‘Happy Warrior’ is ready to fight for all citizens
Mobility, road safety, housing are highlighted in inaugural address
She’ll be the mayor for mobility, road safety, housing, quality public services and economic development, Valérie Plante declared on Thursday at her swearing-in as the 45th mayor of Montreal and the first woman elected to the position in the city’s history.
“I’m a fighter,” Plante said in a speech after signing the city’s “golden book” and official documents swearing her oath of office.
Her nickname, for those who don’t know it, is “Happy Warrior,” she said. “And I’ll fight for all citizens of Montreal.”
She also promised to listen to citizens, and urged them to “get involved” in the affairs of the city.
“This city doesn’t belong to me,” Plante said.
“It also doesn’t belong to the elected officials who will sit on municipal council for the next four years. It doesn’t belong any more to the members of the city executive committee. This city belongs to Montrealers. If you love it like I love it and if you want to see your children grow, as I’m seeing mine grow, I urge you to get involved.
“Montreal is made up of its neighbourhoods and the people who live in them. Those are the two main riches I will highlight during this mandate.”
Besides the mayor, the 102 borough mayors, borough councillors and city councillors who were elected along with Plante on Nov. 5 were also sworn in on Thursday. They are the 100th municipal council since Montreal’s incorporation. The group include 53 women, who make up 51 per cent of the seats.
The swearing-in before a group of federal, provincial and local dignitaries and family members of council members was held at historic Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal.
The formal ceremony featured a Montreal police and fire department honour guard, short readings by artists and a traditional chant honouring women by the Buffalo Hat Singers, a group of powwow singers based in Montreal.
The newly elected council members entered the ballroom at Marché Bonsecours one-by-one on a red carpet. Plante’s name was read last, and she took a front rowcentre seat on the stage surrounded by the other council members.
Plante entered the room accompanied by two bagpipers.
Special guests who spoke at the ceremony included Kevin Deer, an elder from Kahnawake.
The new mayor used her inaugural speech to describe what she envisions for Montreal as “the city of tomorrow.” Building it, Plante said, will require cooperation with the higher levels of government and the other municipalities of the greater Montreal region, and it will require looking at what is done better in other cities.
“And in exchange, our partners will have to take note of the message that was sent on Nov. 5, and listen to the needs of Montrealers,” she said.
She then highlighted the themes she considers top priorities for the mandate, mentioning improved mobility, including more buses and a public transit service that is adapted to the reality of seniors, improved road safety for all and particularly for cyclists and pedestrians, supporting housing developers, but particularly those concerned with building affordable housing and housing for families, quality public services, including libraries and cultural spaces, and economic development that helps maintain Montreal’s place on the international stage.
Plante did not mention by name the cornerstone of her campaign platform, a proposed métro Pink Line. But she referred, as she did during the campaign, to the availability of federal and provincial funding for projects.
“The money is there,” she said. “Our window of opportunity is there. We will make it happen.”
VISITOR’S SIGN-IN BOOK
Plante also offered a few examples of smaller, concrete gestures her administration plans to make, including longer green lights for pedestrians to help seniors and people with reduced mobility get across the street and restoring the visitor’s sign-in book at city hall to make meetings with the mayor or a city executive committee member transparent.
Speaking with reporters after the ceremony, Plante said she’s also interested in using the city’s Office de consultation publique to consult Montrealers on other types of projects besides development projects. She said she considers it important to maintain citizens’ right to hold a referendum on real-estate projects.
Bill 122, passed by the National Assembly in June, removes that right.
“I think this tool, the referendum, needs to be improved,” Plante said. “But for me, it is still a way to make sure that Montrealers’ voices are heard, not only once every four years but throughout the mandate.”
Plante is one of the only firsttime mayors of Montreal in a century to be elected to the position with prior experience on city council.
She was elected in 2013 as a city councillor with Projet Montréal party in the Sainte-Marie district of Ville-Marie borough. Now, as mayor of Montreal, she is automatically borough mayor of VilleMarie for the next four years.
Plante won the leadership of her party in December and ousted Denis Coderre as mayor after one term in the municipal election this month. She obtained 51.42 per cent of the vote.
Projet Montréal won 34 of the 65 seats on city council, a majority. Coderre’s Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal, which won 25 seats, now becomes the official opposition, albeit with a new name that its interim leader, Lionel Perez, said will be decided on soon.
Three other parties won the six other city council seats.
Plante’s next few days are to include meetings, moving her office upstairs from the official opposition’s offices at city hall and announcing the councillors she will appoint to the city executive committee. She has pledged to appoint members of the opposition to that top decision-making body. She has already announced that Sud-Ouest borough mayor Benoit Dorais will be chairman of the executive committee.