Montreal’s mayor has always done things differently. Her departure is no exception.
I still have the front page of The Gazette from Nov. 6, 2017, the morning after Valérie Plante soared to victory as the first woman elected mayor of Montreal.
The cover bore a cartoon by Aislin that depicted Plante as Wonder Woman, because she had both improbably unseated an incumbent and shattered the glass ceiling at city hall.
I kept this relic with a stack of papers from other watershed moments in my lifetime: 9/11; when Barack Obama was elected president of the United States; the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
Plante’s success signalled a moment of hope for girls and women that female leaders can indeed reach the highest offices. Recall that only a year earlier, Hillary Clinton had narrowly missed out on becoming the first woman in the Oval Office. The wounds from that stinging defeat were still fresh. Plante’s achievement was a salve.
Of course, as Plante and many other female leaders know, the thrilling symbolism of a woman winning is quickly replaced by the bruising realities of a woman wielding power. The sheen comes off, the knives come out — even when trying to do politics with a laugh and a smile. And in getting down to business, all leaders need to do more than serve as inspirational figures; they have to show competence and accountability.
Sunny ways aside, Plante has always had her haters, and every now and then their criticism reaches a fevered pitch.
This has occurred almost every time her administration decided to remove parking spots or transfer lanes for vehicles to bikes and buses. Yet the bus rapid transit corridor on Pie-IX Blvd. got built, as did the Réseau express vélo path on St-Denis St.
That’s not to say Plante hasn’t made her share of blunders.
Plante has long called for more social and affordable housing, but her bylaw to get developers to include it in all new projects has yet to yield a single unit.
As mayor, Plante has been a champion for women. Her executive committee had gender parity from the start and she made efforts to elevate women to key roles. She blazed a trail for other young female mayors across the province. In fact, she paved the way for a new generation of likeminded progressive mayors in Quebec City, Laval and Longueuil who have increasingly sought to transform their cities in Montreal’s image, while uniting their voices behind shared priorities.
But the grumbling about Plante has started anew. A growing chorus of Montrealers is denouncing her handling of homelessness, drug addiction, the housing crisis, youth violence and construction mayhem. She likely could have proved them wrong once again, given that almost a year from election day, no credible opponents had lined up to take her on.
This time, however, she has decided to bow out gracefully — a surprise, given she had insisted she would run again.
But Plante has always done things differently. Her departure is no exception.
It was with a little joke and her trademark laugh that Plante announced Wednesday she’ll finish out her mandate, then leave the mayor’s office as she arrived: on her own terms, true to herself and with her head held high.