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
LeaderValérie Plante
PresidentGuedwig Bernier [1]
FoundedMay 28, 2004
Headquarters1055, Boulevard René-Lévesque Est
Montreal, Quebec
H2L 4S5
Student wingProjet Montréal UdeM, Projet Montréal McGill
Youth wingComité des Jeunes de Projet Montréal
IdeologyNew Urbanism
Environmentalism
Direct democracy
Social democracy
Localism
Internal factions:
Quebec nationalism
Political positionCentre-left
ColoursGreen and Blue
Seats on council
36 / 65
Website
en.projetmontreal.org

History

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Projet 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

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Projet 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]

  1. renewal and expansion of participatory democracy
  2. affordable housing and reinforcing socio-urban tissue
  3. sustainable transport (public transit and active transit)
  4. environmental sustainability
  5. economic development
  6. culture
  7. accountability and public services

Electoral results

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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

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Projet Montréal currently holds the following seats on Montreal City Council and borough councils.

City councillors

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Borough Position Party Name Location
Ville-Marie Mayor of Montreal PM  PlanteValérie Plante C
Ahuntsic-Cartierville Borough mayor PM  ThuillierÉmilie Thuillier NW
Ahuntsic-Cartierville Councillor, Ahuntsic PM  GouletNathalie Goulet NW
Ahuntsic-Cartierville Councillor, Saint-Sulpice PM  RoyJulie Roy NW
Ahuntsic-Cartierville Councillor, Sault-au-Récollet PM  NormandJérôme Normand NW
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Borough mayor PM  Kasoki KatahwaGracia Kasoki Katahwa C
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Councillor, Côte-des-Neiges PM  PopeanuMagda Popeanu C
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Councillor, Loyola PM  SouriasDespina Sourias C
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Councillor, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce PM  McQueenPeter McQueen C
Lachine Borough mayor PM  VodanovicMaja Vodanovic S
Lachine Councillor PM  GrondinVicki Grondin S
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Borough mayor PM  LessardPierre Lessard-Blais E
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Councillor, Hochelaga PM  CaldwellÉric Alan Caldwell E
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Councillor, Maisonneuve–Longue-Pointe PM  Hassan-CournolAlia Hassan-Cournol E
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough mayor PM  FerrandezLuc Ferrandez C
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Councillor, De Lorimier PM  GiguèreMarianne Giguère C
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Councillor, Jeanne-Mance PM  NorrisAlex Norris C
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Councillor, Mile-End PM  PlourdeMarie Plourde C
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Borough mayor PM  BourgeoisCaroline Bourgeois NE
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Councillor, La Pointe-aux-Prairies PM  ChristensenLisa Christensen NE
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles PM  JourneauVirginie Journeau NE
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Borough mayor PM  LimogesFrançois Limoges E
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Councillor, Etienne-DesmarteauCouncillor, Étienne-Desmarteau PM  AlneusEricka Alneus E
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Councillor, Marie-Victorin PM  PauzeJocelyn Pauzé E
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Councillor, Saint-Édouard PM  BlancoJosefina Blanco E
Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie Councillor, Vieux-Rosemont PM  OllivierDominique Ollivier E
Le Sud-Ouest Borough mayor PM  DoraisBenoit Dorais S
Le Sud-Ouest Councillor, Saint-PaulÉmardSaint-Henri-Ouest PM  VaillancourtAlain Vaillancourt S
Verdun Borough mayor PM  MaugerMarie-Andrée Mauger S
Verdun Councillor, Champlain–L'Île-des-Sœurs PM  TremblayVéronique Tremblay S
Verdun Councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford PM  DowneySterling Downey S
Ville-Marie Councillor, Saint-Jacques PM  BeaudryRobert Beaudry C
Ville-Marie Councillor, Sainte-Marie PM  MauzerolleSophie Mauzerolle C
Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Borough mayor PM  Lavigne LalondeLaurence Lavigne Lalonde E
Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Councillor, François-Perrault PM  OuelletSylvain Ouellet E
Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Councillor, Villeray PM  Musau MueleMartine Musau Muele E

Borough councillors

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The 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 PM  RouleauMicheline Rouleau
Lachine Borough councillor, Fort-Rolland PM  FlanneryMichèle Flannery
Lachine Borough councillor, J.-Émery-Provost PM  BoukalaYounes Boukala
Outremont Borough councillor, Claude-Ryan PM  PollakMindy Pollak
Outremont Borough councillor, Joseph-Beaubien PM  PatreauValérie Patreau
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough councillor, De Lorimier PM  ParentLaurence Parent
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough councillor, Jeanne-Mance PM  VilainMaeva Vilain
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough councillor, Mile-End PM  SterlinMarie Sterlin
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Borough councillor, La Pointe-aux-Prairies PM  ColinDaphney Colin
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Borough councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles PM  BarilMarie-Claude Baril
Le Sud-Ouest Borough councillor, Saint-Henri–Petite-Bourgogne–Pointe-Saint-Charles PM  LiTan Shan Li
Le Sud-Ouest Borough councillor, Saint-Paul–Émard-Saint-Henri-Ouest PM  SigouinAnne-Marie Sigouin
Verdun Borough councillor, Champlain–L'Île-des-Sœurs (1) PM  BeauregardCéline-Audrey Beauregard
Verdun Borough councillor, Champlain–L'Île-des-Sœurs (2) PM  MachadoEnrique Machado
Verdun Borough councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford (1) PM  GrattonBenoit Gratton
Verdun Borough councillor, Desmarchais-Crawford (2) PM  Amaya-MunroKaïla Amaya-Munro

References

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  1. ^ "Board of Directors". Projet Montréal.
  2. ^ "Political parties".
  3. ^ Projet Montréal picks up council seat in Vieux Rosemont by-election, Montreal Gazette, April 29, 2012
  4. ^ "Richard Bergeron cédera sa place à la tête de Projet Montréal".
  5. ^ New Political Party Based On Sustainable Urbanism, Planetizen, November 11, 2004
  6. ^ A tramline named desire, Montreal Mirror, February 8-14, 2007
  7. ^ Programme pour la relance durable de Montréal Archived 2009-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
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