With just a dozen days to go until Montrealers pick their next Mayor, the campaign trail heated up Monday long before the two main candidates even made it to the debate stage.
The day started with a report from Radio-Canada featuring several testimonies from journalists and City Hall officials regarding intimidation and the strict measures in place to control information that makes its way to the public.
Some of the testimonies include late night phone calls to have headlines changed, requests to have reporters removed from specific stories, threats to burry someone's career, and refusing to give interviews to reporters or news outlets following negative stories.
When asked about the report Coderre asked if it was paid for by his opponents.
The comment did not sit well with Projet Montreal leader Valerie Plante.
"Denis Coderre crossed a line" she wrote on her Facebook page. "Today he accused a journalist of being paid by Projet Montreal for his report highlighting the climate of mistrust and intimidation that reigns at City Hall. This accusation is serious. It reflects the arrogant and disconnected state of mind of the outgoing Mayor, whose campaign is going nowhere."
"November 5, you have the choice," Plante concluded.
The tension between the two candidates continued as they took part in the second and final debate of the campaign.
Plante and Coderre fiercely argued their opposing visions of Montreal's future, while taking a couple shots at one another.
The pair touched a number of topics including the sea of orange cones that take over the city.
Codere called it "short term pain for long-term gain," and said "we have 13,000 km of sewer pipes, water pipes, and roads, and to put that at level it costs $2.1 billion a year, and the investment when we arrived was only $600 million."
"We said since day one it's a ten-year plan... and we're investing over $21 billion in the next ten years."
Plante fired back, saying the problem is not the road work itself; but how it's managed.
"Look at Bishop... or Gouin... Shops are closing. The co-ordination is not there," said Plante.
Plante and Coderre also debated pit bulls, public transit, Formula E, Bill 62, bilingualism and more.
You can watch the full debate here — and get a summary of the candidates' major points.
Also on Monday, Denis Coderre and Côte-des-Neiges-NDG borough Mayor Russell Copeman (who is also running for re-election) vowed to do more to crack down on landlords providing unsanitary housing for tenants.
"Everybody deserves to have a roof above their head, but not at any costs," Coderre said. "It is our job to protect the people."
Recently the Montreal Public Health Department found that nearly 40 per cent of rental housing units in Côte-des-Neiges-NDG with children between the ages of six months and 12 years have problems with either mould or excessive humidity, conditions that could lead to asthma.
The pair added if given a new mandate they would build 5,000 units of social housing.