There are just 10 days until the many municipalities of Quebec vote for their next municipal government.
In Montreal, Projet Montreal leader Valerie Plante was riding a bit of high after a Leger Marketing survey done for Projet Montreal found voter intention is almost evenly split, holding a slight 36 to 34 point lead over incumbent Denis Coderre.
"I can feel the energy that people are connecting with the ideas that we're bringing, the vision that I'm sharing. This is very exciting and it's going to give us the extra boost that we need to finish this campaign" Plante told CTV Montreal in her weekly one-on-one interview.
Denis Coderre was also not surprised by the poll results. When asked about the surge in support for Projet Montreal the mayor said now that it's down to a two-way race, some of the supporters of Coalition Montreal's Jean Fortier no doubt threw their support behind Plante.
Coderre once again took the time to poke holes in Projet Montreal's platform, saying it's all big ideas with no substance. He accused Valerie Plante of making big promises to Montrealers with no way of backing up the impossible proposals.
The big proposal put forth by Projet Montreal, a brand new Pink Metro line, was a big focus of the latest issues debate on the Natasha Hall show.
Zach Macklovitch, entrepreneur and Team Denis Coderre candidate for the Mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal is just as skeptical as his boss.
"We need to be honest about the feasibility of the pink line," Macklovitch said. "At this point, you guys haven't pulled together any funding or support for it, because it was kind of pulled out of thin air."
Craig Sauvé, Projet Montreal's transport critic who's running for re-election as a councillor in the South West borough, said that the Coderre administration's approach to public transit has failed, and will only make a bad situation worse.
"We're starting to feel this pressure on the system," Sauvé says. "Anybody knows if you get on the orange line in the morning coming towards downtown, you might have to wait two or three metros before you get on. If you're a parent with a baby stroller, you're not getting on that metro, either. Right now, it's difficult, but in ten years it's going to be even more difficult, and in 20, 25 years, it's going to be unworkable."
The pair did manage to find common ground that safety announcements in the city's Metro system should be bilingual, but that was about it in terms of agreeing with one another.
You can listen to the entire debate below.
The candidates in the Rivière-des-Prairies/Pointe-aux-Trembles borough know the key for them in this year's election is family, improving their quality of life and making it easier to get around the city.
Incumbent borough councillor with Team Denis Coderre Manuel Guedes told CJAD 800 that many people think RDP-PAT is too far, despite more people settling down in the area. One of Guedes' big pushes is for better public transit, along with giving Gouin and Sherbrooke some much needed upgrades.
"We really want to make sure that our Boulevard Gouin gets the love it deserves," said Guedes.
One of his opponents is the host of the Car Show on CJAD 800 Lisa Christensen, running for Projet Montreal. She is also working towards improving public transit.
"If we can make it easier to get from one end of the island to the other, from RDP to PAT, we can encourage people to buy locally," Christensen said.
The third candidate in the race is independent Alain Lanoue.
The father of three said right now there is need for better planning when it comes to road work.
"After many complaints, a pothole is filled and in the same month, the same pothole is filled three or four times. It doesn't make sense," said Lanoue.
To improve the lives of families in the area, Lanoue wants to build more parks, community centres and other family-friendly facilities.
"There is a lack of such infrastructure," he said.
Ask anyone on the Island of Montreal and they will tell you, traffic is an issue just about everywhere, some areas worse than others.
The mayoral candidates in Cote St. Luc are hoping voters give them a chance to fix some of the problems hurting citizens.
Former Cote St. Luc mayor Robert Libman said a major problem is Decarie Blvd.
"Every eastbound artery toward Decarie is clogged," he says, "whether it's Vezina, Plamondon, Ellerdale, Cote St. Luc Rd. People trying to get to Decarie. Everyone feels completely landlocked."
Some of his suggestions to eleviate the congestion would see Cavendish open to Highway 40 and change traffic light configurations.
For current Mayor Mitchell Brownstein traffic is an ongoing project, however he said to make Libman's suggestions a reality it would involve coordinating with the town of Hampstead and Montreal's Cote des Neiges-NDG borough, which he said he's already doing.
"We have a traffic engineer that has been working with Hampstead and Montreal, and we're going to continue to work in the next mandate to synchronize the lights on both Cavendish and Fleet," he said.
Brownstein added the idea of an indirect route linking Cavendish Blvd. to Highway 40 is already in the works and should happen within the next three to five years.