Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s party saw its number of donors increase in 2022 compared to the years before the last municipal election, while the official opposition’s debt fell by $100,000.
The two main political parties in the metropolis filed their financial statements for the year 2022 on Monday. The formation of Mme Plante, Projet Montréal, thus benefited last year from the support of 2,043 donors. This number is lower than the number noted in 2021, when 3,381 donors supported the mayor’s party ahead of the November elections, but this is an increase from the benchmark non-election years – 2019 and 2020 -. during which the formation had been able to count respectively on 1483 and 1711 donors.
“This support and the resulting financial results push us to go further and make Montreal a greener and more pleasant city to live in,” responded Ms.me Plante in a statement issued Monday evening.
His party also claims to have equalized “its record amount of funding”, excluding election years, by raising $ 184,113 in donations last year, an amount similar to that of 2019.
The opposition rises
At the end of two successive electoral defeats marked by the unsuccessful return of Denis Coderre to the head of the party in 2021, who was defeated a second time by Valérie Plante in the last municipal election, the Ensemble Montréal party found itself with a debt totaling approximately $481,600. However, after having increased by $57,000 in 2021, the party’s debt shrunk by around $100,000 in 2022. It now reaches $381,228, taking into account a repayment of $250,000 still awaited from the from the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec.
This turnaround, the party attributes in particular to the multiple fundraising campaigns it conducted last year and which enabled it to raise $128,420, including party memberships. “At the municipal level, we’re going to get the money with $100,” recalls the leader of Ensemble Montreal, Aref Salem, who is delighted to see his party’s finances gradually recover.
“We feel a certain dissatisfaction with the administration [de Valérie Plante]and that is somewhat reflected in the financing of our party, ”added Mr. Salem in an interview with the Duty Monday evening.
The elected official also indicates that the party has received more than $75,000 in donations since the beginning of the current year, more than half of the amount collected last year. “I am confident that with all the efforts we are putting in place, we will reap the fruits of our efforts in 2025,” says Mr. Salem.
Ensemble Montréal nevertheless continues to face certain problems, linked among other things to the “scarcity of manpower”, notes Mr. Salem. In particular, it took several months before the party found a replacement for its former director general, who left last August. It was finally announced last February: it is the former general manager of Percé, Jean-François Kacou.
A new boss?
Ensemble Montréal is also still looking for a strong personality to represent the party, its current leader only occupying this position on an interim basis. “We have very interesting people who have knocked on the door”, assures Aref Salem, without wanting to give more details.
One thing is certain, “we will take the time to find a candidate who, this time, will suffer the party instead of having a party that will suffer the candidate”, he drops in an allusion to veiled sentence to former chef Denis Coderre. “It will make a big difference. »