Coderre bows out of municipal politics
‘I am leaving with my head high ... that we have found our integrity once again’
What was supposed to be incumbent mayor Denis Coderre’s victory party at the Olympia Theatre on the eastern edge of downtown Montreal turned into a funeral wake Sunday night, as stunned councillors and party members watched in queasy silence as the disappointing results kept trickling in.
Coderre took to the stage at 10:40 p.m. before roughly 150 supporters to say thank you to his team and announce he would be leaving municipal politics and not staying to serve as leader of the Opposition.
“I want to say I am leaving with my head high, that Montreal is an exceptional city, that Montreal is a metropolis that is the envy of the world, that we have found our integrity once again, that we have found our joie de vivre, our pride, and that we worked body and soul to assure that the metropolis can play its central role, both in the economic sphere and the social one, and environmental.”
In a reference to one of the elements that might have led to his stunning downfall, Coderre said he would have a news conference Wednesday, and hoped he wouldn’t have to talk about “electric cars,” referring to the Formula E race that stirred opposition against him.
Réal Ménard, a former Coalition Montréal party member who switched to Coderre’s party and was the executive committee member responsible for the environment, lost his seat Monday night, putting an end to 25 years in municipal and provincial politics. He was one of several opposition party members who switched to Coderre’s team during the last mandate, to see the move backfire on them. Ménard said it was too early to speculate on what led to what was a resounding defeat for the party.
“Give us 24 or 48 hours,” he said. “Now is too soon.”
He was surprised, he said, because his party did many positive things for the city, stabilizing the economy, fixing infrastructure, reining in spending at city hall and planting 300,000 trees.
Pierre Desrochers, former head of the city’s executive committee and Coderre’s right hand man, said he was saddened for Coderre because he felt he had honestly done his best for the city.
“For the last four years, he worked very hard and he wanted to really make a contribution,” said Desrochers, who did not run for reelection.
His sadness was mixed with a certain apprehension of what the future would bring under Projet Montréal, which had made many promises that will probably be difficult to keep, including their Pink Line for the métro system, he noted. Certain themes that reverberated in the news, and perhaps the varying personalities of the candidates, played a role, he said. Coderre was strongly criticized for what was perceived as excessive spending on granite tree stumps on Mount Royal and $40 million for lights on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, as well as an abrasive and authoritarian leadership style he said got things done, but rubbed many the wrong way.
Volunteer Andrew Chase, a McGill University student who worked for the Coderre party, said he had an idea why his party lost.
“Projet Montréal ran a better campaign,” he said. Students at McGill were sporting Plante stickers. Nobody was sporting Coderre ones, he noted. He was disappointed, but as a native of Maryland in the U.S., “I’m used to devastating political outcomes,” he said.
In the last gasps of Montreal’s municipal campaign, Coderre implored the populace to stick with him. Montreal was finally back on a positive footing, and to change leadership now would be to risk the stability it had finally achieved after several dark years.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said.
Montrealers apparently decided some things still need fixing at city hall last night, handing Coderre a stunning loss in a race that was supposed to be his for the taking. His role as the incumbent, giving him name recognition and the political machine to run a strong campaign normally, would have guaranteed it. He’s the first incumbent mayor not to win re-election in Montreal since 1960.
Coderre was also riding a wave of good economic news, with the lowest unemployment figures in decades, 150 cranes working on building sites all over town and the ringing endorsement of the city’s business community.
In the end, it wasn’t enough.
Montreal is a metropolis that is the envy of the world.