Montreal’s first female mayor eager to kick off infrastructure projects
Plante is promising open and transparent government, noting her leadership style is starkly different from incumbent Denis Coderre
Montreal’s new mayor says she wants to get going quickly on projects with the provincial and federal governments, including the creation of a 29-stop subway line.
“We can’t wait five, 10 years — the (infrastructure) money is there now,” Valerie Plante said Monday, a day after causing a major surprise by winning more than 51 per cent of the vote to defeat incumbent Denis Coderre.
Plante, 43, said she was “honoured” at becoming Montreal’s first female mayor.
“My children were with me last night and my oldest son, once he came on stage, said, ‘Mom, do you realize you will be in the history books’ and I have to say at that moment I was a bit shocked and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s true.”’
Plante said she felt a groundswell of support during the campaign.
”It was a wave, I think we can call it a wave,“she said. ”We felt the wave over the last two weeks, the energy, the things people were telling me.“
Plante is promising open and transparent government and noted her leadership style is starkly different from Coderre’s.
Her campaign promises included improving public transit and lessening road congestion, as well as adding green spaces and social housing.
Plante entered municipal politics in 2013 when she won a council seat in a contest that pitted her against former provincial cabinet minister Louise Harel.
In 2016, she was elected leader of the left-leaning party Projet Montreal.
She began the mayoral race as a relative unknown but opinion polls showed her steadily gaining on Coderre as the campaign continued.
The mother of two, who cycles or takes public transit to work, sought throughout the campaign to present herself as less flamboyant and more in touch with Montrealers than her opponent.
Her signature campaign promise was the new subway line that would link the city’s densely populated northeast to downtown.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed Plante’s historic victory in a tweet late Sunday night.
“Congratulations @Val-Plante, first-ever woman elected mayor of Montreal! I’m looking forward to working together on our shared priorities,” he wrote.
The outgoing Coderre, a former Liberal MP and cabinet minister who was elected mayor in 2013, campaigned largely on his record.
“We felt the wave over the last two weeks, the energy, the things people were telling me.”
Montreal mayor Valerie Plante