Jean Fortier drops out of Montreal mayoral race
Ex-chair of Montreal's executive committee expected to back Projet Montréal's Valérie Plante
Jean Fortier has dropped his bid to be the mayor of Montreal.
The candidate for Coalition Montréal was up against incumbent mayor Denis Coderre and Projet Montréal's Valérie Plante.
A well-placed source within Projet Montréal tells CBC News that Fortier will endorse Plante for mayor. That endorsement is not from his party, but from Fortier as an individual.
The two will appear together at an event tomorrow.
Caroline Orchard, a candidate running for Coalition Montreal, told CBC she was very surprised by the news and had not been told anything beforehand.
Fortier once chaired the city's executive committee and served as a city councillor with the former Vision Montreal party.
That was the second-most-powerful political job in the city, which he held from 1998 to 2001 under then-mayor Pierre Bourque.