CODERRE HAS MUCH WORK AHEAD
Perhaps the most vivid image of Denis Coderre as mayor is of him in a hard hat hammering away with a jackhammer at a slab of concrete laid by Canada Post in a nature park in Pierrefonds.
As Coderre marks the midway point of his mandate on Tuesday, it’s clear his refreshing directness and enthusiasm have been a welcome antidote for a city in a funk, marred by decades of decline and chronic corruption. Under his tenure, the city has regained some of its lost swagger, and is daring to dream big. Major projects like covering the Ville-Marie Expressway, and turning the Bonaventure Expressway into an urban boulevard are positive signs. And the mayor isn’t monopolizing municipal vision: as part of the 375th anniversary celebrations, each borough is to propose an ambitious project. It seems Coderre has made progress on several lagging files, including special powers and status as a metropolis, to be conferred by the province — the announcement of which seems to be imminent — and a new city-centred body to plan regional transit projects.
It was hoped that Coderre’s election had turned a page on municipal corruption, but on this score, more work remains ahead. He put in place an inspector general, which was a welcome move, but his public database of city contracts has been criticized as incomplete. The bidding process for public contracts remains inadequate, and there are few new processes in place to ensure that corruption won’t return to the municipal world.
The mayor has shown a discouraging tendency
While Coderre often speaks about getting Montreal moving, standing still appears to be the norm for public transit commuters.
to try to avoid public scrutiny on major projects like the Maison Alcan and Viger Square redevelopments, and, most famously, the plan to dump 8 billion litres of raw sewage into the river — which would have been shielded from the general public if reporters had not stumbled upon an obscure announcement.
Despite his oft-repeated line that “Montreal is back,” the city is still punching below its economic weight-class. Unemployment is the highest of any major city in Canada, and for two years in a row, Montreal had the dubious distinction of ranking as the worst of 120 urban centres in the country as a place for doing business, as determined by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Still, some positive steps include Coderre’s smart city plan, a planned facelift for Ste-Catherine St. with heated sidewalks in the winter, and even his attempt to bring Major League Baseball back to the city.
While Coderre often speaks about getting Montreal moving, standing still appears to be the norm for public transit commuters under his watch. His administration has underfunded the Société de transport de Montréal.
As for fixing roads and sewers, plugging potholes and clearing snow, the jury is still out. Despite promises to improve, delays on roadwork projects for major arteries like Peel St. are still a problem, and the city hasn’t improved its completion rate for promised roadwork. Two winters of sub-par snow clearing saw the creation of a city-wide policy, but it’s still unknown whether this will lead to improvements.
Montrealers have grown accustomed to their mayor playing to cameras and talking about defending their interests, but ultimately, he will judged by what he delivers. With half his term behind him, Coderre has much work ahead of him to deliver the city he has promised.