Lavoie announces candidacy for Projet Montreal leadership

Extended: Lavoie announces candidacy City Councillor Guillaume Lavoie has announced his candidacy to become the next leader of Projet Montreal.

City Councillor Guillaume Lavoie has thrown his hat into the ring to become the next leader of Projet Montreal, the official opposition party at Montreal’s city hall.

Lavoie, the councillor for the Marie-Victorin district, made the announcement on Monday. He would replace current interim leader Luc Ferrandez, who took over following Richard Bergeron’s departure in October, 2014.

“I’m doing this because I feel that the city is not living up to its potential and the citizens are not getting what they have a right to accept from us,” he said. “We have a city where congestion now is the day to day business, a city where the mayor is hostile to innovations in greater mobility.”

Lavoie said he would focus on sustainability and making the city’s fiscal policies more friendly to small businesses and those on fixed incomes.

Ferrandez has confirmed he will not be running for the position.

Projet Montrealer is currently negotiating a merger with Vrai Changement, the city’s third opposition party, with the idea of presenting a common front to challenge Mayor Denis Coderre in the next municipal election in November, 2017.