Mayor presents $600M wish list
Mayor Denis Coderre presented a lengthy, $600-million-a-year Montreal wish list to the federal political parties of Canada Wednesday, with an emphasis on greater funding for public transportation, infrastructure and social housing.
With the Oct. 19 election looming and before the scheduled visits of party leaders to see Coderre, Wednesday’s announcement was the opportunity for the city to outline its priorities and cajole potential future prime ministers into promises to benefit the city. In so doing, Coderre is joining a widening chorus of Canadian mayors demanding greater powers and more funding to reflect cities’ growing role as the economic and social engines of the country. The city and the federal government must become “true partners,” he said.
“We are no longer a creature of the provinces — we also have a role to play as a metropolis, as Toronto has done,” Coderre said. “We are leaders on the economic and social front as the second-largest city in Canada, as well as being a port city.”
Also included in the list was more funding for police and the city’s anti-radicalization centre, cash for the city’s 375th birthday celebration in 2017, scrapping the toll idea for the new Champlain Bridge, and support for supervised injection sites for drug addicts.
Coderre, a former Liberal cabinet minister, said he is not endorsing one party or party platform over another, or advising his party members to vote in a particular way.
All party leaders except Prime Minister Stephen Harper have accepted invitations from the Coderre administration for talks before the Oct. 19 vote. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is meeting with Coderre on Thursday.
Guillaume Lavoie, finance critic for opposition party Projet Montréal, criticized Coderre’s requests as an “interminable” list of ideas without clear priorities that was unlikely to garner any credence with federal parties.
“To govern is to choose,” Lavoie said. “The one mayor who has shown proof of leadership is the mayor of Toronto (John Tory), who said for me there are two priorities: housing and transportation. It’s with that that he begins.
“By demanding everything, you get nothing. And that’s what we heard, an interminable grocery list.”
Montreal should focus on two priorities — public transit and affordable housing — to stem the exodus of residents from the island and spur economic development, Lavoie said, especially considering the city’s unemployment rate continues to rise. Fighting traffic congestion and using federal funds to decontaminate 135 square kilometres of contaminated land in Montreal would help stem the tide, Projet Montréal contends.