Denis Coderre announces he is quitting political life after losing bid for Montreal mayor
Former Montreal mayor, federal Liberal cabinet minister and runner-up in the 2021 mayoral race Denis Coderre announced he is quitting political life after losing to Valerie Plante in the municipal election.
Coderre had kept a low profile since the Nov. 7 election, but was seen heading into a closed-door meeting Friday with his team at Casa d'Italia, a community centre on Jean-Talon St.
Coming out of the meeting after the lunch hour, Coderre said he is stepping down from leader of the opposition, which means the job of Ensemble Montreal leader will be vacant. The party said details of the new leader will be announced "in the coming weeks."
"I gave 40 years of my life. I took time for me to reflect. It was pretty hard," he said Friday of his decision to quit as he was surrounded by his team.
Appearing emotional at times during the press conference, he said he explained that the extremely low voter turnout in Sunday's election as one of the reasons why he is leaving and that he is done with politics altogether. He said he will "do something else" in his future life, but did not elaborate.
"After 40 years of public life, 12 election campaigns, 16 years in Ottawa, [then] mayor. We contributed to the rebirth of Montreal after all this corrupt situation at the time," he said.
"What I'm really proud of is this team."
Voter turnout was 38.32 per cent this year for Montreal's municipal election.
Coderre came in second during this year's municipal mayoral election, receiving 37.97 per cent (158,751) of the vote.
Incumbent mayor Valérie Plante had 52.14 per cent (217,986) of the vote, acccording to Élections Montréal.
She has since commented on Coderre's announcement and wished him "success in his future projects."
"Mr. Coderre has Montreal's interests at heart," she said. "Our administration will offer its full collaboration to the person who will be designated by Ensemble Montréal to occupy the important position of leader of the official opposition."
'YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK AT THE RESULT AND LIVE WITH IT'
He said "we're all surprised, we're deceived" by the election results.
"You have to look ahead and you just have to look at the result and live with it," he said.
He said that the day after the election he had "such a headache I couldn't talk to anybody," but eventually he wrote to Mayor Plante and she replied.
"I congratulated her in my speech on Sunday, too, with Balarama [Holness], too. And, that's it -- good luck."
The election loss was an emotional one, he admitted Friday, and that now is the "right time" to leave the helm and focus on himself.
"I want to take care of my kids, I want to take care of me, my senior parents who took it hard and I was with them on Monday. I wanted to be here today to tell [my team] that I love them and I have great respect for politics and politicians."
Up until the last week of the campaign, Coderre and Plante were tied in polls until two polls a few days ago showed Plante breaking away with about a six-point lead -- far less than the margin she ended up with.
After his 2017 loss to Plante, he quit as leader of the opposition and entered the private sector as a consultant. "I never truly stopped and something was missing and I filled that gap during the campaign," he said Friday.
His private life came under the microscope in the last week of the election when, after pressure from his main opponent to be more transparent, he released his tax returns and financial records of his consulting work for real-estate giant Cogir and other private companies.
At his concession speech, Coderre talked about his "love" for Montreal and pleaded with citizens to be more engaged with their city.
"I ask all people... we need to transcend party politics" and get involved in various ways, he said. "It's worth the effort."
He ran on a platform that was focused more on business and public security, telling voters Montreal was no longer safe.
He also promised changes like removing some new bike lanes around the city and replacing them with parking spots to appease business owners.
On housing, he pledged to "flood the market" with new private units to bring down prices.
In the end, Coderre won more votes in six out of Montreal's 19 boroughs, namely Anjou, Montreal-Nord, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Saint-Laurent, and Saint-Léonard.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.