Mayor Denis Coderre is promising to spend $5 million on community organizations.
He said the money would come from the city's economic development fund and would go toward supporting community organizations in the first few years of their existence, pointing out they are responsible for more than 65,000 jobs in Montreal and $2 billion in revenue.
There are 3,500 community organizations in Montreal, such as Renaissance and the NDG Food Depot.
"It's a matter of culture at the same time it's not just a matter of money, it's a matter of sending a strong message that from Seoul to Montreal we have the same plan of circular economy, that every time we want to focus on green economy for example there is a compound of social economy attached to it," said Coderre.
The NDG Food Depot serves roughly 1000 people a week, and has been doing so for more than 30 years.
"It's a challenge every year to meet this growing organization-- I think that it would be really important that the city continue to fund and increase their funding of existing community organizations," said Daniel Rotman, director of the food depot.
Right now, the vast majority of the food bank's funding comes from private donations.
Coderre also promised to dedicate a portion of city contracts to community organizations, and also said he would invest in PME-Montreal, an organization that helps small and medium-sized businesses.
At a news conference on Tuesday the incumbent mayoral candidate also repeated a promise that, with the new powers granted to the city, Montreal would be able to give a tax credit to businesses, especially those affected by construction.
Valerie Plante discussed her party's plan to improve public transit through the creation of a new metro line to northeastern Montreal.
The STM's pink line would connect Lachine to Montreal North at a cost of $5.6 billion, and its 29 stops would be completed in 2028 -- ultimately covering ground in eight separate boroughs.
"Because of the density, because it was not well served, and also because from a more socio-economical background those areas also need to have a breath of air," Plante said Tuesday afternoon.
The long-term goal is to reduce congestion on the orange and green lines-- however, some citizens told CTV Montreal that they believe the metro line extension would be more useful if situated elsewhere, like the West Island or Anjou.
Projet Montreal says that over half a million Montrealers live within walking distance of some of the proposed stations on the metro's pink line.
