Plante, Coderre and Holness battle it out in three-way debate
With a little more than two weeks to go before election day, Montreal's three main mayoral candidates went head-to-head-to-head in a French-language debate Thursday night.
The candidates, including incumbent mayor Valérie Plante and Ensemble Montréal Leader Denis Coderre, exchanged heated words on issues ranging from access to housing, transportation, climate change and public security.
Movement Montreal Leader Balarama Holness also did his best to get his party's platform across, entering the debate with recent polls showing him in a distant third behind Plante and Coderre.
But in one of the rare occasions where Plante and Coderre agreed, they challenged Holness on his most talked about proposal to date: a referendum on bilingual status for the city.
Plante and Coderre both called the idea unacceptable. Coderre said it would only “throw oil on the fire,” while Plante insisted there were more pressing matters to deal with as the city looks to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Montrealers should get to decide who they are and what language they speak,” Holness retorted, calling the city's bilingualism and multiculturalism a strength.
As he has throughout the campaign, Coderre positioned public security as one of his top priorities, accusing Plante and her Projet Montréal team of having lost the city's police department's trust during the last four years.
“The problem we have right now is we just saw our 17th femicide, and a 16-year-old boy was just killed,” Coderre said. “People are afraid to go out at night.”
In response, Plante asked Coderre why his party has yet to table a public security plan if he believes it's the top priority, noting he lowered police funding during his time as mayor.
On the issue of homelessness, Holness said the city needs a plan that includes access to affordable and social housing, in addition to mental-health services and support.
He also pledged to ensure police officers are better equipped to interact with unhoused people, shifting their approach toward helping them instead of issuing tickets.
On transportation, the three leaders debated their positions on bike lanes, traffic congestion, the extension of the métro's Blue line and the REM de l'est. When Plante mentioned her Pink Line proposal, a key element of her 2017 campaign, both Coderre and Holness groaned.
“Montrealers won't be fooled again with that idea,” Holness added.
All parties agreed the city needs to improve its public transit services, including moving toward more electric options, but Coderre said Plante's administration has lacked leadership on the issue.
Plante, in return, argued Coderre's Ensemble Montréal party wanted to cut public transport during the pandemic.
“And you know who used public transit during the pandemic? It was our front line workers — health-care workers, firefighters, police officers,” she said. “For me, that was not the responsible thing to do.”
Asked how to best tackle climate change on a municipal level, among other proposals, Holness pledged to plant more trees across the city, specifically in poorer neighbourhoods.
Coderre agreed more trees are needed and said he has a detailed plan to reduce carbon emissions.
“At Parc Jean-drapeau you cut 1,000 trees to make a concrete stadium,” Plante told him in response. “That says a lot.”
On the topic of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for candidates, both Coderre and Plante agreed elected officials should be fully vaccinated.
Coderre added he would like all city employees to be as well, while Plante said she wouldn't go that far without first making sure it won't cause service shortages.
The three candidates also will take part in an English debate on Oct. 28.