NEWS
FALL 2017
Luca Brown News Writer
15
McGill Weighs In
Municipal Election Edition
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOVEMBER 4, 2017
M
ontrealers head to the polls on November 5 to elect their next mayor—or at least they are supposed to.
fleet and making public transportation more affordable for seniors, children, and those struggling financially, Plante’s proposed additions may help improve public transportation for those who wish to access all the city has to offer.
Many people find themselves disillusioned with city politics. Denis Coderre, for his part, criticized Differentiating between the roles of the feasibility of the Pink Line proposal, the municipal, provincial, and federal choosing instead to focus on the upcoming governments, and attributing the effects of extension to the existing Blue Line (which each to everyday living can be challenging. will extend past terminus St-Michel to And yet, Montrealers interact with their Anjou), as well as the Réseau électrique city and the decisions it makes on a daily métropolitain (REM), a light rail train basis. system that would extend west and south Central to the success of mayoral in order to connect Deux-Montagnes, the candidates Denis Coderre and Valérie West Island, the Trudeau Airport, and the Plante will be the ability to engage the South Shore to the metro system. youth vote, which can influence elections Plante’s ambitious vision for in powerful ways. But amid widespread Montreal’s transportation system has voter apathy and low election turnout, attracted the interest of several students, how are young people engaging with this including Christopher Ciafro, a U2 important level of governance? How do Political Science student and Plante students view the candidates and their supporter. proposals? Perhaps most importantly, how do young people perceive their city and “So much of our lives is determined their role within it? by our geography,” Ciafro said. “And for To find out, The Bull & Bear that reason, [Plante’s] plan particularly for conducted an informal survey on the Pink Line and improvement of public Montreal’s municipal election to gauge infrastructure makes Montreal smaller the interest and general opinions of in the sense that time between places is young people. 65 students responded to decreased. For that reason, [she’ll] create the survey, shedding valuable light on stronger communities.” these key questions.
Hope and Frustration: STM Edition Where the city overwhelmingly loses admiration among students is its public transportation system. Coupled with construction and traffic, the Société de Transport de Montréal’s (STM) unreliability was the most popular issue among respondents, many of whom rely on the service for their mobility. This is why mayoral candidate Valérie Plante of Projet Montréal hopes to add a new Pink Line to Montreal’s metro network. The Pink Line would run diagonally through the city from Montréal Nord to Lachine. Along with adding 300 new hybrid buses to the existing STM
“[Bike lanes] are a part of [Plante’s] platform that really does appeal to me— that and her platform in terms of increasing metro service. Coderre also has a plan to increase bike lanes, though not to the same extent […] I think that’s one area where they both shine.” Love and Hate for Denis Coderre Opinions were generally mixed regarding Montreal’s incumbent mayor, Denis Coderre. Just over 20% of student respondents indicated they would cast a vote for Coderre, compared to 56% support for Plante. Many of those displeased with Coderre’s tenure cited frustrations over seemingly endless construction projects, displeasure with perceived overspending, and concerns over perceptions of corruption associated with previous municipal governments. Coderre’s response to Uber’s threat of leaving Quebec, as well as the implementation of Montreal’s pitbull ban, were among other criticisms. Despite this, many appreciate Coderre’s leadership concerning the cultural, artistic, and architectural additions to the city, especially with regards to Montreal’s 375th anniversary celebrations. Several respondents indicated that they value initiatives by Coderre to make Montreal more attractive to those living in and visiting the city.
“Montreal has a pretty good public transport system, and I run completely on public transport,” said Sean Lee, a Communications student at Concordia University. “But other people from bigger “The [Montreal 375] celebrations cities have told me that [their public transit have caught a lot of flack, but I think overall systems] blow our city out of the water, so they’ve been pretty good, and I think that I think that as such a huge city we should [they] reinstalled a sense of pride in the have some new projects for public transit.” city,” said Figueiredo, an undecided voter. Student cyclists, such as U2 “There are more jobs than ever, there are International Development student more businesses opening up in Montreal, Andrew Figueiredo, are also hopeful for [and] people are moving to the city. So I investments in bike infrastructure, which think the [Coderre] administration has were proposed by both Coderre and been effective in reforming and reshaping Plante. the Montreal economy.” “[Montreal’s] bike infrastructure is Ciafro generally concurs, highlighting pretty good, but I would like to see more the artistic additions to Montreal’s urban bike lanes as a cyclist myself,” Figueiredo landscape, but also emphasized that said.