Former Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness promises new multicultural provincial party
Former candidate for Montreal mayor Balarama Holness is dipping his toe into provincial politics with the creation of a new party, Mouvement Québec.
He is expected to make an official announcement at the National Assembly Wednesday at 12 p.m.
"We want to be the party that represents all Quebecers, and particularly Montrealers, that feel like they have no representation at the National Assembly," he told CTV News.
His main focus: the economy, environment, housing and challenging "the elephant in the room" -- Bill 96, Quebec's revamped language law, and Bill 21, the province's secularism law.
"We're not targetting a specific party or a specific issue," Holness said. "It's that Montrealers say there's no political party that represents ethnic or linguistic minorities."
He says his plan is to go up against the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) on its "mismanagement of the pandemic," as well as the Quebec Liberals (PLQ) for "overall lack of leadership."
"Mouvement Québec has to earn every vote and I think the Liberal government may have taken a lot of Montrealers for granted since its inception," Holness told CTV News. "And now they're going to have to earn votes."
LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Balarama Holness gives his first live interview after announcing his new provincial political party
His focus, he says, is on garnering votes in the Greater Montreal area.
"What we're saying is very clear: a strong Montreal will strengthen the regions," he said when asked if he's worried about whether or not he'll be able to convince Quebecers across the province to vote for his party.
Despite receiving several racist and threatening messages during the 2021 Montreal municipal election, Holness, a former Montreal Alouette and activist, says he's "not concerned at all" about the kind of reception a multicultural, multilingual party may get province-wide.
Though the 38-year-old is stepping away from municipal politics, he says party Mouvement Montréal is in good hands and will announce an interim leader shortly.
"The municipal election was a tremendous success for us," he said. "We mobilized Montrealers and spoke to issues they care about. It's important to us to continue that movement."
LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: MULCAIR: reaction to Holness, masks on flights and consultations for new police chief
Mouvement Montréal finished third place with seven per cent of the vote in the 2021 municipal election.
Holness points out the goal was always to create a "multi-tiered" political movement -- and that's why he's heading to Quebec City.
The provincial election in Quebec is slated for Oct. 3.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.