Peter Trent says after five terms as mayor, it's time to let someone else run the city of Westmount.
The 71-year-old Trent has announced he's stepping down now, rather than wait until his term expires in the fall.
An interim successor is expected to be named by Westmount's council within the next 30 days.
Trent told CJAD 800's Andrew Carter that he's stepping down now to help make the transition easier.
"I think it's probably best to step down now, allow a period of transition for the next six months," he says. "To uproot me is going to take some time."
Trent, a native of England, was first elected to Westmount's council in 1983. He became mayor in 1991 and served until 2002, when the city of Westmount was forced into becoming a borough of the city of Montreal. He returned as mayor of the demerged city in 2009.
Trent was a tireless campaigner against Quebec's move to merge all of Montreal island's municipalities into a single one, and for the process to have the mergers undone.
In 2012, Trent published The Merger Delusion, a book on the merger-demerger period.
Trent hints that he may do some more writing once he's out of office.