The mayor of Verdun is stepping down.

Claude Trudel has been mayor of the borough ever since the mergers of 2001, and has had a lengthy 40-year career in public life.

However Trudel said he is no longer proud of how municipal politicians are treated, and how the personal goals of some are tarnishing their image.

He reserved especially harsh words for politicians who had abandoned the Union Montreal party, chief among them Montreal's interim mayor Michael Applebaum.

"I don't like the way he runs his so-called coalition because my party has no real part of it," said Trudel.

"I don't especially like the way he deals with centralization or decentralization."

Trudel said he was shaken by the resignation of Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay, and by how Tremblay was treated once he made the decision to step down.

He also said that he had no desire to work with people who had betrayed his trust by abandoning their party and he plans to remain an active member of Union Montreal even after his resignation.

The borough of Verdun now has 30 days to appoint a replacement mayor.