The first full day of municipal election campaigning saw the main Montreal mayoralty candidates meeting and greeting the public.
Both Projet Montreal leader Valérie Plante and incumbent mayor Denis Coderre campaigned at the Jean Talon Market this afternoon. Plante also had campaign stops in the Ville Marie and Plateau Mont-Royal boroughs.
And @DenisCoderre also doing the campaign thing at Jean Talon market. #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/HN6THhTzWL
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) September 23, 2017
Ok @Val_Plante now meeting and greeting at Jean Talon market too. #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/RHz9eAQlwv
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) September 23, 2017
Coalition Montreal is holding a meet-and-greet with its mayoralty candidate Jean Fortier tonight starting at 7:30 p.m. at its electoral office at 4755 Van Horne.
Ce soir! Tonight! #PolMTL #mtl #montreal pic.twitter.com/sNL3dvTwcr
— Coalition Montreal (@MTLCoalition) September 23, 2017
Vrai Changement pour Montreal is kicking off its campaign with a rally tomorrow afternoon at the Centre St-Pierre.
@Vraichangement kicks off their campaign with a rally tomorrow night. #CJAD #polmtl https://t.co/Wm7qeTUQe3
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) September 23, 2017
Team Coderre also took the opportunity to make its first election campaign promise - a million dollars a year for green alleys and to set the speed limit at 5 km/h in alleys.
Coderre made the announcement in an alley off de Castelneau in the Villeray district.
The million dollars will be added to the city's family policy budget already set at five million.
"To say - that our priority are our youth is a start, it's a great way to start a campaign too," Coderre told reporters.
@CoderreMTL making its first campaign promise in this alley in the Villeray district this morning. #CJAD #polmtl pic.twitter.com/eMZa3nmoYv
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) September 23, 2017
Plante said the promise shows Codere is disconnected from reality.
"Just here in Rosemont-Petite Patrie, we used a million dollars just to create more green alleys in four years. In ONE borough," said Plante.
Leader of Coalition Montreal Marvin Rotrand was also not impressed with the announcement, saying that green alleys are not an easy thing to create and maintain.
"I'm not poopoo-ing the idea per se, I just want to put it in perspective," Rotrand told CJAD 800 News.
"Not the strongest promise to start a campaign but I gather as time goes on we might actually hear something a little bit more meaty from the candidate. It's the sort of type of thing you call fluff on the first day of the campaign."
Voters go to the polls on November 5.