Allison Hanes: Coderre “running for Montrealers”

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He’s in.

In one of the worst kept secrets in politics, former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre revealed Sunday night on talk show Tout le monde en parle that he will be vying to reclaim his old job in this November’s municipal election.

“I’m not running against Valérie Plante, I’m running for Montrealers,” he said. “We need an alternative. I reflected for four years. I think Montreal deserves better.”

It’s not that Coderre ever went away since falling to Plante in 2017. He’s popped up enough over the last few years to remind us he’s still here, acting as a “special adviser” for Stingray Digital, being touted as a possible replacement for former Quebec Liberal leader Philippe Couillard, and boxing in charity bouts against former professional pugilists.

Coderre may be a familiar face to Montrealers, but he’s trying to prove that he’s not yesterday’s man.

Mostly he’s trying to convince voters he’s a changed man, who has learned humility and introspection since his first term, when his ego, stubbornness and refusal to admit when he was wrong tripped him up toward the end of this first mandate.

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“I know I had a very bad last year,” Coderre admitted.

His new book, Retrouver Montréal, details his redemption after personal struggles, like divorce, health scares and his son’s difficulties. And his new look — 100 pounds lighter with dark-framed glasses and tailored suits — is a a subtle testament to his overall transformation (even if we shouldn’t waste time dissecting any politician’s physical appearance).

The book serves as to enunciate Coderre’s vision for the city, which includes new public transit lines, more cycling lanes and wider sidewalks (though not at the expense of cars). He also wants greater density in Montreal’s beleaguered downtown, which might reawaken some old concerns about condo towers rising without any of the green space or public amenities needed to support such a jam-packed population.

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And though the bid to bring back Major League Baseball in Montreal emerged anew just as Coderre, once one of the plan’s biggest boosters, was poised to jump back into the arena, the former mayor is less enthusiastic at this point.

“The timing isn’t good because we’re in the middle of the pandemic,” he reasoned.

New-and-improved Coderre, in his appearance on TLMEP, sought to distance himself from some of his past follies. When host Guy A. Lepage noted not a single word of his new book mentioned the controversial Formula E electric car race that contributed to his downfall, Coderre said he has already apologized for the debacle.

Even if he’s older, wiser, and slimmer, new Coderre still comes with a lot of old baggage.

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He’s been around for decades, after all, serving as the Liberal MP for the north-end Montreal riding of Bourassa for 16 years, which included stints as Secretary of State of Amateur Sport and Immigration Minister. During his federal career he famously took on National Hockey League player Shane Doan over whether he’d uttered an anti-French slur against a francophone referee. Coderre publicly accused him, but was hit by a defamation suit that was later settled out of court.

He made the leap to the municipal scene in 2013 when, as frontrunner, he cakewalked to the mayor’s office.

During his term, Coderre was a caricaturist’s dream, once taking a sledgehammer to a Canada Post community mailbox over plans to halt home delivery and memorably donning a hazmat suit that made him look like a Minion to check out Montreal’s underground infrastructure during repairs where raw sewage was dumped into the the St-Lawrence River.

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But Coderre professes he’s no longer the “one-man show” that was an element of his undoing.

“If we want to get through the pandemic, we have to work as a team,” Coderre said, indicating he’ll be rejoining Ensemble Montréal, the party that rose from the ashes of Équipe Denis Coderre in 2017. The main opposition at City Hall has been unable to recruit a new permanent boss since his departure.

Montrealers seem ready to welcome Coderre back to the fold. A Mainstreet poll released late last week found 40 per cent of respondents would vote for Coderre if an election were held tomorrow versus 24 per cent for Plante, and 11 per cent for another candidate. A full quarter, however, professed themselves undecided.

Perhaps Coderre is getting a boost from nostalgia for Montreal’s pre-pandemic good times. The same poll still put Plante’s approval rating at 54 per cent.

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In a tweet, Plante welcomed Coderre to the campaign — even if it came as little surprise.

“Jokes aside,” she said, “I’m impatient to debate with you our visions for Montreal.”