With less than two months to go before the Montreal municipal election, opposition party Projet Montreal launched its campaign Monday night.
Several hundred supporters attended the bash ot the Lion d’Or to back the party and its leader, cheering ‘Valerie! Valerie!’ for Valerie Plante – the woman they say is the one to beat incumbent mayor, Denis Coderre.
“What I want for my kids, I want for all Montrealers and that motivates me every day to do better,” Plante told the crowd.
Projet Montreal is carrying a full team of more than 100 candidates running at all levels of municipal government.
Included in those candidates is Benoit Dorais, who is seeking a third term as mayor of the Southwest borough.
“I'm pretty confident that people will vote again for our team, for Projet Montreal. Projet Montreal is a party who cares a lot for the families, for the areas,” he said.
First-time municipal candidate Sue Montgomery, who is running for borough mayor in Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace, said there is gender parity among Projet Montreal's candidates.
“Out of all 103 candidates, half are women, but at every level -- so city councillor, borough councillor, and borough mayors. So it's very exciting,” she said.
The party's vision includes better access to public transportation and a focus on affordable housing.
“Projet Montreal has been talking so many times about how it is important to keep our families in the island and to us, one of the ways to do that is to offering more options for housing that is affordable,” said Plante.
Plante wasn't providing details at the launch on how much Projet's vision will cost.
“Tonight we wanted to give a bit of an appetizer for the audience, but there's more to come,” she said.
When it comes to beating the current administration, in some boroughs, Plante admitted they'll have work to do.
“There are areas like Pierrefonds-Roxboro, in Riviere-des-Prairies, where we've always been present in the past, but we know and we want to make some gains there,” she said.
If she wins on Nov. 5, Plante will be the first female mayor of Montreal.
Her biggest challenge, however, might be getting Montrealers to know her.
“Ultimately, I'm not so interested in beating Denis Coderre. I want to win Montreal, that's what I'm interested in,” she said.
