Plante criticizes Coderre for supporting controversial candidates – Montreal | The Canadian News

After Montreal mayor aspiring Denis Coderre was forced to defend three separate candidates running for his party in the past two weeks, his rival Valerie Plante is questioning his standards.

“We have a second chance, but you don’t have a third,” Coderre said Tuesday.

Ensemble Montreal leader has been giving plenty of second chances as of late, which has Projet Montreal leader Plante concerned about citizens’ faith in politicians.

“It contributes to cynicism when you have candidates who have done things that are really problematic,” he said.

After recent reports that the Côte-des-Neiges candidate Dimitra Kostarides was involved in a financial scandal in 2003, Coderre expressed his confidence in her.

“We need Lionel Pérez (candidate for mayor of the municipality) and the whole team to make things happen,” he said.

Plante wonders if voters will be able to trust Kostarides.

“We are talking about someone who broke that trust,” he said.

Meanwhile, Coderre did not give the president of the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), Joe Ortona, another chance in September. Ortona was expelled from Ensemble Montreal when the EMSB denounced Bill 96, Quebec’s language law reform legislation, for infringing on the rights of the English-speaking community.

“It has everything to do with not talking to us before, and I believe in the nation of Quebec and he didn’t. Then later he said it was a mistake. Too late, ”Coderre said.

Ortona wonders why Coderre supports other controversial candidates, but immediately left him.

“They are simply bowing to the CWC government because they do not want to lose any votes,” he said.

Coderre laughed when asked about Ortona’s accusation.

Plante is also criticizing Coderre for supporting Ensemble Montreal Verdun mayoral candidate Antoine Richard after some of his real estate deals were questioned.

“When you want to be an elected official, you can’t just be average,” Plante said. “You have to step up and think about what kind of message you send to people. It can’t be, ‘Oh, okay, other people do.’ For me, it is the wrong message to send. “

Coderre decided to keep Dan Kraft a candidate in Outremont after he apologized for posting a link to a documentary denying climate change in September, and on Twitter in 2020 he accused a black man who questioned a traffic stop of looking for his 15 minutes of fame. .

“There won’t be another chance if I witness that again from Mr. Kraft,” Coderre said Oct. 8.

Plante wonders, “What message do you send to people when you have a candidate who doesn’t believe in climate change?”

Coderre insists he has the best team to run the city.