Projet Montréal (officially Projet Montréal - Équipe Valérie Plante)[2] is a progressive, environmentalist municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2004, it is led by Valérie Plante, and holds a majority of seats on Montreal City Council.
Projet Montréal - Équipe Valérie Plante | |
|---|---|
| Active municipal party | |
 | |
| Leader | Valérie Plante |
| President | Guedwig Bernier [1] |
| Founded | May 28, 2004 |
| Headquarters | 1055, Boulevard René-Lévesque Est Montreal, Quebec H2L 4S5 |
| Student wing | Projet Montréal UdeM, Projet Montréal McGill |
| Youth wing | Comité des Jeunes de Projet Montréal |
| Ideology | New Urbanism Environmentalism Direct democracy Social democracy Localism Internal factions: Quebec nationalism |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Colours | Green and Blue |
| Seats on council | 36 / 65 |
| Website | |
| en | |
History
editProjet Montréal was created by environmental activists in May 2004.[citation needed]
Richard Bergeron was the party's first mayoral candidate. He was elected to the City Council in 2005 and gathered 8.53% of the vote for Mayor.
In the September 2006 by-election held in the district of Marie-Victorin, Projet Montréal candidate and former city councillor Kettly Beauregard won 31.7% of the vote, for a strong second-place finish.
In December 2007, candidate Jean-Claude Marsan took second place with 37.43% in a by-election to replace disgraced Outremont borough mayor Stephane Harbour. At the same time, there was a by-election in Outremont's Robert-Bourassa district to replace Marie Cinq-Mars, who chose to run for borough mayor. Candidate Denise Rochefort also placed second, with 35.13% of the vote.
In the 2009 Montreal municipal election, Bergeron led the party through steadily increasing polls to a strong third-place showing, winning fourteen seats on city and borough councils, including two borough mayors, and sweeping Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.
In April 2012, Érika Duchesne won a by-election in the Vieux-Rosemont district of Rosemont-La Petite Patrie, giving Project Montréal its 11th seat on city council.[3]
In the 2013 Montreal municipal election, Projet Montréal doubled its number of seats within city council, going from 10 to 20 and becoming the official opposition against Denis Coderre's team. After the election, Richard Bergeron stated that he would resign his party leadership within the next 12 or 24 months. He admitted that he was disappointed with the election results, but that he would remain to make Projet Montréal into a true opposition to Coderre's administration.[4]
In the 2017 Montreal municipal election, Projet Montréal had won a majority of seats in the city council as well as having its mayoral candidate Valérie Plante become the mayor of Montreal.
Platform
editProjet Montréal advocates sustainable urbanism,[5] which is the application of the principles of sustainable development to an urban setting, such as Downtown Montreal. One of the party's proposals consists of building light rail in order to do the following:
- reduce car traffic;
- give more room to pedestrians and cyclists;
- increase the residents' quality of life and
- reverse urban sprawl.[6]
Projet Montréal's 2009 platform elaborates commitments for seven major aspects of urban living:[7]
- renewal and expansion of participatory democracy
- affordable housing and reinforcing socio-urban tissue
- sustainable transport (public transit and active transit)
- environmental sustainability
- economic development
- culture
- accountability and public services
Electoral results
edit| Election | Mayoral candidate | Mayoral popular vote | Change (pp) | Councillors elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Richard Bergeron | 8.53% |  |
1 / 64
|
| 2009 | Richard Bergeron | 25.45% |  16.92 |
10 / 64
|
| 2013 | Richard Bergeron | 25.52% | 0.07 |
20 / 64
|
| 2017 | Valérie Plante | 51.42% | 25.9 |
33 / 64
|
| 2021 | Valérie Plante | 52.14% | 0.72 |
36 / 64
|
Victories are indicated with bold fonts.
Councillors
editProjet Montréal currently holds the following seats on Montreal City Council and borough councils.
City councillors
editBorough councillors
editThe city councillors listed above all sit on the councils of their respective boroughs. In addition to these, the party holds the following seats on borough councils.
| Borough | Position | Party | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lachine | Borough councillor, Du Canal | Micheline Rouleau | |
| Lachine | Borough councillor, Fort-Rolland | Michèle Flannery | |
| Lachine | Borough councillor, J.-Émery-Provost | Younes Boukala | |
| Outremont | Borough councillor, Claude-Ryan | Mindy Pollak | |
| Outremont | Borough councillor, Joseph-Beaubien | Valérie Patreau | |
| Le Plateau-Mont-Royal | Borough councillor, De Lorimier | Laurence Parent | |
| Le Plateau-Mont-Royal | Borough councillor, Jeanne-Mance | Maeva Vilain | |
| Le Plateau-Mont-Royal | Borough councillor, Mile-End | Marie Sterlin | |
| Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles | Borough councillor, La Pointe-aux-Prairies | Daphney Colin | |
| Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles | Borough councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles | Marie-Claude Baril | |
| Le Sud-Ouest | Borough councillor, Saint-Henri–Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles | Tan Shan Li | |
| Le Sud-Ouest | Borough councillor, Saint-Paul–Émard-Saint-Henri-Ouest | Anne-Marie Sigouin | |
| Verdun | Borough councillor, Champlain–L'Île-des-Sœurs (1) | Céline-Audrey Beauregard | |
| Verdun | Borough councillor, Champlain–L'Île-des-Sœurs (2) | Enrique Machado | |
| Verdun | Borough councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford (1) | Benoit Gratton | |
| Verdun | Borough councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford (2) | Kaïla Amaya-Munro |
References
edit- ^ "Board of Directors". Projet Montréal.
- ^ "Political parties".
- ^ Projet Montréal picks up council seat in Vieux Rosemont by-election, Montreal Gazette, April 29, 2012
- ^ "Richard Bergeron cédera sa place à la tête de Projet Montréal".
- ^ New Political Party Based On Sustainable Urbanism, Planetizen, November 11, 2004
- ^ A tramline named desire, Montreal Mirror, February 8-14, 2007
- ^ Programme pour la relance durable de Montréal Archived 2009-07-27 at the Wayback Machine