Clean sweep for Projet Montréal
Croteau cruises to decisive victory
Outgoing Plateau-Mont-Royal borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez was Denis Coderre’s punching bag of preference during Montreal’s election campaign, making it easy to forget three neighbourhoods that could be considered Plateau-adjacent.
As Valérie Plante won her bid to become mayor on Sunday, her Projet Montréal candidates followed suit in the boroughs of Rosemont—Petite-Patrie, Outremont and Villeray—Saint-Michel—ParcExtension.
Rosemont—Petite-Patrie borough Mayor François Croteau faced one of his former councillors, Marc-André Gadoury, and early results showed all signs of an easy win. With 323 of 358 polls reporting, Croteau led with 68 per cent of the vote.
Gadoury had been elected city councillor under borough mayor Croteau for Louise Harel’s Vision Montréal in 2009 and Projet Montréal in 2013, but switched to Équipe Denis Coderre in August 2015, with the mayor naming him special councillor in charge of cycling.
Croteau was elected mayor of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie in 2009 with 59 per cent of the vote, initially representing Vision Montreal before crossing the floor to join Projet Montréal in 2011. In 2013, he put his name forth as interim mayor of Montreal, following the resignation of Michael Applebaum, withdrawing his candidacy in support of eventual winner Laurent Blanchard. On Sunday, he showed his popularity in the area has only increased.
Over his eight-year tenure, Croteau has worked for affordable housing, to ease traffic congestion and increase bicycle safety. If further proof were needed of his commitment to civic affairs, on Sept. 29, he defended his doctoral thesis in urban planning at UQAM, which, like his third straight candidacy for borough mayor, was a success.
In Outremont, Projet Montréal candidate Philipe Tomlinson led comfortably, holding 47 per cent of the vote with 56 of 64 polls reporting. Charges of anti-Semitism had dogged Équipe Coderre city council candidate Jean-Marc Corbeil, in the borough, forcing Coderre to come out in Corbeil’s defence.
Outremont’s Team Coderre mayoral candidate Marie Potvin had also drawn criticism from Projet Montréal councillor Mindy Pollack for her support of decisions to hold council meetings on Jewish holidays. Potvin was city councillor for Outremont’s Robert-Bourassa district from 2007 to 2013, and was reelected in a 2013 byelection.
Outgoing Outremont Mayor Marie Cinq-Mars, who sat as an independent, announced a year ago that she would be leaving politics after this election, opening the door for Potvin and Projet Montréal’s Tomlinson to square off.
Potvin’s long political track record was a world away from Tomlinson’s upstart appeal, a divide mirrored by the similar gap between grizzled political veteran Coderre and freshfaced newcomer Plante.
What Plateau councillor Marie Plourde called “l’effet Valérie” held in Villeray—Saint-Michel— Parc-Extension, where Équipe Coderre’s borough mayor candidate Anie Samson trailed Plante’s candidate Giuliana Fumagalli, who held 54 per cent of the vote with 251 of 281 polls reporting. By 11 p.m., Samson had conceded.
Samson made headlines at the end of last week when she and Ahuntsic—Cartierville candidate Harout Chitilian claimed that Plante’s campaign promises would cost Montrealers over $800 million — a move Plante dismissed as a display of panic from Coderre’s team.