Hiking taxes, blockading Mount Royal, unplugging the ePrix
Here’s a look at Valérie Plante’s eventful debut year as Montreal’s mayor.
2017
November
■ After running an energetic, upbeat, mobility-focused campaign, Valérie Plante of Projet Montréal wins the election, riding a wave of dissatisfaction with incumbent Denis Coderre to become the city’s first female mayor.
■ The incoming administration says it is surprised to find a $358-million budgetary shortfall left behind by Coderre. It says it will have to make up for the deficit in its first budget.
■ Plante unveils her executive committee. It features an equal number of women and men but includes no visible minorities or anglophones.
December
■After Quebec’s National Assembly urged merchants to drop “BonjourHi” as a greeting, Plante is asked if she will encourage the use of Bonjour. “As mayor, I can’t impose rules but … Montreal is the francophone metropolis of North America,” she says. “It’s an asset, it’s a plus and we want to showcase it.” But she won’t say if ‘Hi’ should be dropped.
■The Quebec government suspends
Montreal chief of police Philippe Pichet after a damning report about the force’s Internal Affairs Division.
■Plante cancels the 2018 Formula E electric-car race, one of Coderre’s pet projects, after being unable to agree on a location with the event’s promoters. During the election, she had vowed to move the event out of downtown Montreal.
■The new administration does away with a controversial bylaw that put strict limits on pit bull-type dogs, saying such dogs are no longer considered a dangerous breed in Montreal. It promises a new bylaw later in the year.
2018
January
■The provincial government agrees to help pay for 300 new hybrid buses for the Société de transport de Montréal, one of Plante’s election promises.
■Plante unveils her first budget. The average tax bill will go up by 3.3 per cent in 2018. To many, that appears to break her promise not to increase taxes by more than the inflation rate, which in 2018 was to be 2.1 per cent. Suburbs are blindsided by the average 5.3 per cent hike in what they’ll have to pay the city — more than twice what they were expecting.
■Plante’s tax hike sparks a backlash.
■Plante brushes aside criticism, saying she wasn’t actually reneging on a pledge because the beyond-inflation increase was due to a hike in the water tax, not the city’s “general tax.” She later admits her administration could have done a better job explaining the budget.
■Plante’s snow-clearing point person, Jean-François Parenteau, apologizes after an uproar over icy sidewalks and slow snow removal. Plante promises to do better, spending more on salt, ordering bigger blowers for overflowing snow dumps and investing in “ice crushers” to deal with sidewalks.
February
■It turns out 30,000 tickets (10,000 more than originally thought) were given away for the 2017 Formula E, says the non-profit agency running the race as it reveals a deficit of almost $14 million. It later emerges that 35,000 tickets were actually given away; only 13,646 people paid to watch the race.
■One of Plante’s top lieutenants, Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Ferrandez says of the tax-hike election promise: “We never, never should have promised that in the election campaign. It was amateurism.” Some interpret it as a swipe at Plante.
■Details emerge of a pilot project to temporarily eliminate through traffic on Mount Royal. Many are surprised by the plan but during the election campaign, Projet Montréal had said it would “implement a plan for the progressive reduction of transit traffic” on Mount Royal.
■ Some of the most vulnerable seniors, including anglophones and immigrants, are being excluded by the Plante administration’s plan to consult elderly Montrealers on how to make Montreal more senior-friendly, according to two research organizations. More meetings are added to assuage critics.
■ Plante announces a committee will look into providing free or cheaper transit to seniors, children and people on low incomes. This fulfils an election promise.
March
■Montreal makes it easier to use carsharing services by allowing them to expand to more neighbourhoods. This fulfils an election promise.
■ Plante sets up an advisory committee on diversity issues that will include people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as Indigenous Peoples, the LGBTQ community and those with reduced mobility.
April
■Plante says she is “very open” to letting police wear religious garb.
■A $21.2-million plan to encourage people to buy homes in Montreal is unveiled. The highest subsidies — up to $15,000 — are for families with children who purchase a newly built dwelling in the downtown core valued at up to $450,000. This fulfils an election promise.
■ Plante announces a $123-million plan to remake a stretch of Ste-Catherine St. W. She scraps Coderre’s plan to heat sidewalks and keep two car lanes and parking. The street will be reduced to one lane between Mansfield and Bleury Sts. and parking will be eliminated.
■ Details of the Mount Royal pilot project (June 2 to Oct. 31) are unveiled. Camillien-Houde Way/Remembrance Rd. will be closed to traffic between the parking lot at Smith House and the one at Beaver Lake.
May
■The McCord Museum is shocked to learn Plante plans to build a park on the site reserved for the museum’s new $150-million location.
■In a scathing report, Montreal’s inspector-general says former mayor Coderre’s office set up a non-profit organization to skirt the law on awarding contracts for the 2017 Formula E.
June
■ Mount Royal pilot project begins.
■Plante announces that merchants affected by roadwork can receive compensation of up to $30,000 per year. This fulfils an election promise.
■Organizers of the Formula E file a $33-million lawsuit against Plante and the city of Montreal for damages caused by the decision to cancel the event, saying the city had a binding legal agreement to host it for at least two more years.
■Suspended Montreal police chief Philippe Pichet gives up his battle to get his job back but will remain employed as the force’s chief inspector.
■ Plante announces Montreal will triple the number of housing inspections it completes within the next four years as part of its plan to tackle unsafe and unsanitary living conditions.
July
■Plante does not take part in Canada Day festivities, despite having attended St-Jean-Baptiste activities in June and the St. Patrick’s Day parade in March.
■Quebec earmarks $15 million to study nine public transit projects in Montreal, including the Pink Line.
■West Island motorists and mayors denounce a decision by Quebec and Montreal to not allow cars on a planned access route to the Kirkland station of the new Réseau express métropolitain electric light-rail line. Only buses and bikes will be allowed. A planned parking lot is also scrapped.
August
■Plante announces a public consultation, to begin in September, about a future public space on McGill-College Ave. Plante says it’s too early to say how much of the street will become a pedestrian walkway.
■City adopts a new animal control bylaw that does not target specific breeds. Instead, it imposes stricter conditions on the owners of dangerous dogs. Some dogs involved in violent incidents will be listed on a registry the city will make public online and their owners must post a sign on their homes warning people of a potential danger. Owners of such dogs must be at least 18 and can’t have a criminal record.
■Montreal launches a six-person “mobility squad” that aims to alleviate traffic congestion by removing illegally parked cars and non-compliant construction sites. This fulfils an election promise.
September
■During the provincial election, Plante meets Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault. Legault says Plante’s Pink métro line proposal is too expensive but says if it can be built cheaper and above ground, he is open to talking about it. Asked about Legault’s contention that immigration levels should be cut because many newcomers aren’t integrating, Plante says immigrants are an asset to Montreal and are integrating well.
■After a meeting with Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard, Plante says a drop in immigration to Quebec would cause problems for Montreal. “Right now, the percentage of unoccupied jobs is already three per cent in Montreal, so that’s already a problem.”
October
■Legault is elected premier but wins only two of 27 seats on Montreal Island.
■Plante, whose mission is to reduce car use and promote transit, says Montreal will work with Legault, whose commuting promises have focused on expanding highways. Asked about Legault’s planned ban on religious symbols, Plante says she’ll wait to see what the new government proposes before commenting.
■Montreal opts not to pass its own cannabis bylaw, instead sticking with provincial rules that allow marijuana use in parks and streets. But five boroughs ruled by the opposition Ensemble Montréal say they will shut down public cannabis use.
■The Plante administration says it plans to ban wood-burning commercial ovens, including those used to make bagels.
■Byelections to fill two empty seats on city council are announced. The Dec. 16 votes — in Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles and Villeray–St-Michel–Parc-Extension boroughs — will be Plante’s first electoral test since she became mayor.
■Fulfilling an election promise, Plante announces Montreal will set up an office to study the Pink Line. It will have a $1-million budget.
■If they receive funding from Montreal, non-profit organizations will be subject to the same access-toinformation rules as the city, Plante announces. The move, which fulfils an election promise, is in reaction to the lack of transparency by the agency that ran the Formula E race.
■In a bid to increase diversity on boards and committees it appoints, Montreal says it will choose names from a database that includes potential candidates who are Indigenous, women, youths, immigrants and members of visible minorities.
■Plante and Legault have their first meeting since the provincial election. They agree to jointly work on a tramway for the east end, the decontamination of waterfront industrial sites and the redesign of Notre-Dame St. E. Legault remains skeptical about the Pink Line.
■Plante’s administration tables a preliminary report suggesting the Mount Royal pilot project has been a success, reducing the number of cars on the mountain.
November
■Mount Royal reopens to through traffic.
■Plante celebrates one year in power on Nov. 5.