Municipal election: Three-way fight for CDN-NDG as election day nears

MONTREAL -

After a day off, Denis Coderre was out Sunday promising help for first-time homebuyers in the city.

He's proposing a system through which Montreal would assist buyers with their downpayment, to be repaid when they sell the property.

Coderre also repeated his plan to revamp the property transfer tax, better known as the "welcome tax."

"It's unfair, that welcome tax," Coderre said, addressing the press. "You have a lot of people who can't afford [it] because they don't have that kind of money. So if we can find a way to give them a break, it's feasible."

Only 35 per cent of Montrealers own their home.

Coderre says his plan would encourage Montrealers to remain in the city, benefitting the economy.

"If we raise density, it will have an impact on the price. Point number one," he said.

Meanwhile, in Cote-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grace (CDN-NDG), Projet Monreal's Gracia Kasoki Katahwa tried to fill the void left by borough-mayor Sue Montgomery's expulsion from the party last January.

Montgomery came under fire in early 2020 when she refused to implement measures recommended by the comptroller general relating her chief of staff, Annalisa Harris, who was accused of psychological harassment against two borough employees.

Katahwa says people in the borough were deeply affected by the high profile tug-of-war between the city and Montgomery.

"People are tired of scandals. They really want somebody who has their wellbeing at heart, somebody who's going to be able to work for them, basically," she said.

Katahwa's focus is housing. On Sunday she addressed Denis Coderre with the reminder that Projet Montreal also has a program to help first-time homebuyers.

"Yes, we also have first-time home buyers and at Project Montreal we have a promise that we will increase the [ceiling] to help people who want to buy their first home."

A few streets away, Sue Montgomery and her candidate Louise Kold-Taylor continued their door-to-door campaign to remind voters that their new part, called Courage, is the only one focused strictly on CDN-NDG.

"They're very pleased that we're not attached to either Mme. Plante or Mr. Coderre because we don't have to tow the party line. We can go downtown and stand up for our borough, which no one has ever done in the past."

It's a three-way fight in a hotly contested borough, where every vote will count.