Former Projet Montréal city councillor, Craig Sauvé, announced his candidacy for Mayor of Montreal Thursday, under a brand new party, Transition Montréal.
He made the announcement in front of Marché Bonsecours in Old Montreal, alongside founding members of the new party.
Sauvé called for “building an ambitious alternative to the established parties, based on bold, progressive solutions to transform the city,” according to a press release.
The party plans to run candidates in all 19 boroughs. They say their platform will be focused on equity, more livable neighbourhoods, stronger public services, and a more representative, transparent, and participatory municipal government.
Transition Montréal presented some of their preliminary plans including “introducing a progressive property tax on luxury single-family homes valued over $3.5 million.” The goal would be to dedicate the revenue collected to fighting homelessness in the city.
“There’s no shortage of money, it’s just concentrated in too few hands while people are sleeping on the streets,” he said. “This tax will help fund shelters and the organizations doing work on the ground.”
Another one of the party’s proposals is the creation of Infra-MTL, “a municipal task force that would bring part of public works, including sidewalks, speed bumps, curb extensions, paving, and bike lanes, back in-house.”
“We have competent staff in this city. Let’s stop always giving everything to the private sector,” Sauvé said. “Let’s give our teams the means to do more and do better.
Sauvé says this measure would help the City reduce its dependence on private contractors and improve planning, among other things.
The party says more proposals will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
“There is a huge appetite for a different way of doing municipal politics, a politics of solidarity, courage, and concrete action,” he said. “That’s exactly what Transition Montréal will champion in this campaign.”
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Sauvé has sat as an independent at city council since Nov. 2021 — before that, he was under the Projet Montréal banner.
He also ran as an NDP candidate in the riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun during the last federal election.
Sauvé will face off against Luc Rabouin, leader of Projet Montréal, and Ensemble Montréal Leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Municipal elections will be held on Nov. 2.
