Valérie Plante announced in October she would not seek a third term as mayor.
There’s already one prospective candidate to replace Valérie Plante as leader of Projet Montréal.
Just minutes after the leadership campaign officially kicked off, former party president Guedwig Bernier submitted his candidacy papers, party spokesperson Ariane Beaupré said in a written statement Monday. His submission will be examined by party officials before being made official.
Bernier, 51, made his name as a businessman in the telecommunications sector, and within the party he was instrumental in recruiting people of colour to run for elected office, though he never ran for office himself.
Candidates must receive 200 signatures from members stemming from at least seven boroughs, with a minimum of 10 signatures from each borough. They must also raise $7,500 in funds for the party and pay $1,000 from their own funds, according to a statement issued by the party last month.
So far, Bernier is the only candidate whose candidacy submission has been made public. Beaupré said she would let other candidates make theirs public at their own discretion.
Among those rumoured to be in the mix are Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, who has all but confirmed she will run.
In a recent interview, Katahwa was asked if she intended to seek the party leadership.
“There are several of us who are thinking about this, several of us who are thinking of how to continue the work of our administration in seeking a third mandate,” Katahwa said.
“There will be an election, and I will be running in that election,” she said. “Côte-des-Neiges—N.D.G. is very important for me. There are lots of needs left to be met. Now is it better for me to do it as a mayor of a borough or a party leader? We will see. What’s sure is that for Projet Montréal and for me, (the borough) is a priority of our administration.”
Executive committee chairperson Luc Rabouin, the borough mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal, is also a potential successor to Plante. Other rumoured candidates are Laurence Lavigne-Lalonde, the mayor of the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough and an executive committee member in charge of parks; Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve councillor Alia Hassan Cournol, who is also an associate councillor on the executive committee; and Ville-Marie councillor Robert Beaudry, who handles the poverty and urban planning files.