Coderre gets set for mayoral run
Political party in Liberal MP’S name registers for Montreal election
MONTREAL— Longtime federal Liberal MP Denis Coderre has asked Montrealers to wait three weeks to find out whether he will run to become mayor of Montreal in this fall’s municipal elections. But he appears to have tipped his hand in advance with the registration of a political party in his name with the province’s election authority. The Directeur général des élections du Québec’s website shows that the jovial opposition MP has made a demand to run for mayor under the banner of Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal (Team Denis Coderre for Montreal). The request has not yet been authorized by the provincial agency. Coderre was first elected to the House of Commons in1997, and has served as immigration minister and secretary of state for amateur sport. He is currently the Liberal party’s transport and infrastructure critic.
Coderre’s popularity among potential voters in newspaper opinion polls and an effort to gauge support among Montreal city councillors have received great attention there
Coderre himself did not respond to an email seeking to determine if the registration of a party name signified his commitment to run in the November 2013 municipal election. But his popularity among potential voters in newspaper opinion polls and a behind-the-scenes effort to gauge support among Montreal city councillors have received great attention in Quebec’s largest city. The task facing the next mayor of Montreal is daunting. The city has been shaken in recent years by allegations of corruption at city hall implicating key members of the once dominant Union Montreal party. Coupled with revelations of illegal political financing, the wave of anger and mistrust forced Gérald Tremblay to resign as mayor last November.
Councillors elected Michael Applebaum to stand as interim mayor on the promise that he would not run for the position next fall.
Two other politicians have already signalled their intention to seek the mayor’s office in November. Richard Bergeron, who is currently a municipal opposition party leader, will run under the existing banner of Projet Montreal. Louise Harel, who current leads the Vision Montreal party, also intends to run.
The former municipal affairs minister with the sovereigntist Parti Québécois used her announcement earlier this month to launch a preemptive attack on Coderre, whom she suggested had a greater appetite for power than for taking on the problems of the city.
“You have to have more ambition for the city than for yourself,” she said.
Montreal’s Le Devoir reported last week that Coderre’s run for mayor was being organized by political allies working out of a public relations firms and that the team had been making discreet overtures to former Union Montreal city councillors.