Vincent Marissal is not closing the door on a run for Montreal mayor

Quebec Solidaire MNA Vincent Marissal questions the government during question period, Tuesday, May 23, 2023 at the legislature in Quebec City. He has not ruled out running for Montreal mayor. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)

The Quebec Solidaire (QS) Rosemont MNA Vincent Marissal is not closing the door on running for mayor of Montreal.

“I'm discussing it with myself,” he said at a news briefing at the National Assembly on Thursday. “I need to do an interview with myself. I need to talk. Politics is also a family matter.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced on Wednesday that she would not be seeking a third term because she did not see herself running the city for another four years with the same level of energy, she explained.

• IN PHOTOS: Montreal's first female mayor Valerie Plante will not seek re-election

Since then, several names have been circulating for the mayoralty, including that of Marissal, who said on Thursday that he was “flattered.”

The MNA admitted having been approached a few months ago by certain people.

On Wednesday he warned his party's co-spokespersons that he was thinking about running for mayor of Montreal.

At a news scrum on Thursday, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois praised his colleague's transparency, saying that he could continue to sit as a QS MNA for the time being.

“At Quebec Solidaire, we have never demanded that anyone step down from any position simply because they were approached and questioned about these approaches,” he said. “Of course, if my friend Vincent's thinking were to evolve, we would discuss it with him.”

Marissal would not give a timetable.

He said that he is very satisfied with his work as an MNA at the moment: “Do I like my job here in Quebec? The answer is yes, in capital letters. I love my job here,” he said.

However, he admits that he had a hard time coping with the departure last spring of former QS spokesperson Émilise Lessard-Therrien, whom he had supported in the race to become spokesperson.

“Émilise's departure was hard for me personally, for her personally and for the caucus. We won't hide it; we've had a shitty spring,” he said. “That said (...) I don't think I've lost any intensity in my work here.”

A former journalist, Marissal has been a QS MNA since 2018. He is responsible in particular for health, sport and ethics, in addition to assuming responsibilities related to the metropolis.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 24, 2024.