Mayoral hopeful Denis Coderre releases 'Montreal for all' platform ahead of fall election
Montreal mayoral hopeful Denis Coderre released his platform Monday ahead of the fall election, with wide-ranging promises on issues from housing and the environment, to public safety.
Speaking on the 31st floor of Montreal’s famous rotating restaurant, Portus 360, Coderre outlined his vision for the city over the next 25 years, if voters choose him as mayor.
“We’re not for the next election only. We’re running to make sure that we are planning for the next generation,” Coderre said with a panoramic view of the island behind him.
He said he’s running again because there is a lack of leadership at city hall and the current administration has neglected Montreal’s “sense of metropolis” that he said he will bring back to the city.
Part of the plan is to lure more people to live and work downtown, that has seen a dramatic drop in foot traffic in the last 18 months of the pandemic and businesses closing their doors for good.
He also promises to create a “quality commitment charter” to make sure public transit is punctual, clean, and safe for users and to submit timelines to a monitoring committee for large-scale transit projects, such as the Blue line expansion project.
His Ensemble Montreal team spoke Monday about the importance of fighting climate change and vowed to plant a tree on every street and to transform the city’s east end into a “green Silicon Valley” in Quebec “with green businesses, eco-responsible housing and development focused on the social and circular economy.”
The Coderre administration also said it would seek UNESCO designation for Mount Royal.
Coderre also pledged to hold landlords more accountable by creating a lease registry and to require owners to do an independent inspection of unsanitary conditions in buildings that are more than 20 years old.
“We can't wait for the people most in need to know the process of the city to report to us an absolutely terrifying problem,” said Guillaume Lavoie, co-chair of the Ensemble Montreal electoral platform.
Coderre's biggest opponent, incumbent mayor Valerie Plante, also released her campaign pledge on the housing file Monday, promising to create a landlord certificate to put an end to so-called renovictions and to keep rental prices down. The Projet Montreal party stated the certification would be required for landlords who have buildings with eight or more units, which translates to roughly 216,000 units across the city.
Where Plante and Coderre are on the same page is body cameras for police officers. Coderre has been a longtime defender of police body cameras since he believes they can rebuild trust between officers and the community they serve.
If elected, Montreal police patrol officers would wear body cameras within the first year of Coderre's mandate, said Guillaume Lavoie, a Ensemble Montreal mayoral candidate for Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension.
Coderre was asked why so much of his platform touched on Montreal’s image as a bustling metropolis rather than things like homelessness and accessibility. He said he will devote more time later in the campaign to speak about those specific issues, but did suggest that making Montreal a more international city helps to fund other core social services.
“I think that we can think global and act local. It’s not one against each other. It’s one because of the other,” he said.
“If you want to distribute wealth, you have to create it … If you want to be relevant again and create that wealth you need to have an international strategy because Montreal is an international city.”
He’s hoping to take his “Montreal for all” message to voters as they prepare to head back to the polls on Nov. 7.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.