Coderre takes shots at Plante as Montreal election campaign is about to begin

Plante, Coderre face off in Montreal election Valérie Plante and Denis Coderre wasted no time in sharing their platforms in the race for Montreal mayor.

MONTREAL — The Montreal municipal election is less than two months away and Ensemble Montreal mayoral candidate and former-mayor Denis Coderre is taking some swings at Mayor Valerie Plante and her administration.

Montreal is no longer a safe city with the regularity of shootings on the city's streets, according to Coderre.

He and some of his key candidates went through a list of issues Thursday morning he said are part of the Plante administration's failures over the past four years and ones he hopes will be part of the campaign.

"I wish that we will have debates on issues," said Coderre.

"We are not running against the mayor, the current administration; we're running for Montreal, and we will base everything on issues. We will talk about housing, we will talk about the delivery of services, we'll talk about finance, the main issue will be safety because without safety there's no prosperity."

Coderre's campaign has not come without its share of criticism, however. On Wednesday, he promised to rework a bike path on Bellechasse St. to create more parking.

Some were not happy with this promise, but Coderre said the businesses in the area need the change, and that the city needs new leadership.

Coderre and his Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension candidate Guillaume Lavoie were going door-to-door Wednesday in St. Michel, the borough where a shooting happened near where the candidates were campaigning.

Plante is expected to speak in the afternoon.

Friday is the first day hopeful candidates can start submitting their candidacy to run in this year's municipal election that is set for Nov. 7.