Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre continues his consideration of entering the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) leadership race… and running in the 2026 election.
If necessary, the one who ruled the metropolis from 2013 to 2017 would run as a candidate in the Quebec region, he explained on Tuesday on the Montreal program Tout un matin on ICI Première, confirming information first published by The Sun.
If you want to stop calling the Liberal Party the Montreal Party, then the fact that the leader is running in the Quebec region sends a nice message of a connection between the capital and the metropolis. , he argued, without mentioning any particular constituency.
The regions are crucial, stressed Mr Coderre. The Quebec government must recognize that Montreal is important, but Montreal without the regions is nothing, and then the regions without Montreal, he argued, using a formula that has been used many times in the past.
It would be a tall order for the Liberal politician to get elected in Quebec if necessary. Since the resignation of MP Sébastien Proulx in 2019, the PLQ no longer has any MPs in the Quebec region. With his candidacy in the state capital, Denis Coderre wants to put an end to this desert crossing.
Chain interviews
The former mayor of Montreal announced on January 10 that he is seriously considering entering the PLQ leadership contest, which will take place in 2025. Since then he has gone on a media tour, which notably led him to give Les Coulisses du interviews verre and Tout le monde en talk.
Mr. Coderre also picked up his PLQ membership card last Friday and used the subsequent press crush at the party's Queen Street headquarters in Montreal to praise former Liberal prime minister Philippe Couillard, whom he presented as a source of inspiration.
The results of his deliberations will be announced at the end of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela that will take him to Portugal and Spain in May – a personal challenge faced by the former mayor of Montreal, who suffered a stroke last year that he says He has completely recovered despite slight speech problems.
In an interview with Tout un matin on Tuesday, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who is leading in the polls, also praised the qualities of the 60-year-old politician. “The race for the leadership of the PLQ has not yet started, but still I think we should not underestimate Denis Coderre,” he explained, emphasizing his political background.
Before taking the plunge into local politics, Mr. Coderre was a Liberal member of the House of Commons from 1997 to 2013. He also held ministerial positions in the governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.