Photo: Le Pravda

In 2009 the reigning “Evolution” dynasty at the Concordia Student Union, which had been in power for over seven years, was so wildly unpopular that their handpicked successor slate, which included many members of the sitting government, named themselves “Change” in an attempt to fool voters. 

This transparent insult to the intelligence of their constituents was the turning point in a campaign which saw “Change” set an all-time low-water mark in a student election. They lost every seat on the Executive and all but three or four of thirty council seats. 

It’s a lesson Denis Coderre would do well to learn: voters aren’t nearly as dumb as some think.

***

I didn’t want to get back into politics. I was well and truly done with organizing and all its associated headaches. My plan was to continue with my adopted profession of journalism, and spend the next two months covering Montréal’s municipal election campaign. 

But then Denis Coderre went and made it personal. 

If you only know one thing about this fall’s election, let it be this: Denis Coderre, a frontrunner to become mayor, was implicated in the sponsorship scandal and accepted over $46,000 from donors criminally charged with corruption and related offences. In order to win he has reunited the remnants of the disgraced and disbanded Union Montréal party in a brazen attempt to get our outgoing government re-elected.

At last count, over half of the Union Montréal caucus are running with him, in addition to unelected officials, organizers and donors. That number is likely to rise as more candidates are added to his team. Call it the all-stars of the bad old days. Call it Re-Union Montréal.

When it comes to corruption, what was done, was done to us. Our trust was breached. But if we re-elect the same team that oversaw our city’s decline into a pseudo-criminal enterprise, that shame is on each and every one of us. 

You can convince me that one or two, or even a half dozen, of Union’s councillors were blissfully unaware of what their party and colleagues were doing. But over half of the previous administration are blameless for their government’s misdeeds? Pull the other one.

A critical contest

In this election, our choices are stark and clear. We can re-elect Union Montréal, with a fresh coat of Coderre paint, or we can elect Projet Montréal. 

There is a third option, but Marcel Côté and the “coalition des carriéristes” he leads were desperate and in a distant third place when they decided to place a hard right, uber-federalist at the helm of the progressive and largely sovereigntist Vision Montreal. Talk about a hail mary. 

Predictably enough, this insult to their supporters has caused them to fall even further behind. But even if they were in a position to win, they’ve welcomed the ex-Union candidates even Coderre didn’t want, and are almost as much a continuation of Union’s rule as Coderre himself. Just last week one of the “coalition” candidates was forced to drop out, after his ties to the mafia were revealed. Hardly the fresh start we need.

Personally, I don’t agree with every policy in Projet’s platform, or think every position they take is perfect. I don’t have to. 

What I know is what Justice John Gomery, who headed the sponsorship inquiry and designed Projet’s fundraising system in 2009, has said so many times: the only party which can be trusted to clean out the rot in city hall is Projet.

This election isn’t about left or right. It isn’t about ideology and it isn’t even about values. It’s about one very simple question: is corruption an inalienable fact of life in this town, one which we just have to get used to?

While reasonable people might find points about Bergeron, the party or the platform that they disagree with, in my mind they pale to insignificance when compared to the message we would send by electing Coderre.

If Coderre wins, what pride can we take as Montrealers? We will have marked ourselves, irrevocably, as dupes. We won’t even be able to mock Rob Ford any more.

Answer the question Denis

I put the question to Coderre on twitter, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he has failed to answer. I asked “why do you think that 60% of the Union Montreal caucus deserve to be re-elected?” (Click and retweet, to add your voice to the chorus)

It’s a question Montrealers deserve an answer to. This party stole millions from us, the taxpayers. Now over half of them are seeking re-election with Coderre. How does that work?

I love this city, more than it should be possible to love a place. I was born here, in the Jewish General Hospital and I grew up off the island, in awe of the big shiny city. I have lived in the Plateau, downtown, NDG, Mile End and St. Henri, once and now again. 

I, like most Montrealers, harbour a deep and abiding hatred for the sleazeballs who have brought shame on this beautiful city. 

Now, Denis Coderre is asking us to re-elect them.

People know me to be a passionately political person, and I am, but this is something different. Something I have not felt before. I find this offensive on a visceral, emotional level which has nothing to do with politics or ideology. 

Perhaps worse yet, anyone who dares mention the elephant in the room is accused of “smearing” Coderre, as if pointing out that the emperor is naked were some sort of uncalled for low-blow, rather than a simple statement of fact.

Coderre is the quintessential yesterday’s man in a city that will no longer tolerate the corrupt political system of which he is a product. 

So that’s why I am taking a leave of absence from my journalistic responsibilities, including my role as Quebec correspondent for rabble.ca, to work on the Projet Montreal campaign. I can’t stand idly by as Union seek to escape all consequences for their misdeeds. I tried, and I just can’t do it. So once more into the breach go I…

But I can’t stop Coderre alone, and that’s where you come in. 

Montreal needs YOU!

We know, in politics, that broad appeals don’t work. No one responds to a call to arms in a newspaper or website. The only way to recruit volunteers is direct, personal asks. 

But I believe this election is different. I believe you’re as outraged as I am, and you want to do something about it. 

Our opponents have the money, the power, the influence. All we have is the people. But that’ll be plenty.

I worked in the Quebec central office for the NDP in 2011, and I remember what that felt like. A population, en masse, sick of the status quo and grasping for an alternative. 

I feel that same mix of anger and hope, outrage and optimism, on the streets of this fine city today. 

So I’m asking. 

The difference between electing a local, democratic government, or a remix of the one we have now, is you. You can build a tramway and a maritime gateway, safe streets and green neighbourhoods, better public transit and more social housing, all while capping residential tax increases at inflation. Projet aren’t career politicians, they’re your neighbours, and they want to build a better city, together.

So I’m asking.

This Thursday night the campaign kicks off, and we’ll be assembling a small army to put our signs up, an effort which will continue into the weekend. In 2011 the NDP got signs up all over the city, well before any of the other parties. This demonstration of popular support and visibility provided initial momentum that carried the party through to their historic victory on May 2. 

So I’m asking.

Putting up signs doesn’t have to mean running around and climbing ladders. We need drivers with cars (vans and trucks, even better!) to move volunteers around, we need to borrow your stepladders, and we’ll be looking for volunteers to campaign with candidates, go door to door, and even do administrative tasks, like data entry. No matter who you are, you can help.

Just email [email protected] right now. Tell us your availabilities on Thursday night and through the weekend and we’ll assign you to the local office closest to you.

We are also in need of experienced translators, graphic designers, and web developers. If you are one of those things, please email me at [email protected]. 

Your city needs your help. The time has come to prove that we are neither as apathetic nor as stupid as some hope. What we are, in the immortal words of Peter Finch in Network, is mad as hell. 

And we aren’t going to take it anymore. 

 

Follow @EthanCoxMTL on twitter for all the latest on Montreal’s municipal election.

 

P.S. I will be returning to journalism in November, so this will be a short and defined leave.

Editor note: Ethan’s rabble position has been corrected to read Quebec correspondent