Holness and Desjardins join forces under the Mouvement Montreal banner ahead of municipal elections – Montreal | The Canadian News

The leaders of Mouvement Montréal and Ralliement pour Montréal announced during a press conference Thursday that they will merge their parties ahead of the November 7 municipal elections.

The couple believe that the combination of resources will make the new alliance a third stronger option for Valérie Plante’s Projet Montréal and Denis Coderre’s Ensemble Montréal.

“We decided that we will join forces to achieve common goals,” said Balarama Holness of Mouvement Montréal.

Separately, both parties have been voting far behind Plante and Coderre.

Under the new alliance, Holness will run for mayor of Montreal, while his new partner, Marc-Antoine Desjardins de Ralliement pour Montreal, will run for mayor in one of the city’s 19 boroughs.

While Desjardins has pulled out of the race to unseat Plante in city hall, the duo insist they run with one ticket, the Holness-Desjardins ticket, under the Mouvement Montreal banner.

Although the logistics of the merger have yet to be announced, both Holness and Desjardins say the candidates agree to the new plan.

The couple said that working together made sense as the policies of both parties are similar.

“The more we analyze what we were doing, we say that this is the same team. We are different games but we are the same team, ”said Holness.

And while they admitted to having some differences, they said they were choosing to focus on unity.

“The union of our parties symbolizes the unity we so desperately need,” said Holness. “The division we see with our opponents will be a thing of the past.”

Holness insisted that the unit is necessary to address the real needs faced by Montréal residents.

A combined policy platform will be released shortly.

“Housing, public safety and the economy will be of the utmost importance to us,” Desjardins said.

Coderre didn’t seem concerned about the new partnership.

“I have no reaction, I only know that now there will be two parties that are in favor of disarmament and disarmament, and us,” he said, referring to his party’s promise not to disarm or disarm the police.

“We will see if people understand it. We have a great platform. We have a great team. And we are ready to take over the next day. “

Plante, for his part, wished his opponents the best.

“First I wish you luck. I mean, it’s a campaign, I think it’s a good time for people to hear different ideas, ”he said. “Having said that, I really believe that our party is the only progressive party with a strong vision, strong values.”

Plante also said it will be interesting to see how the parties end up handling their differences as they go along.