Municipal elections 2021 | Time for choices

Between promises and controversies, the race for mayor has animated debates for many months in Montreal. And when the vote begins this Saturday, the outcome of the ballot which again opposes Valérie Plante to Denis Coderre remains unpredictable. A third actor, Balarama Holness, will he muddy the waters?

Henri Ouellette-Vézina
Press

Philippe Teisceira-Lessard
Press

A long race for town hall

Who will lead Montreal until 2025? In the metropolis, where the polling stations are open Saturday and Sunday, the question remains open at the end of a long campaign. Five point analysis.

Home and safety in the foreground

Social housing, homelessness, rooming houses: the issue of housing and, more broadly, the housing crisis was decisive in this campaign. The multiplication of candidates’ announcements on the subject clearly shows that the dazzling increase in rents in the metropolis has changed the situation. While it had always been important to politicians, access to housing is now the priority for their constituents. With the increase in shootings and incidents involving firearms, public safety – particularly in northeastern Montreal – has also carved out a place for itself. While Valérie Plante sought to defend her record, her rival Denis Coderre has mainly relied on what he calls “the return to a safe city”, which would involve the hiring of more police officers. M^me Plante has often accused his opponent of damaging Montreal’s reputation by calling the city “dangerous”.

Last minute controversies

It is a strong end to the campaign that has been orchestrated in Montreal in recent days. The last week of Denis Coderre’s campaign was first marked by his reluctance to disclose his tax returns and the complete list of clients who allowed him to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year between 2017 and 2021. He was initially content to confirm having earned “at least twice as much” as the salary of the mayor of Montreal (which was around $ 198,000 in 2020) per year with his work as a consultant. Valérie Plante almost immediately criticized him for “lacking transparency”, suggesting that he had something “to hide”. After resisting for days, Mr. Coderre finally agreed to lift the veil on the list of his clients on Wednesday, including real estate developer COGIR, after Press would have revealed this business link. In the ranks of Valérie Plante, councilor Craig Sauvé withdrew from the Projet Montréal caucus on Thursday after allegations of sexual assault against him resurfaced three days before the election. He completely denied the facts with which he is accused, but that did not prevent Denis Coderre from firing red balls on Valérie Plante, accusing him of “defending an alleged aggressor”.

A controversial merger and the issue of language

In general, language also featured prominently in the campaign, especially during the English debate. Having first spoken out in favor of Bill 96, Denis Coderre then seemed to lighten his speech to appeal to Anglophones, by promising to demand flexibility in Quebec. Valérie Plante, she asked Quebec to exclude the 311 telephone service from the application of the law, while Balarama Holness showed himself as “the only candidate who rejects” the law 21 and the bill 96. The controversial union between Marc-Antoine Desjardins, of Ralliement pour Montréal, and Balarama Holness, of Mouvement Montreal, actually only lasted three weeks. Marc-Antoine Desjardins indeed announced in mid-October that he was withdrawing from the race for mayor of Outremont, by “completely dissociating himself” from Mr. Holness’s remarks. Just before, on October 12, Marc-Antoine Desjardins and Balarama Holness had sparked a lively controversy by announcing that their party would hold a public consultation, then a “referendum on the linguistic status” of the metropolis.

New faces and defectors

The “rematch” between M^me Plante and Mr. Coderre, who clashed in 2017, sparked some cynicism among voters. However, the two teams were able to recruit new headliners. Among them, let us mention the host Jean Airoldi and the former candidate for the direction of Projet Montréal Guillaume Lavoie, who present themselves this year with Denis Coderre, or the documentary filmmaker Will Prosper and also the former president of the Office of public consultation of Montreal (OCPM) Dominique Ollivier, who took the leap with Valérie Plante. It is not yet clear which of these personalities will be able to do well, but it is immediately clear that the two teams have also made more room for diversity.

Strategy changes, but similar campaign

You can feel it in the candidates’ announcements, but also in the subjects that are discussed: campaign strategies have obviously evolved since 2017, both on the side of Valérie Plante and Denis Coderre. Now known to the general public, the first was to “show height”, while the second aimed to “soften its image”, had also explained three experts in Press in early October. “This is an important municipal election that took place in an extremely difficult context, during a pandemic and after a federal election. Despite everything, we saw the same logic as in 2017: Valérie Plante positioning himself on the left, pleading for a city on a human scale, and Denis Coderre presenting himself as prodevelopment. There has been a certain modernization of the message, but in terms of the vote, it still falls into these two very specific camps, ”analyzes the political observer, Justine McIntyre. She also says that the controversy surrounding Mr. Coderre’s clients and income may not shake the vote too much. “His constituents will vote for him despite everything. The opinion is already done in a way. ”

Call to all

A vote for a mayor? Another for an advisor? For the city and the district? Montreal’s political system, quite different from that found in Quebec City, Ottawa and other municipalities, can sometimes make voters dizzy. Do you have questions about how it works? Write to us and we will answer some of your questions on our website this Sunday evening.

The flagship promises of the candidates

The mayoral candidates have made dozens of commitments since the start of the electoral campaign, some minors, others adults. Overview of the main commitments of each camp.

Montreal Project (Valérie Plante)

• Encourage the construction of 60,000 new affordable housing units over the next 10 years, in particular by applying a regulation that strictly regulates the work of real estate developers.

• Develop a large park in the west and east of Montreal by bringing together already protected land and making sure to annex others.

• Limit the increase in residential property taxes to the inflation rate or 2%, whichever is lower.

• Expand the Bike Express Network (REV) and open new cycle paths protected from vehicular traffic.

• Allow 24/7 operation of certain sites in order to reduce their impact on traffic and neighborhoods.

Ensemble Montreal (Denis Coderre)

• Hire at least 250 additional police officers to tackle the safety problems on the streets of Montreal.

• Relax the regulations imposed on real estate developers in order to “boost the supply” of new housing: Ensemble Montréal hopes to promote the construction of 50,000 new housing units in four years.

• Limit the increase in residential property taxes to the inflation rate or 2%, whichever is lower.

• Quickly equip all Montreal police officers with portable cameras.

• Organize a trucking summit with the objective of reducing the presence of heavy goods vehicles in the heart of Montreal during the day and making them safer.

Montreal Movement (Balarama Holness)

• Campaign for obtaining city-state status, “in order to strengthen our economic power”.

• Reallocate part of the budget of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to the community.

• Organize a municipal referendum on the linguistic status of Montreal. Mr. Holness says he believes the city should be recognized as bilingual.

• Completely review Montreal’s taxation: the party wants to retain an additional tax point, abolish the “welcome tax” and institute a tax on vacant premises.

• Make parking in town free from Friday to Sunday.