Denis Coderre won’t seek Liberal leadership but hints broadly he will run for mayor.
Liberal MP won’t say if he’ll run for mayor
Federal MP and prolific tweeter Denis Coderre announced Wednesday he will not NOT be running for mayor of Montreal in November, 2013.
As Mayor Gérald Tremblay effectively went into hiding, “postponing” indefinitely his speech before the Montreal board of trade amid allegations of corruption implicating him and his party, Union Montreal, Coderre addressed reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
He would not be running for the Liberal leadership, he announced, but would remain the MP for the north-end Montreal riding of Bourassa until a new party leader is chosen in April.
Coderre gave mixed messages when asked repeatedly if he would run for mayor of Montreal, however.
“I’m not a mayor in waiting — right now I’m MP for Bourassa. You know me, I don’t do two things at once.”
Then later, “I always said it would be the leadership or the mayoralty,” Coderre said. “And I’m telling you it won’t be the leadership.”
People do know Coderre, who has been the MP for Bourassa since 1997, and has held various Liberal cabinet positions, including minister for sport, and minister for citizenship and immigration.
Coderre has more than 85,000 followers on Twitter, where he posts links to music he likes and baseball scores, and comments on newspaper articles — and his own future.
Last week he tweeted that he hadn’t decided whether to run for mayor.
One of his followers tweeted back: “Better a mayor who tweets than a mayor who’s a twit.”
Despite his non-candidacy, according to a recent CROP poll Coderre, 49, was the front-runner in voting intentions.
Of 831 people surveyed Oct. 3 and 4 — before allegations aired at the Charbonneau Commission implicated Tremblay directly in a system of collusion and cutbacks — only seven per cent said they would vote for Tremblay if he runs again.
Tremblay’s popularity is not likely to have improved since then, as pundits and politicians called for his resignation, and others likened him to the Hogan’s Heroes character Colonel Klink: “I know nothing.”
Meanwhile, 24 per cent of people surveyed said they would support Projet Montréal Leader Richard Bergeron and 22 per cent would opt for Vision Montreal’s Louise Harel, if Tremblay ran again.
However 32 per cent said they would vote for Coderre if he replaced Tremblay as head of Union Montreal.
Coderre is expected to make his candidacy for mayor official at a spaghetti dinner in Montreal North Nov. 9.
Asked if she was concerned with Coderre’s possible candidacy, Harel, who is also leader of the opposition at City Hall, said “six months is an eternity in politics.”
“He’s pushed it forward to April,” Harel told The Gazette, adding she wouldn’t comment on his strengths or weaknesses as a candidate until it was official.
“In the meantime, he’s silent on what’s going on in Montreal. I saw him on TV and thought to myself he can’t stay quiet under these circumstances when all the citizens are so outraged at the (Tremblay) administration.”
Asked Wednesday for his thoughts on this week’s testimony before the Charbonneau Commission, in which Tremblay is alleged to have closed his eyes to illegal party financing, Coderre said he would wait for the commission to draw conclusions.
“I think Montreal deserves better,” Coderre said.
“I love Montreal and it’s clear … what’s happening is appalling. But we’ll let the commission do it’s work.”
As for whether Tremblay should resign, Coderre said “it’s a very uncomfortable situation, but the decision is up to him.”
Projet Montréal’s François Croteau (borough mayor of Rosemont/ Petite-Patrie) said he thinks Montreal deserves better than to be Coderre’s second choice after Liberal leader.
“Montreal should not be a consolation prize or a Plan B,” he said. “Montrealers already have an option to counter collusion and corruption: Project Montreal and Richard Bergeron. Why look to Ottawa for what we already have?”