How do Montreal’s top mayoral candidates compare on election issues?

The party would redesign du Parc Avenue from Parc-Extension to downtown to make it safer for pedestrians and create a rapid bus corridor. It would redesign areas around schools so that safety takes precedence over traffic. It would launch a pilot project to limit trucks' access to local streets by creating "logistics centres" for neighbourhoods to become safer and less noisy. It would double the number of audible traffic lights. It would improve the safety of the cycling network by upgrading old bike paths (Berri, Rachel, de Maisonneuve, Notre-Dame, de la Commune), adding a Réseau express vélo axis on Lacordaire and René-Lévesque boulevards. It would also extend the des Carrières path to Ville-Marie and complete the bike path on Gouin Boulevard. It would create more spaces where children can learn how to cycle. It would introduce Bixi baby seats to the bike-sharing service.

The party would review the project to pedestrianize Ste-Catherine Street West and is against pedestrianizing Ste-Catherine Street East. It would launch a comprehensive audit of all Montreal cycling infrastructure within the first 100 days of the mandate. It would review, secure or remove cycling infrastructure where necessary. It would allocate part of the current budget to securing and upgrading existing paths.

The party  would grow the Réseau express vélo bike path network and diversify the Bixi service offering by introducing more electric assist bikes and baby seats. It would create seven to 10 woonerfs (a shared space for vehicles, bikes and pedestrians) around schools, install more rapid bus corridors and redevelop the Lachine riverside park. 

The party would reconfigure bike lanes that eliminate parking spaces deemed essential to commercial streets. It would remove Bixi bike rental stations from Dec. 1 to March 15 to free up public space. 

The party would permanently freeze construction of bike lanes along commercial arteries. It would limit the creation of new bike lanes to residential streets, green corridors and parks in an attempt to improve safety. It would focus investments in cycling infrastructure on improving and securing the existing bike lane network. It would implement official permits for bicycle couriers certified by the city, including an identification program. It would implement an affordable “same-day delivery” program by bicycle for local businesses to offer fast home delivery. One dollar from each delivery would be used to fund the community bicycle courier program and improve cycling infrastructure.

The party would reinstate weekly garbage collection during the summer months in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It would create a squad targeting littering, with increased staffing for inspections and stiffer fines. It would double the budgets for downtown cleanliness brigades from $2 million to $4 million. It would step up awareness campaigns to inform the public of best practices for compost and waste management.

The party would bring back weekly garbage collection to the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough between May and October. It would review the spacing of garbage collection in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. It would appoint a cleanliness officer within the executive committee who would be responsible for establishing a city-wide cleanliness standard. It would add a cleanliness item to the agenda of a mayors' roundtable that it intends to create.

The party would expand local composting and recycling.

The party would ensure weekly garbage collection in all boroughs, with the option to increase to twice a week if needed, particularly in July and August, while continuing to promote recycling and composting.

The party has yet to share its campaign promises on this issue. 

The party would speed up the restoration of wetlands at the heart of major parks. It would double the annual investments in resilient infrastructure, from $15 million to $30 million, to install twice as many sponge parks. It would launch a $5-million-per-year program to help homeowners adapt their buildings to flood risks and extreme weather. It would prioritize vulnerable buildings based on location or flood history. It would transform Camillien-Houde into a green walking path on Mount Royal and provide a shuttle service from the foot of the mountain to the summit. It would convert impermeable areas that prevent water from seeping into green spaces and it would increase tree planting. It would support boroughs in acquiring green spaces and natural environments to preserve.

The party would allocate $20 million to help Montreal homeowners protect themselves against flooding during heavy rains. It would create a climate emergency reserve fund of up to $10 million annually, which would allow boroughs to react quickly in the event of ice storms, floods or extreme heat waves. It would include a specific component in city land purchases to allow for the development of natural rainwater absorption infrastructure. It would prioritize infrastructure investments, such as the collecteur Langelier, which will be funded starting in the first year of the mandate.

The party would propose the introduction of a kilometre tax on vehicles. It aims to train 5,000 local workers by 2029 in green construction, co-operative management, sustainable mobility and urban agriculture. It would prioritize sponge parks and green alleys. It aims to eliminate heat islands by 2032 by planting 50,000 trees over eight years and creating a fund for urban farms to support local food production. It would create a social utility trust in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve to protect the Boisé Steinberg, the CN lands and the Boisé Vimont. It would retrofit public buildings to install solar panels and achieve carbon neutrality. It plans to give more power to citizens through green participatory budgets, citizen juries and an annual environmental report. It would implement the “Bye Bye Béton” program, which involves converting paved areas into green spaces, in every borough.

The party has yet to share campaign promises on this issue. 

The party would use community microgrids (solar, wind and geothermal power) to supply some pilot neighbourhoods and reduce dependence on the main electrical grid. It would offer grants to property owners for the installation of solar panels, home batteries and electric vehicle charging stations. 

The party would create a $100-million fund to help non-profit organizations secure funding for affordable housing. It would offer municipal day camps at $7 per day and increase the number of spots available from 17,000 to 20,000, while prioritizing low-income families. It would simplify the registration system for camps. It would support the creation of an inclusive space for LGBTQ+ people. It would offer the student monthly public transit fare to people who have a revenue under $30,000.

The party would grant free parking permits to health, public, community and social economy workers who provide home-care services. It pledged $1 million to support community organizations and expand "successful" housing initiatives. It would increase resources for police to address mental health issues in public spaces. It would create a permanent $1-million fund for frontline LGBTQ+ community organizations. It would support the renovation and development of the LGBTQ+ Space, a project that will house groups from these communities and revitalize the Village. It would establish an LGBTQ+ advisory committee to support the City in its actions.

The party would offer a universal family discount on municipal and cultural activities, with additional support for low-income households. It would offer the student monthly public fare to people who have a revenue under $47,500. 

The party would offer social programs, such as personalized drug detox programs, to foster autonomy. It would reduce the cost of parking meters and permits. It would not increase the residential water tax until Montreal’s water network reduces its leak rate to a maximum of 20 per cent of the total volume of water distributed. It would limit parking permits to $50 per year for all residents and $10 per day for commercial vehicles. It would cap parking meter rates at $2 per hour and make parking meters free from Friday at 9 p.m. to Monday at 9 a.m. It would eliminate parking meters in the parking lots of sports centres.

The party would set up a social intervention hotline for citizens to reduce the number of 911 calls and establish a single point of contact for police services in social intervention cases. It would consolidate the resources and budgets of more than 60 community organizations and stakeholders working on homelessness in Montreal. It would offer a four-year bus fare freeze to boost ridership. 

The party would double the budgets for French-language learning initiatives in cultural centres and libraries. It would develop affordable housing reserved for the city's artists and artisans. It would abolish property tax compensation for cultural non-profit organizations. It would create a $1-million social utility trust to support the collective acquisition of independent venues. It would offer financial and regulatory incentives to landowners who convert vacant spaces into artist studios. It would support festivals that have been impacted by the pandemic through a dedicated fund. It would increase the Conseil des arts de Montréal budget to $30 million by 2030. It would speed up the designation of nightlife establishments and hubs and adopt noise regulations consistent with the nightlife policy. It would use revenue from a new tax on large billboards to fund local cultural initiatives in neighbourhoods.

The party would allocate an additional $10 million to Montreal libraries and cultural centres to strengthen their programming and ensure at least one liaison officer per borough. It would designate locations dedicated to food trucks year-round. It would increase the city's contributions to the Conseil des arts de Montréal to reach $30 million by 2028 and index the fund to inflation. It would direct all noise complaints from performance venues to a specialized administrative unit rather than forwarding them directly to police. It would manage complaints through a mediation process before imposing sanctions. It would put $1.5 million toward supporting the maintenance and development of festivals and neighbourhood celebrations. 

The party would offer free admission to museums and cultural institutions at least one day per month. It would establish protected cultural zones to protect venues and bars. It would appoint a night mayor and a night council to act as a mediator between organizations and businesses, the public and municipal authorities. It would enhance the municipal soundproofing assistance program and limit police involvement to safety and emergencies. It would double funding for independent festivals and events, and create a dedicated support unit to assist small and mid-sized festivals. It would create a fund matching program to encourage private donations to cultural nonprofits. It would promote temporary cultural uses of vacant or underused municipal buildings. It would revise criteria for access to municipal subsidies to support emerging events, festivals and venues. 

The party would maintain French as Montreal's official language and strengthen its central role. It would streamline filming permits by implementing a "one-stop shop" and approving them in 48 hours. It would create municipal rebates for local and foreign productions and form partnerships for spacious, high-tech studios to attract major productions. It would hold campaigns in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo and Sydney to showcase local sets and talent. It would issue grants for Quebec filmmakers.

The party would create a municipal fund for festivals and cultural events. It would develop a four-season events strategy to extend the tourist season and support the local economy year-round. It would promote Montreal in international markets as a city of festivals and culture, in collaboration with Tourisme Montréal and the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. It would employ smart ticketing, immersive experiences and augmented reality at events to enhance the city's tourism appeal.

The party would ask the Quebec government to modify the City of Montreal Charter to add three more elected borough councillors for Ville-Marie so that residents are better represented.

The party would streamline the City of Montreal's structure by removing one level of management to speed up decision-making and increase accountability. It would give greater autonomy to the boroughs by restoring certain powers and decentralizing decision-making. It would reduce the city's workforce by at least 1,000 by the end of its first term, namely through attrition and administrative reorganization. It would create a seniors’ council in the City of Montreal.

The party would introduce a preferential ballot for the election of the mayor of Montreal and borough mayors as well as the adoption of a single transferable vote for other elected positions. It would put an end to the exception that prevents Ville-Marie residents from electing their own mayor.

The party would reduce the number of elected officials in the city.

The party has yet to share campaign promises on this issue. 

The party would freeze municipal taxes for small commercial buildings valued at $1 million or less for four years. It would support the creation of an entrepreneurship program focused on youth mentoring and local business. It would aim for one third of new city hires to be under 35. It would adopt Montreal's first social economy policy and create a program for the redevelopment of religious heritage buildings for the social economy. It would set up a $5-million fund to support projects in Montreal’s east end. It would support the creation of a new university hub in the east end and encourage redevelopment with a focus on the circular economy, clean technologies and green energy. It would provide a single point of contact for Montreal entrepreneurs in each borough to facilitate their dealings with the city.

The party would designate locations dedicated to food trucks year-round, particularly in outlying neighbourhoods and food deserts. It would freeze hiring for some positions that don't provide frontline services to citizens (public safety services would be excluded). It would add Montreal's east end office to the mayor's office. The east end office would be mandated to make the Sommet de l'Est permanent and schedule work meetings with all levels of government and other stakeholders involved in the development of the region. It would create a $5-million fund over four years to stimulate the growth of cultural and recreational tourism activities in the east end.

The party would introduce a tax on individual residential properties housing units valued at more than $3.5 million. It would remove as many commercial spaces as possible from the speculative private market to curb gentrification. It would increase funding for the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal so that it can acquire commercial spaces in areas most at risk of gentrification. It would aim to correct inequalities between neighbourhoods. It would set up a citizen participatory budget, representing 1.5 per cent of borough budgets, to give residents of Montreal's east end a direct say in which projects to fund. It would bring together Pointe-aux-Trembles, Anjou, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Rivière-des-Prairies under a unified planning framework to promote economic development. 

The party would fully reimburse the welcome tax for people buying their first property and choosing to live in it. It would not increase the residential water tax until Montreal’s water network reduces its leak rate to a maximum of 20 per cent of the total volume of water distributed. It would study the possibility of accepting cryptocurrency as a payment method for municipal services. It would ensure full transparency on the state of public finances with clear, accessible annual reports for all citizens. 

The party would organize "interregional economic missions" to promote Montreal products and investors elsewhere in the province. It would work with commercial development corporations to hold pop-up shops for local creators and entrepreneurs. It would mandate the city’s economic development department, PME MTL and the Montreal SDC Association, to work closely with local tech startups. It would support a program allowing the city's commercial development corporations to organize temporary street closures to promote economic, social and cultural vitality.

The party would aim to ensure no one in Montreal is living on the street by 2030. It would double funding for community organizations that work every day with people facing homelessness or who are in precarious positions. It would develop 500 modular housing units and provide support services. It would create 500 transitional housing units by acquiring or constructing buildings.

The party would set up a tactical homelessness intervention group. It would create a local public safety committee in Chinatown overseen by Montreal police. It would create a $10-million matching fund to combat homelessness, allowing the philanthropic and private sectors to contribute. It would develop at least 2,000 transitional and permanent housing units with psychosocial support during its first term. It would invest $100 million in emergency shelter resources.

The party would declare a state of emergency, allowing the requisition of hotels and vacant buildings to provide temporary shelter during the cold season. It would establish a clear and predictable plan for every encampment with more than 10 tents and directly involve marginalized people and local actors in decisions about encampments. It would liaise with relevant services, including municipal employees, police, health teams and community organizations. It would ban police access to homeless encampments and set up social services on site to support vulnerable people. It would end tickets issued to homeless people.

The party would create a collaborative roundtable with community organizations to harmonize their services for people experiencing homelessness. It would invite places of worship to voluntarily open their doors as temporary shelters. Within two years, it would open transitional centres equipped with tents, medical services and security, as well as permanent rooms. It would set up some of those centres after renovating some of the vacant buildings under the municipal housing office’s authority.

The party would mandate the municipal housing office to partner with the city's hotel industry to offer monthly packages for citizens experiencing temporary involuntary homelessness.

The party would eliminate the Plante administration’s affordable housing bylaw. It would replace it with a policy that would incentivize developers to build housing instead of paying into a fund. It would set up a $100-million guarantee fund to help non-profit organizations secure funding for affordable housing. It would offer financial and regulatory incentives to property owners that transform vacant downtown offices and parking lots into housing. It would create a municipal fund to directly support the building and acquisition of off-market housing. It would limit short-term rentals to the summer season. It would implement a tax on unoccupied housing to encourage their listing on the market. It would have the city intervene six months after a homeowner receives a fine for keeping an unsanitary property. It would implement a property tax deferral program for low-income homeowners and seniors. It would speed up the delivery of permits for renovations.

The party would eliminate the Plante administration's affordable housing bylaw and replace it with another affordable housing plan. It pledged $1 million to support community housing organizations. It would approve all housing projects that have already been submitted but remain stalled. It would create a single registry of all vacant buildings. It would launch a broad call for projects to give vacant buildings a new purpose through partnerships with non-profit organizations and private-sector stakeholders. It would exempt non-market housing projects from municipal fees, including permit and occupancy fees. It would create a housing bank to support at least 100 households left without housing after July 1. It would provide financial assistance to first-time buyers of a new property equivalent to the welcome tax for the first two years of its mandate, under certain conditions. It would ban commercial short-term rentals by registered businesses and increase the number of inspectors to 50 for the next two years. It would limit short-term rentals to 90 days per year. It would set a standard of 90 days maximum to obtain a building permit. It would set a maximum deadline of 25 days for renovation permits for minor work such as replacing doors and windows.

The party would create a corporation responsible for developing public and community housing on municipal land, in partnership with non-profits and housing co-operatives. It would create a $10-million rent assistance fund and a public rent registry. It would regulate evictions and repeal condo conversions facilitated by bylaws. It would legalize and supervise rooming houses and simplify permits for co-operatives and non-profits. It would create a "one-stop housing portal" to centralize all support programs and permits.  It committed to building 6,500 affordable housing units. It would introduce a tax on individual residential properties valued at more than $3.5 million and use that revenue to fight homelessness. It would put a moratorium on all short-term rentals in residential units. It would create a family housing certification program that would provide tax incentives to developers, non-profits, and co-operatives. It would create a municipal rent bank offering microloans covering up to three months' rent for people at risk of eviction. 

The party would eliminate the Plante administration's affordable housing bylaw. It would work with the City of Montreal to make land available on favourable terms and support affordable community housing projects.  It would introduce a three per cent tax targeting corporate owners who leave housing vacant for more than six months. It would offer permit reductions to developers and promoters who quickly convert vacant units into affordable rental housing. It opposes the creation of a rent registry. It would simplify zoning regulations in some boroughs and offer tax incentives to developers to encourage the development of accessible projects. It would reimburse the welcome tax for people buying their first property and choosing to live in it. It would speed up permits for 5,000 family units in Montreal's east end and use tax incentives to convert 500 vacant buildings into co-operatives.

The party would raise taxes on luxury housing to fund affordable housing projects and social housing programs. It would implement an accelerated program for the review and approval of permits for multi-story residential projects. It would work with developers to make unused municipal buildings available at reduced prices for the construction of affordable housing. It would have the city expropriate vacant lots to transform them into affordable housing, co-operatives, green spaces or community buildings. To support students, it would offer tax benefits to landlords who commit to leasing one or more units or a share of units in a multi-unit building at a predetermined rate for a minimum of four to six years.

The party would support the construction of three tram lines (Projet structurant de l'Est, Projet structurant du Grand Sud-Ouest and the loop between Côte-des-Neiges Road, Jean-Talon Street and du Parc Avenue). It would offer express buses that would include night service along eight new axes. It would increase the frequency of Metros at rush hour. It would increase pressure on the provincial and federal governments to deliver the extension of the Metro's Blue line, the creation of the Pink line, the extension of the Orange line toward Ahuntsic-Cartierville and other areas of Saint-Laurent and connect the Green and Blue lines in the east end. It would make all Metro stations universally accessible. It would make universal parking stickers for all car-sharing vehicles and add reserved parking spots for car-sharing vehicles. It would introduce 11,000 electric charging stations by 2030 and prioritize off-street parking. It would offer the student monthly public transit fare to people who have a revenue under $30,000.

The party would prioritize tramway stations and projects that connect employment areas to residential areas. It would carry out a tramway project in the east end, reopen the Notre-Dame Street project office to study different options to connect the east end to downtown and undertake roadway maintenance work on Notre-Dame Street, starting in 2026. 

The party would prioritize the extension of the Metro's Orange line to the Bois-Franc REM station and that of the Green line to LaSalle and Lachine. It would introduce rapid bus corridors and reserved lanes along routes where the rails of the future light-rail network are planned. It supports a tramway project connecting Montréal-Nord to Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles. It would develop a 20-kilometre active mobility network, combining protected bike lanes and pedestrian corridors, and transform major arteries, such as Maurice-Duplessis Street, Sherbrooke Street East and Notre-Dame Street into urban boulevards. It would launch an initiative allowing some neighbourhoods to designate alleys as temporary car-free zones. It would set lower public transit fares for people who have low incomes.

The party says it would enhance the reliability, safety and frequency of public transit services to encourage their use without penalizing those who rely on their cars. It would allow closures on Ste-Catherine Street East in the summer in agreement with merchants and residents, for festive events that boost the local economy. It says it would conduct public consultations before making changes to the street. It would extend the Green Metro line from Honoré-Beaugrand to Georges-V with three stations. It favours the Metro over tramways to reduce traffic. It would remove Bixi bike rental stations from Dec. 1 to March 15 to free up public space. 

The party would replace single turnstile entrances with full-height turnstiles. It would work with Montreal police to train Metro security officers in "frontline intervention tactics." It is aiming to offer a high-frequency bus network in which service is guaranteed every 15 minutes, seven days a week. It would enter public-private partnerships to build parking towers in urban centres and near commercial arteries and offer a minibus shuttle service. It would pilot projects for autonomous shuttles to complement the existing service. It would reserve more lanes exclusively for buses. It would work with the Quebec government to invest in Quebec-built electric buses. It would offer a four-year bus fare freeze to boost ridership. 

The party favours police officers wearing body cameras. It would amend municipal bylaws to protect against racial and social profiling. It would maintain Montreal police's specialized intimate partner violence team and support shelters for women victims of violence and their children to ensure rapid and concrete support. It would install more lighting in parks, public spaces and active transportation links to strengthen the feeling of safety. It would "improve the effectiveness" of interventions by mixed teams (police and civilians trained in social work) in situations involving precarious people. It would ensure firefighters have access to high-performing and safe equipment.

The party favours police officers wearing body cameras. It would install cameras in public spaces, in collaboration with the Montreal  police to determine appropriate locations. It would create a voluntary Montreal registry of private surveillance cameras. It would hire up to 230 special constables to cover the STM network. It would improve the lighting of parks and public spaces. It would increase public safety committees in each neighbourhood. It would set up a tactical homelessness intervention group.It would invest $12.5 million next year and $3 million annually afterward in firefighters' equipment, as well as $110 million until 2029 to modernize fire department vehicles.

The party would implement strict controls on police overtime to finance prevention initiatives. It would establish a new civil service. It says it would put an end to random street checks and increase investment in prevention by $25 million annually. It would limit interventions of the Montreal police to urgent security issues.

The party favours police officers wearing body cameras. It would install smart surveillance cameras to deter criminal acts. It would increase police patrols in neighbourhoods affected by "street gangs, trafficking, prostitution, delinquency, and intercommunity tensions.” It says it would ensure fair and non-discriminatory interventions but did not specify how. It would regulate religious gatherings through police enforcement. It would require a permit for any religious event in a public space, evaluated based on "strict criteria" of safety, traffic flow, and a "respect for secularism," with designated locations and times to prevent any disruption. It would aim to prohibit "spontaneous prayers." It would launch an awareness campaign in schools, associations and neighbourhoods to promote secularism and strengthen Montreal’s unity.

The party would create a police squad targeting violence and drug trafficking downtown. It would invest in video surveillance, including body cameras for police, and other digital tools for tracking interventions. It would increase police patrols, reduce response times and install more surveillance cameras in alleys and parks. It says it would improve the integration of technological evidence in the judicial system but did not specify how. It would work with Montreal police to train Metro security officers in "frontline intervention tactics." It would set up a social intervention hotline for citizens to reduce the number of 911 calls and establish a single point of contact for police services in social intervention cases.

The party would postpone the Camillien-Houde project on Mount Royal and wouldn't move forward without confirmation that it's possible to integrate public transit links to allow access to the mountain's summit. It would centralize the co-ordination of construction sites to end the fragmentation of responsibilities and prevent delays. It would replace orange cones with more discreet signage to reduce "visual pollution and needless obstacles." It would make businesses eligible for financial support after two months of construction work instead of six. It says it would guarantee direct and safe detours for pedestrians and cyclists around construction sites. It would use AI to optimize traffic lights and adjust traffic light co-ordination to free up police officers from managing traffic. It would increase reserved parking and drop-off areas near spaces such as cultural centres, sports centres, health-care facilities and Metro stations. 

The party would not close Camillien-Houde Way on Mount Royal to cars and instead follow the recommendations in the public consultation office's 2019 report. It would produce an inventory of all worksites, including those managed by boroughs and partners, to identify conflicts and optimize co-ordination. It would prohibit excavating the same street segment more than once every five years, except in emergencies. It would make QR codes mandatory on all signage to provide details about construction projects and identify the responsible contractor. It would set up a $25-million land revitalization fund in Montreal’s east end to speed up land development and decontamination.

The party would create "Infra-Montréal," a new municipal team to take over construction projects from the private sector.

The party would maintain car access to Camillien-Houde, cancel the car closure project and preserve the ability to cross Mount Royal via Camillien-Houde. It would invest in underground or multi-level parking in high-demand areas. It would reconfigure bike lanes that eliminate parking spaces essential to commercial streets. It would remove Bixi bike rental stations from Dec. 1 to March 15 "to free up public space." It would connect Cavendish Boulevard to revitalize western Montreal. In negotiation with Côte-Saint-Luc, it would build a one-vehicle lane in each direction, allowing essential trucking for Saint-Laurent, with noise barriers and raised terrain to limit impacts. It would restore the Lachine marina. It would preserve vehicle access on Ste-Catherine Street West. 

The party has yet to share campaign promises on this issue.