Plante takes a victory walk to city hall
Mayor-elect thanks voters for helping her pull off major upset
On her first day as Montreal’s mayor-elect, Valérie Plante took a morning stroll from Square Victoria to city hall and saw first-hand how excited Montrealers are about her victory.
Along the route, motorists honked their horns, firefighters stopped to shake her hand, calèche drivers waved and supporters dashed across the street to congratulate her or ask for a selfie.
Plante, whose sunny personality and easy smile resonated with Montrealers, said her supporters feel that she can relate to their dayto-day life in the city.
“It’s OK to not be a formatted politician,” she told reporters, about 12 hours after winning the mayoral race against incumbent Denis Coderre, a lifelong politician.
Plante was elected the city’s first female mayor in an upset win over Coderre Sunday night. The polls had suggested the mayoral race was a dead heat in the last days of the campaign, but that didn’t translate in the voting results. Plante will be sworn in as mayor on Nov. 16.
After getting only two hours of sleep, which she described as a power nap, the Projet Montréal leader turned up at the SquareVictoria-OACI métro station Monday morning to thank voters for their support.
On her walk from Square Victoria to city hall, she was stopped by tourists from the area of New York where former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lives, Chappaqua.
“Congratulations on breaking the glass ceiling, we are so happy for you,” one woman said.
Plante was also recognized by two tourists from Toronto in town for the Leonard Cohen tribute concert Monday night.
Before entering city hall, Plante took time to speak to a young girl who is visiting from Brazil with her mother. Plante bent down and told the girl, named Sophie, that she was elected the first female mayor of Montreal. She pointed to city hall and said, “That is where I’m going to work.” When the girl smiled, Plante told her that perhaps one day, she would be mayor of a city in Brazil or the country’s president.
On the steps of city hall, Plante said she’s ready for the challenge of being the city’s mayor.
“I feel very privileged that Montrealers have given me their confidence,” she said. “It will be four great years.”
As Plante made her way to her office in the basement of city hall, several female employees cheered when they spotted her. Plante raced over to the women, saying: “Salut, les filles,” before they all embraced.
Over the next few days, she will finalize her executive committee and get to work on improving the city’s public transit network, saying she promised to get Montrealers moving again.
She also pledged to fast-track plans by the STM to get more buses on the road and promised to talk with provincial and federal officials to secure financing for transportation projects.
“We have to propose projects now while the money is there, not in five or 10 years,” she said. “I am going to work with the STM and the provincial government to buy buses that are badly needed on Montreal’s streets.”
Plante took time on Monday afternoon to field calls from several politicians, including Toronto Mayor John Tory and federal Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly.
On a personal note, Plante said she was up early to prepare breakfast for her two children.
“I got their toast ready because while I am the mayor, I am also a mother.”
She said she was moved on election night by a comment her teenage son made.
“He said: ‘Mom, do you realize you will be in the history books?’ It is such an honour for me to be the first woman mayor of Montreal.”
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said Plante’s victory is a signal that Quebecers want their elected officials to do politics differently.
“I want to recognize the type of campaign that she conducted; a campaign with a lot of substance, but also conducted with a smile,” Couillard said on Monday.
“I think this is what people want today and also concrete down-toearth projects for citizens.”
When asked whether he planned to smile more during the next year with a provincial election looming, he replied: “I keep smiling a lot. I am a happy person in general.”
Couillard refused to say whether Quebec would make money available to allow Plante to fulfil one of her key campaign promises — the construction of a new métro line that would run from Montreal North to Lachine.
“We have projects on the drawing board and being executed soon (the extension of the metro’s Blue line and a light-rail network around greater Montreal),” he said.
“She talks a lot about sustainable mobility, and we will do as much as we can with the new administration in Montreal.”