Lessard-Blais, as mayor of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
“A crisis is an opportunity,” believes Anie Samson. “They will finally be able to rebuild a team, without Denis Coderre’s shadow, and start afresh. They will have a budget from the City to do their opposition work. “
Like Hadrien Parizeau, Réal Ménard, defeated in the district of Hochelaga, believes that Denis Coderre’s late position on Bill 96 and the protection of Anglophones has harmed Ensemble Montreal’s campaign. . But the procrastination over his income in the past four years has also been very damaging, he says. “There are no problems making money in the private sector, but when you aspire to run a city, you have to be able to say who you worked for,” he explains.
The candidate selection mechanism also raises questions, he said. “It can happen that one or two escapes, but there, it was difficult to understand that people could be confirmed as candidates by having pasts difficult to reconcile with the access to public office. “
Contested results
Two requests for judicial recounts were filed by Projet Montreal on Thursday. One concerns the town hall of Outremont, where the candidate of Ensemble Montreal, Laurent Desbois, won against the outgoing mayor, Philipe Tomlinson, with only 23 votes of difference while 301 ballots were rejected.
The other request targets the district of Tétreaultville where Julien Hénault-Ratelle, from Ensemble Montreal, beat his opponent Suzie Miron, from Projet Montreal by 42 votes.
The parties have until Monday to contest the results.
Ensemble Montréal will probably ask for a new recount for the position of city councilor in the district of La Pointe-aux-Prairies where only 13 votes separate the candidate who won, Lisa Christensen, from Projet Montréal, and the candidate from Ensemble Montreal, Vincent Girard.
Victory in extremis from Gracia kasoki Katahwa, from Projet Montréal, to the mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, could also be challenged by Ensemble Montréal.
At the town hall of Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, the outgoing mayor of Projet Montréal, Caroline Bourgeois, got the better of Lyne Laperrière by collecting 303 votes more than her opponent, but 1,098 ballots were rejected.
In Loyola, 97 voices separate Despina Sourias, who won with Projet Montréal, and Gabriel Retta, from Ensemble Montréal.
The swearing-in of the newly elected will take place on November 18.