Montreal Municipal Election 2009 - Projet Montreal

Is this true? If so, that's an incredible leap from when I left the city two years ago. Looking at a few stories, he's still in third place, but still, remarkable progress.

It is an incredible surge. The last poll taken before the bombshell with Harel's number two, Benoit Labonte, being caught out as corrupt and having to resign had Projet within 10 points of the two old parties. Now that Harel's credibility as the candidate to clean up corruption is shot Projet's support has probably closed to within five points.

It's an incredibly volatile electorate right now, both old parties are exposed as corrupt and voters are looking for somewhere to turn. I've been having incredible success at doorsteps and on the phone getting people who had never heard of projet, or weren't going to vote, or were reluctantly voting for one of the old parties to switch to Projet in the course of a five minute conversation.

Right now, whether Projet wins or loses depends entirely on how many volunteers we can get out in this last week and a half.

If you're in the Montreal area now is the time to put your money where your mouth is and help elect a truly progressive party, we don't have the money of the old parties so we need to overcome their machines with volunteer hours.

If you've got even a few hours between now and November 1st, especially this sunday (advance poll) or election day itself, please send an e-mail to Craig Sauve, an NDP activist running their campaign, at craig.sauve@projeetmontreal.org

We need you!

Yeah, Mulcair publicly backed Alexander Norris, who's running in the Plateau (not my part of federal Outremont riding - too chic for moi!) - I believe he used to write for the Gazette. But I haven't heard him throw his support behind PM in general - I don't believe the NDP is getting mixed up in that hornets' nest (i.e. Montréal municipal politics - corruption central!!).

Didn't hear about Gomery, but what dad wouldn't endorse his kid?

Seriously, I should note that Gomery has been quite open in backing Projet Montréal for quite some time now.

...and that poll was before the expose about Labonte etc... I wonder whether if Louise Harel flops it will demoralize the BQ and help the NDP in the Hochelaga byelection since apparently the PQ/BQ machine completely consumed with trying to get her elected mayor.

Even if those rails play havoc with bicycle tires...

Two things:

1) If you support the NDP, get in touch with Projet Montreal, even if you're out of province, we can find roles for you and Projet has every NDP activist I know working for them this election.

2) The electorate is more volatile than I have ever seen an electorate. Every call and every door knocked on is a 75% chance of recruiting a new Projet supporter. But we need the calls and doors. email craig.sauve@projetmontreal.org to volunteer. (I misspelled the party name in the e-mail above)

All progressives, across the country, rally to this cause and e-mail craig. No matter where you are you can help!

Projet Montreal a la but!

Speaking about Projet Montréal endorsements, there was also Amir Khadir/Québec solidaire Mercier's endorsement of Projet Montréal's plateau candidates (not a surprise, obviously; I believe QS had already invited its supporters to vote for Projet Montréal last summer).

Alex Norris has managed to get not one (the already mentioned Mulcair endorsement) but two nods in his favour: La Presse's Marie-Claude Lortie wrote a very laudatory post about him.

I really hope that the Plateau electorate will send a majority of PM representatives to Borough/City Council this time around. They seem to have an especially terrific slate of candidates. PM's candidate for mayor of the borough, Luc Ferrandez, in particular, appears quite impressive. Listen for example to these two radio debates, in which IMO Ferrandez trounced his Union opponent Michel Labrecque (who, unfortunately, will be very hard to beat). Or see this great video which documents the "partys de trottoir" that he holds regularly to communicate his ideas to the public.

I'm less psyched about the two PM candidates for whom I can vote in my neighborhood (for one thing, the website's video clip gives the impression that one of these candidates is unable to speak a word of French, which is deeply troubling [and no, this is not the same situation as Harel's difficulties with English, to preempt a potential response]), but I guess you can't have it all...

I wish I could share your optimism as to PM's prospects... Incidentally, I wonder if there'll be new poll results before election day... I fear that PM doesn't have the GOTV machine that the other two parties have and which I have the feeling will play a very important role in determining the winner of the election. (I'm thinking especially of things like bussing senior citizens to the polls, stuff like that.)

Yeah, PM has really been stepping up to the PR-machine plate in the last few days. Congrats!

Not that I'm contesting this assessment — I haven't been following Le Devoir very closely — but do you know of any specific manifestations of this pro-harel attitude or is that more a general impression?

I remember that for the last election, Le Devoir had endorsed Tremblay but encouraged its readers to take a good look at the PM platform / to consider sending some PM representatives to city council. Wonder what they'll do this time around...

Again, this isn't evident to me. I know that Alain Dubuc has officially endorsed Tremblay (big surprise). As I've said in my earlier post, Marie-Claude Lortie has endorsed Alex Norris, but not PM itself. I have the impression that Nathalie Collard might be favorable to PM, but that's about it. Michèle Ouimet is very clearly anti-Tremblay, but doesn't seem too keen on Bergeron either, to say the least...

The Gazette editorial board has actually officially weighed in now: they endorse Tremblay. The editorial is pure garbage — and I'm not saying that merely because of the choice they've made. In a mind-boggingly appalling (if completely unsurprising) move, they rely on the good old Spectre of the Scary Sovereignist to dismiss Harel's candidature — when there are actually legitimate, compelling reasons not to vote for her (the stinkiness of the party she decided to associate with, the dismaying mediocrity of its platform, etc.).

The overwhelming majority of commenters are lambasting the editorial board, at least. Those who state who they would vote for pretty much all choose Bergeron.

<Insert usual comments about how this might be saying more about the people you associate with than about the general electoral climate, etc.>

Many of the less-politically-attentive people I've talked to told me that they considered/were considering voting for Bergeron, but expressed concerns that Bergeron might be a little wacko. It's been my experience that the 9/11 stuff has garnered significant traction. Then again, this sort of controversy didn't stop Amir Khadir from getting elected...

Crossing my fingers...

You're really totally confident that Michel Labrecque will be defeated by PM candidate Luc Ferrandez? My impression is that Labrecque enjoys a pretty good reputation. He seems to be seen as the nice-mass-transit guy, the one-actually-good-guy-in-Union-Montréal, etc.

yeah, i really do think labreque will be defeated.  trounced actually.  as for the gotv operation, let's get out there!

I can't imagine voting for anyone other than PM.  Bergeron's platform and background are decent and in comparison to the competition there's just no contest. I very much hope he is our next Mayor.

Concerning Drapeau, those were different times. The Olympics were a fiasco but the Expo 67 was tremendous for Montreal and his greatest legacy by far is the Metro system.  Our stations are individual works of art and form the backbone of the underground city.

Aw c'mon, Stock - he's right. Chain smoking is way healthier than the regular kind.

There ARE some pretty bizarre comments by Bergeron in that release. I'd still vote for him - I'm just hoping that he actually has what it takes to be a good mayor. Speculating that the walk on the moon by Neil Armstrong might not have happened or thinking that the attacks on Sept. 11 were staged by the US government makes him come across as a bit of a kook. But he is still far preferable to the other two contenders.

I wonder if when W.C. Fields said "I never drink water. I'm afraid it will become habit forming," if the Water Safety Board issued a furious press release?

This is going to be an exciting race on election night. I still think Harel will win it in a squeaker, but it looks like anyone could potentially win at this point.

Holy crap — according to a Radio-Can reportage, Union Montréal apparently has a $1M budget just for the GOTV operation... Insane.

I now feel sort of obligated to lend a hand on D-Day.

Is it just me or is Bergeron very difficult to undertstand. my French is pretty good and I find him incomprehensible in that interview.

BTW: Everyone is talking about the mayoralty but is it possible that Projet Montreal could win a really large number of council seats even if Bergeron misses out of being mayor?

If this interview is only coming out now, its probably too late to make much difference, the election is just a day and a half away. They needed to start discrediting Bergeron a long time ago

No, it is VM that made the video montage. See this blog post.

http://news.globaltv.com/world/Montrealers+away+from+voting/2165149/stor...

In the last municipal election, in 2005, voter turnout was 35 per cent, the lowest since those heady days of 1966, and that has observers wondering whether voter apathy will keep as many voters away from the polls in Sunday’s election.

http://election-montreal.qc.ca/index.en.html

1PM   17,48 %

3PM   25,30 %

5PM   32,02 %

It looks like we might beat the turn out for the 2005 election. I think that bodes well for Bergeron.

Is voting on a Sunday normal practice in Montreal?

So, it looks like Richard Bergeron is not going to make it in the mayoralty race, but he also seems to be ahead in the borough he's running in ... is this a Montreal thing where he gets to run for two posts at once, and if he won the mayoralty the other woman he was running with in the borough would take the seat?

Meantime, of interest to NDPers:

 * Réal Ménard cleaned up in Mercier--Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, with PM in 2nd place

 * Alex Norris' results in Mile-End have not been counted as yet (Mulcair endorsed him, even if he didn't endorse Projet Montreal or anyone else in the municipal race)

 * Pierre Ducasse was not successful in Hull-Val-Tetreau (Gatineau Ward 8), but he did get some 40% of the vote.  He and his wife just had a baby, but hopefully by the time the federal election comes around again, he will be able to run again federally for us in Hull--Aylmer.

Sorry it didn't turn out better for you guys Unionist.  Look on the bright side ... at least you don't have Larry O'Brien.

A good night for Gérald Tremblay - polls going into today showed the candidates statistically tied with Louise Harel in the lead, but he managed to win nevertheless.

Union Montreal also ended up with the majority of seats.

Considering how hard-fought a campaign it was, the result was not too bad for Tremblay.

And Stockholm, I consider you the lesser of two, compared to the Swedish capital.

Indeed he was, and that is why he won.  He is also a uniter rather than a divider, and Montreal does not need to have a non-federalist mayor who will bring up the divisions of the past.

Alex Norris has over 50% of the vote, when I looked just now.

Debater, I see you've stopped by for a little Liberal triumphalism on the Montréal municipals.  Funny we haven't seen you discussing Michael Ignatieff in the Canadian Politics forum for awhile ... geez, I wonder why ...

BTW: I see that Piper Huggins who I believe was Thomas Mulcair's campaign chair got elected to the borough council of Plateau Mont Royal as well.

Congratulations to Piper Huggins:

Administrative Coordinator, McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies:

What do we know of Bergeron's views on Quebec independence?

I don't think that the Gazette or federalists in Montreal as a whole would necessarily ipso-facto refise to support anyone for mayor who had ever been a sovereignist etc...Jean Dore was mayor in the 80s and early 90s after Drapeau when the MCM first took power in Montreal He had been in the PQ and had tied there - but that didn't stop him from winning landslides and being endorsed by all the major papers etc...No one would have had a problem with voting for a credible candidate for mayor who was fluently bilingual and who had been a PQ or BQ member in the past who might have even voted Yes in 1995 - as long as that person was now seen completely as a municipal political figure and who was pledged not be neutral in any future referendum etc...The knock against Louise Harel is not that she's a sovereignists - its that she's a fanatical, partisan sovereignist - who led people to believe that as mayor of Montreal she would actively push the sovereignist agenda etc...

TRemblay was once a Quebec Liberal cabinet minister and is obviously a federalist - but he has always made it clear that he would never intervene on any issue to do with sovereignty and that he would not take sides in any future freferendum on sovereignty etc...Harel might have won if she had made a similar pledge. She also might have won if her party had been exposed as being full of crooks.

federalists in the English community votes en masse for Jean Dore in 1986 and 1990 - and he never "renounced" sovereignty - he just promised to be neutral in any future debate or referendum and to be mayor for all Montrealers.

There is a big difference between someone who may have voted Yes in a referendum but has no history with the PQ and has never talked much about the issue (ie: Bergeron) and someone who's entire political career has been consumed with being a pro-sovereignty FANATIC (ie: Harel).

I don't think it matters much whether or not someone is a separatist or a federalist. Quebec cannot separate without a referendum.  There views on language are important but even more important than that is if they are a person of integrity and what kind of future they envision for Montreal.  The environment, transportation, housing, economy, those are the issues that matter.  It was on that basis I supported Bergeron. I admit it would give me pause if I thought he was actively anti-English but it still wouldn't be the deciding factor because at the municipal level it wouldn't make much if any practical difference. I vote Bloc and I'd vote for the P.Q. if I believed they were as dedicated to social justice as I percieved them to be in the past.

Projet Montréal did very well. There are several close second or third place candidates that the NDP might be able to approach to run- even some first place finishers without much in the way of a margin of victory as well. The areas where Projet Montréal got elected will be easier to organise for NDP because it shows where local voters were willing to opt for a left of centre (francophone) party.

Peter McQueen was elected in NDG. He gave the Greens their best(?) provincial result in Québec and actively campaigned for and endorsed NDP byelection candidate Anne Lagacé-Dowson in Westmount-Ville Marie in 2008.

I hope Mulcair (or Layton) has been phoning around to offer his congratulations to successful candidates.

Obviously the winners can't be recruited unless the next federal election doesn't happen for a year or so. Close second and third place finishers are fair game. Between the Projet Montréal crop of this year and some of the unsuccessful candidates in 2005, the NDP has a lot of potential names to comb through.

Having had a chance to look over the municipal results a little more closely I noticed that NDPer Nicolas Thibodeau placed a respectable 3rd in the race for Mayor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension. Incidentally far from the seat where he ran for the NPD (Mont Royal). Most of that arrondissement lies in the long-in-the-tooth, Liberal-held, very diverse, federal seat of Saint Michel-Saint Leonard.

Projet Montréal seems to have done best in the Laurier Ste Marie federal riding, with respectable results in Ahuntsic,  Rosemont-La-Petite Patrie, Pierrefonds-Dollard, LaSalle-Émard, Hochelaga, Ville Marie, and NDG-L (in roughly that order).

If Projet Montréal support is an indication of where the NPD could make inroads, then the maps on this page provide some tantalizing hints as to where that support might materialise. I was also impressed by what I have seen of Luc Ferrandez. He looks like someone with some real political skills. With Julius Grey's involvement with Vision Montréal, I am wondering what elements of that party might be friendly to the NPD.

It seems like for the most part, Projet Montréal ran second to Union Montréal- doing better in more francophone parts of the city. Projet Montréal and Vision Montréal seem to have divvied up more of the francophone vote. Vision Montréal carried the hardcore PQ parts of the city.