As many of you may be aware there willl be a municipal election in Montreal on November 1st. Projet Montreal, the progressive party, has been gaining groud at an unprecedented rate and has gone from a third party with one council seat to a serious contender in the course of the campaign.
This growth is largely attributable to the corruption and graft which were endemic under the current mayor, Gerald Tremblay, and the fact that the other main challenger is Louise Harel. She was intergovernmental affairs minister for the PQ when she forced through the municipal mergers without regard for citizens opinions and is a uniligual francophone with a reputation for being dismissive and arrogant.
While Projet Montreal still trails in the polls, it is gaining by leaps and bounds while the two old parties drop. Even if it does not close the gap to win the mayoralty in time, the next city council will almost certainly be a minority council where Projet could hold the balance of power.
This is extremely exciting news to me. To have control of a major city in Canada within grasp of a party whose focus will be on the environment, public transportation, integrity and responsiveness and social justice issues makes forr exciting times.
I'm not sure how many babblers are from Montreal, but if any of you are i strongly urge you to get out and volunteer for Projet. Projet has refused corporate and anonymous donations and publishes names of donors on their website. While this makes for greatly increased transparency and means the new government wouldn't owe anyone any favours if tthey are elected, it also means they are at a severe disadvantage in fundraising.
Their campaign is thus based entirely on the grassroots, from their legion of volunteers to their wide (and primarily small amount) donation base Projet is a party of the people.
You can check out their full platform here www.projetmontreal.org (the other two parties have yet to release platforms, while PM's has been online since June)
So yeah, discuss away!