With a municipal election less than six months away, Mayor Denis Coderre is firming up his roster of candidates.
Three current councillors who ran against Team Coderre last election have decided to join the mayor for this one.
Kimberly Simonyk, Jean-Francois Cloutier and Lorraine Pagé may not be household names across Montreal, but what the three councillors represent, they say, is a desire for change.
“I think that working with Denis is in the best interests of our community to defend the interests of our citizens and to improve the quality of life in out borough,” said Lachine borough councillor Simonyk.
Elected as a member of Equipe Dauphin - the party of Lachine's Borough Mayor Claude Dauphin - Simonyk is making the leap along with her colleague Cloutier, who was also elected under that banner two years ago. Cloutier has been an independent city councillor for the last two years.
“Montreal has taken its place back with Team Coderre, with the leadership of Mr. Coderre, so they are very proud.”
The best known of the three is former union leader Lorraine Pagé, a city councillor for Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
Pagé has been sitting as an independent but ran with Melanie Joly in the last election under the ‘Vrai changement pour Montreal’ banner. Joly has since moved on to federal politics, serving as the heritage minister.
“No one expected me to stay with the ‘Vrai changement pour Montreal’ party since the party was created around Melanie Joly, and she’s no longer there,” said Pagé
Coderre said his team has been approaching people to change party affiliation and said councillors have been approaching him.
“There are some people who are ready to come on our side to be part of the decision-making process,” he said.
In any case, he added, more and more people are trying to put party politics behind them.
“Men and women who are fed up with all that bashing and are fed up to see the blame game and pointing fingers,” he said.
With an election in less than six months the mayor says he's not done trying to lure more councillors to his team.
“There will be more,” he said. “We're talking to everybody.”
