Denis Coderre marks 1 year as Montreal mayor
Coderre visited CBC Daybreak's studios to talk uberX, Beaver Lake, Bill 3, the 'Coderre Tax' and more
It's been nearly a year since Denis Coderre took over Montreal City Hall, and he visited CBC Daybreak's studio to talk about what he's done so far.
On uberX:
"It's not a matter to stop it. It's a matter to make people realize we're not against car-sharing. I'm in favour of car-sharing but if it's a commercial activity, there are some rules to respect."
On Denis Gallant's report about a questionable contract:
"The reality of a new inspector-general, it means that it prevents, it means that it identifies, it means that a work in progress all the time to protect Montreal's interests."
"We have a system. It's working. Everything is more transparent. We've been changing the leadership at the official level. We have more accountability. People have to be accountable at every level of the process."
"I'm going to act on the report but I'm going to weigh the process, because why make a process if we don't respect it?"
On the numerous Beaver Lake renovations delays:
"I don't have the timeframe. I'll call you back."
"We're doing it now […] We have an administration who's taking a decision. We have leadership. What you see is what you get, you know me. If we have to kick ass, we'll kick ass. That's the bottom line."
On municipal employees and Bill 3 protests:
"We are protecting their future because we believe we have to do two things at the same time: respect the capacity of taxpayers' capacity to pay taxes and at the same time to protect society's choice that have been made with those pension plans. At the end of the day, it's normal that it's a 50/50 share and that we have some inter-generational equity."
On boroughs' new budget formula and the 'Coderre Tax':
"Fifteen out of 19 [boroughs] are pleased."
"I'll give you an example. I'm from the borough of Ville-Marie. I'm the mayor of the borough of Ville-Marie. I think that, when we want truly to manage our taxpayers, we need to have parameters, we need to have indexes, we need to have benchmarking. We need to have a city that has standards and a level of measure where you know if you're performing or not."
On Canada Post's community mailboxes:
"I'm really mad. I have a committee on that with Benoit Dorais, the mayor of Southwest and the mayor of Montreal-East who's there. I'm totally on the side of [Westmount mayor] Peter Trent."
"It's a disgrace. It's a total disgrace. And the Union of Quebec Municipalities, we are speaking as one voice. We are working together and trying to find a way. And there's an election next year, right?"
On the Denis Coderre Halloween costume advertised at Value Village:
"I'm flattered. I tried the costume."
Final words:
"Be proud. Be proud because Montreal is back and we are witnessing that we are relevant again. Let's celebrate!"