Michel Leblanc, Luc Rabouin, Dominique Anglade, Younes El Moustir and even Denis Coderre are some of the names being bandied about.
Michel Leblanc
At the time, Leblanc remained vague about whether he intends to run for mayor, a position he has been rumoured to be mulling for the last years. A graduate of the Université de Montréal with a master of science in economics, Leblanc served as associate of the SECOR strategic management consulting firm and vice-president of public affairs for Genome Quebec before becoming CEO of the chamber of commerce in 2009.
Luc Rabouin
Before being named chair of the executive committee when Dominique Ollivier was forced to step down over an expenses scandal at her prior position as head of the city’s public consultation office, Rabouin held the high-profile position of executive committee member responsible for commercial and economic development. Before entering into politics, he was director of strategic development at the Caisse d’economie solidaire Desjardins, director of the community Economic Development Corporation for the Centre-Sud/Plateau-Mont-Royal district and director of Communauto France in Paris.
Younes El Moustir
Born in Morocco, he said he would bring much-needed diversity to the mayoralty, reflecting the city’s increasingly diverse populace. The new leader will be announced in February.
Dominique Anglade
The name of the former leader of Quebec’s provincial Liberal party has been bandied about as a possible successor to Plante. The Montreal native of Haitian background became the first woman and first person of colour to be named leader in the party’s 150-year history in 2020. But the Liberals suffered the worst loss in their history in the 2022 elections, winning only 21 seats and 14 per cent of the vote. Anglade stepped down soon afterward.
Denis Coderre
No recent mayoral race would be complete without including the possible involvement of Montreal’s former mayor. The Liberal member of Parliament for Montreal’s Bourassa riding for 16 years, Coderre was elected mayor in 2013, but then suffered a narrow upset loss to Plante and Projet Montréal in 2017, becoming the first incumbent Montreal mayor to lose a bid for re-election in 57 years. His rallying cry to “put Montreal on the map again” appeared to be overshadowed by anger over perceived overspending on the city’s 375th anniversary celebrations and a Formula E race for which he initially refused to release ticket sales results.
He announced he was resigning from politics, then chose to run for mayor again in 2021 when early polls showed him with a lead over Plante. She won, with 52 per cent of the vote to Coderre’s 38 per cent.
In June he officially announced he would run in the Quebec Liberal Party’s leadership race in January 2025.
On his Facebook page Wednesday, Coderre posted that he would not be commenting on Plante’s decision, saying it was hers to make. He did not mention if he was thinking of running for mayor.
Montreal’s municipal elections are on Nov. 2, 2025.