Municipal Politics
In 1998 he ran for a seat on the City Council under the Vision Montreal label in the district of Darlington. He won with 32% against incumbent Jack Chadirdjian (31%). He served as Montreal's Chairman of the Executive Committee from 1998 to 2001.
Fortier did not run for re-election in 2001, citing concerns about organized crime.
While in office, Fortier was "offered a bribe, blackmailed, pressured to shake down a city consultant to contribute to his political party, and even offered a chance to become the next mayor if he cooperated." [2]
The attempted bribe was linked to developers with ties to organized crime. Fortier's warnings about organized crime infiltrating municipal operations were not taken seriously by his elected colleagues, but Fortier's concerns were a factor that ultimately helped establish the Charbonneau Commission on corruption in Quebec politics. Today, Fortier proposes procedures that could reduce the influence of organized crime, some as simple as rendering public full organizational flow charts, listing all municipal employees. [3]
In 2013, Fortier worked with the campaign of mayoral candidate, Mélanie Joly, and her Vrai Changement Party, but he left before the end of the campaign. Fortier insists that, contrary to some rumours, he did not present himself as a candidate for mayor at that time. [4]
On 20 September 2017, Fortier announced that he would run for mayor of Montreal in the 2017 Montreal municipal election for the Coalition Montreal party, because he believes Montrealers need a centrist option. [5]
Fortier was excluded from most key debates during the election campaign, [6] but participated in the bicycling debate against Marc-André Gadoury (Team Coderre) and Marianne Giguère (Projet Montréal). Fortier, who rides a bike 12 months a year, presented much more less costly proposals than his two rivals, advocating premiums for municipal employees who ride to work year-round, rendering the metro (subway) system more accessible to cyclists and putting bike racks on transit buses. [7]
Fortier was critical of many big infrastructure projects, particularly the proposed Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) train line and the Pink Line metro project, both officially costed at $6 billion. His alternative proposal is the "Ligne du Savoir," a relatively modest extension of the under-utilized Blue Line, bringing it under Mt. Royal and into downtown for about $1.5 billion. [8]
Fortier also promised to cut property taxes by 10 percent over the four-year mandate and detailed plans to reduce overhead at City Hall without cutting blue collar workers. [9]
He promised to make climate tests mandatory for many municipal purchases and procedures, allowing elected officials to make enlightened choices. This move went beyond what the Montreal Climate Coalition had been hoping for stated spokesman Matthew Chapman. [10]
On October 18, 2017, he announced that he would abandon actively campaigning for mayor, endorsing rival candidate Valérie Plante of Projet Montréal for mayor. [11] Fortier's name also appeared on the ballot as candidate for municipal councillor in the Peter McGill district. But Cathy Wong of the Coderre Team ultimately won that seat.
Denis Coderre is a Canadian politician from Quebec. Coderre was the member of Parliament for the riding of Bourassa from 1997 until 2013, and was the Immigration minister from 2002 to 2003 and became the mayor of Montreal in 2013, but lost in 2017 to Valérie Plante. In 2021, he was defeated once again by Valérie Plante after a second mayoral race. He has been an administrator of Eurostar since 2018 and special advisor for the FIA since 2019.
The Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) is a branch of the Université du Québec network founded in 1969 and based in the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. UQAC has secondary study centres in La Malbaie, Saint-Félicien, Alma, and Sept-Îles. In 2017, 7500 students were registered and 209 professors worked for the university, making it the fourth largest of the ten Université du Québec branches, after Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), and École de technologie supérieure (ETS).
The Montreal City Council is the governing body in the mayor–council government in the city of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the city council. The council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The council consists of 65 members from all boroughs of the city. The council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The city council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Elsie Lefebvre is a Quebec politician. She was the Member of the National Assembly for the Laurier-Dorion riding from 2004 to 2007, and later served on Montreal City Council. She is trilingual, speaking French, Spanish and English.
Richard Bergeron is a Canadian politician and former Montreal city councillor. He founded Projet Montréal, a municipal political party, and was its leader until 2014. He was the party's mayoralty candidate in the 2005, 2009 and 2013 municipal elections. He is a Montreal City Councillor for the Saint-Jacques district in the Ville-Marie borough and is a member of city council's Commission sur la mise en valeur du territoire et du patrimoine.
Projet Montréal 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.
Parti Fierté Montréal is a small municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It fronted its own candidate, Michel Bédard for the mayorship of Montreal in the municipal elections in 2009.
Harout Chitilian is a former city councillor from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, former chairman of the council, he held the position of vice president of the executive committee of Montreal city until his electoral defeat in November 2017. Originally elected as a member of Union Montreal, Chitilian sat as an independent councillor from December 2012 to August 2013, when he reaffiliated with the new Équipe Denis Coderre.
Émilie Thuillier is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has served on the Montreal city council since 2009, representing Ahuntsic as a member of Projet Montréal, and has been a member of the Montreal executive committee since November 2012.
Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 3, 2013 as part of the 2013 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 65 positions on the Montreal City Council, including the mayor, borough mayors, and city councillors, as well as 38 borough councillors. Denis Coderre replaced interim mayor Laurent Blanchard, who was elected to replace the previous interim mayor, Michael Applebaum, who resigned due to 14 charges laid against him including fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, and corruption in municipal affairs. Previous elected mayor Gérald Tremblay left office on November 5, 2012 after his party Union Montréal was suspected of corruption and mafia involvement. On July 2, 2013, Louise Harel, leader of the opposition Vision Montréal, announced she would not be running for mayor, instead supporting Marcel Côté.
Ensemble Montréal is a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its elected officials are present in many districts in Montreal and represent the boroughs of Montréal-Nord, Saint-Léonard, Saint-Laurent and Pierrefonds-Roxboro. Since November 16, 2021, Aref Salem is the interim leader and the 23 elected officials who sit on the Montreal City Council form the Official Opposition.
Chantal Rossi is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She has served on the Montreal city council since 2013 as a member of Équipe Denis Coderre pour Montréal. She was previously a borough councillor in Montréal-Nord from 2009 to 2013 and an elected trustee on the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l'Île from 1998 to 2014.
The Verdun borough council is the local governing body of Verdun, a borough in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The council consists of seven members: the borough mayor, two city councillors representing the borough's electoral districts, and four borough councillors representing of the same electoral districts.
Vrai changement pour Montréal was a municipal political party in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The party's leader was Justine McIntyre.
Valérie Plante is a Canadian politician serving as the 45th and current mayor of Montreal since 2017. First elected to Montreal City Council in the 2013 election, she has served as leader of the Projet Montréal party since December 2016.
Jean-François Parenteau is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was elected as borough mayor of Verdun in 2013 and, by virtue of holding this position, is a member of both the Montreal city council and the Verdun borough council. He currently sits as an independent and is a member of the Montreal Executive Committee.
Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 5, 2017 as part of the 2017 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 65 positions on the Montreal City Council, including the mayor, borough mayors, and city councillors, as well as 38 borough councillors.
Jean-Marc Gibeau is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He served on the Montréal-Nord city council from 1996 to 2001 and on the Montreal city council from 2002 to 2017.
Éric Alan Caldwell is a politician in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He has served on the Montreal city council since 2013, representing the Hochelaga division as a member of Projet Montréal. In November 2017, he was appointed to the Montreal executive committee by new mayor Valérie Plante.
Municipal elections were held in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on November 7, 2021, as part of the 2021 Quebec municipal elections. Voters elected 103 representatives in a first-past-the-post electoral system. The general election decides the majority composition of the city council and each of the 19 borough councils. The newly elected mayor appoints 2 city councillors for the Ville-Marie borough. In total, 18 borough mayors, 46 city councillors and 38 borough councillors were elected.
