People in cities and towns across Quebec go to the polls on November 5th, 2017. The race in the province's biggest city, Montreal, is pitting incumbent mayor Denis Coderre against Valerie Plante, a relative newcomer to politics. Bookmark this page to keep on top of the promises each of the candidates makes throughout the campaign. We will be updating this page on a regular basis.
Campaign Promises by Issue
Public transit
- Denis Coderre: Keep adding buses to STM's fleet, including more electric buses. Create a 'social fare' for bus and metro users based on income.
- Valerie Plante: Create a brand new 'pink line' for the Montreal metro running through Rosemont and up to Montreal North. Create a 'social fare' for bus and metro users bases on income; eventually make transit free for kids under 12 and seniors. Better adapt public transit to the needs of the elderly. Add 300 new hybrid buses to STM's fleet immediately.
Cycling
- Denis Coderre: Add 50 km in new bike paths per year in Montreal; run a bike path the whole length of De Maisonneuve Blvd. A new bike 'autoroute' that would run from RDP to the river. More bike parking.
- Valerie Plante: Create new cycling network across the city — a 'bike expressway' — to make it easier to bike downtown.
Arts/Culture
- Denis Coderre: Continue focusing on major cultural events. Create commemorative centre for Irish famine victims near Black Rock.
- Valerie Plante: Add $5 million to the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s budget — which is currently $15 million. Make funding for cultural events more transparent.
Parks and recreation
- Denis Coderre: Open new sports complex for Lachine; new aquatic centre in Pierrefonds-Roxboro
- Valerie Plante: Reopen 'secret pool' behind old Royal Victoria Hospital; turn area around pool into a park for families. Invest $7.5 million per year to prop up the city's parks. Create a riverside promenade on Ile Ste. Helene, from La Ronde to the Place des Nations.
Construction/Roadwork
- Denis Coderre: Set up a compensation plan for merchants affected by roadwork.
- Valerie Plante: Better manage traffic around construction zones, compensate merchants affected by roadwork.
Housing
- Denis Coderre: Bost number of housing inspectors. Create registry to crack down on slums, slumlords, and filthy apartment conditions. Set aside the Terrains Gaetan-Laberge in Verdun for social housing. 5,000 new affortable housing units by 2021.
- Valerie Plante: Build 12,000 new affordable housing units over the next four years. 'Preventive inspections' to combat filthy apartments/negligent landlords.
Taxes
- Denis Coderre: Examine the possibility of setting up a tax on sugary drinks. Limit tax increases to the rate of inflation.
- Valerie Plante: Slash 'welcome tax' for families.
Campaign Promises by Candidate
Denis Coderre
- Create a commemorative centre for Irish famine victims near Black Rock, at the entrance to the Victoria Bridge.
- Continue focusing on major cultural events.
- Open 'wet shelter' for homeless people with alcohol problems; continue to defend society's most vulnerable, incl. those with mental health problems
- Open new sports complex for Lachine; new aquatic centre in Pierrefonds-Roxboro
- Introduce 'social fare' for low-income bus and metro users.
- Add 50km in new bike paths per year; run a path the length of De Maisonneuve Blvd.
- More bike parking
- A bike 'autoroute' to run from RDP to the river
- Better security for dangerous intersections
- Set up a compensation plan for merchants affected by roadwork
- Differential tax rates on the first chunk of value of non-residential buildings.
- Limit tax hikes to the rate of inflation.
- Create a public register for social housing to crack down on slums.
- Boost number of housing inspectors to crack down on filthy living conditions in apartments.
- Set aside the Terrains Gaetan-Laberge in Verdun for social housing.
- 5,000 new affordable housing units by 2021.
- Promise to study a tax on sugary drinks.
Valerie Plante
- Create new 'bike expressway' linking several parts of the island to downtown to make the ride easier and safer.
- Add $5 million to the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s budget — which is currently $15 million.
- Make funding of cultural events more transparent.
- Reopen 'secret pool' behind old Royal Victoria Hospital; turn area around pool into a park for families.
- Invest $7.5 million per year to prop up the city's parks.
- Introduce 'social fare' for bus and metro users; eventually make transit free for kids under 12 and seniors
- A new metro line (the 'pink line') to run from Lachine then through Rosemont and end in Montreal North. Western portion would be above ground.
- Add 300 new hybrid buses to STM's fleet immediately.
- Better adapt public transit to the needs of the elderly.
- Increase amount of time pedestrians have at intersections to cross a street.
- Move the Formula E race from the streets of Montreal to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
- Expand city's 'cleanliness brigade' to work on every main street, in every borough.
- Create a riverside promenade on Ile Ste. Helene, from La Ronde to the Place des Nations
- Compensate merchants affected by roadwork.
- Ensure 20% of units in new housing projects were "three bedrooms and more."
- Build 12,000 new 'affordable' housing units in four years.
- 'Preventive inspections' to combat filthy apartments/negligent landlords
- Make 300 more homeless shelter spaces available
- Call on the Montreal police department to report on social profiling twice a year
- Make the phrase 'Made in Montreal' a trademark to highlight local creations of all kinds
- Build three new water retention basins as a way to improve water quality in Montreal
- Eliminate the possibility of 2015's infamous 'Flushgate' raw sewage dump
- Introduce measures to make it easier for small business: less bureaucracy, lower taxes, less construction
- Slash 'welcome tax' for families in an effort to attract more of them to the city.
— This page was last updated: Nov. 3, 2017.