Business leaders react with hope, trepidation

Business leaders in Montreal say they’re ready to work with the city’s new administration, though many say they hope mayor-elect Valérie Plante will maintain some elements of her predecessor’s approach.

“Clearly, Montreal is on a roll and I’m very happy and reassured to hear Mayor Plante say that she wants this momentum to continue,” said Michel Leblanc, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.

Outgoing mayor Denis Coderre helped change the business environment in Montreal, Leblanc said. Leblanc said he’s optimistic about the next four years.

“The business community wants Montreal to succeed,” he said. “We all want to make sure that the momentum that we have continues.”

Plante has proven herself to be a successful campaigner, but she now faces the challenges of governing, said Yves-Thomas Dorval, CEO of the Conseil du patronat du Québec. “Certainly, what we have seen from her is an enthusiasm that is contagious,” Dorval said.

Mobility will be a major issue, he said. The ability for people and goods to get around the city is important for the local economy, and “quality of life and standard of living are directly related to economic development.”

Plante’s Projet Montréal party has run city boroughs in the past, but now she will have to think about the city — and the region — as whole, Dorval said.

Hubert Bolduc, CEO of Montréal International, an economic development agency that works to encourage foreign businesses to invest in Montreal, said Coderre did a good job of selling the city internationally. Coderre participated in trade missions, Bolduc said, and he hopes Plante will do the same. “We need to make sure that the winning conditions are maintained,” he said.

The Chamber of Commerce’s Leblanc echoed Bolduc. “Mayor Coderre paid a lot of attention to Montreal’s reputation abroad, trying to position Montreal internationally, and I think it’s something that should be continued,” he said.

At the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, there’s a mixture of “hope and fear,” said Simon Gaudreault, director of economic affairs for Quebec.

Plante’s party is “suggesting some interesting things,” but in some boroughs the party has implemented measures that hurt local business, he said.

The CFIB is encouraged by Projet Montréal’s promise to reduce property taxes for small local businesses, Gaudreault said. Currently, all businesses in a borough pay the same property tax rate, which is about four times as high as the residential property tax rate.

Gaudreault said he is also encouraged by promises to reduce red tape and compensate businesses affected by construction.

“We will give them the chance to prove themselves and prove that they care about local businesses, and we are definitely willing to work with them,” he said.

For some business owners, there’s hope that Projet Montréal will bring a similar approach to city hall as the one it has used at the borough level. “We’ve had a fantastic relationship with (Sud-Ouest borough mayor) Benoit Dorais,” said David McMillan, the owner of the restaurants Liverpool House, Le Vin Papillon and Joe Beef.