Transition Montréal proposes ‘social fares' for low-income transit users, unveils first candidates
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Transition Montréal is vowing to slash public transit fares for people with low incomes as the new municipal party begins to unveil parts of its platform and its first candidates across the city.
The proposed measure of a 'social fare system' specifically targets Montrealers who earn $45,000 or less per year, party leader Craig Sauvé explained at a campaign event Monday morning. Transport and mobility are both 'key for social justice,' he said.
'It's a big one because as we see cost of living is going up everywhere, families are feeling pressure, people of all ages and backgrounds are feeling pressure,' Sauvé said.
It marks Transition Montréal's third election promise since it officially launched earlier this month. Sauvé, its leader, has said he wanted to 'shake this race up.' The party, which bills itself as a progressive option, has also promised to fight homelessness through a luxury property tax for the 'ultra rich' and create a municipal task force to handle public work projects 'in house,' to rely less on private contractors.
Sauvé unveiled the party's first set of candidates Monday and all three of them live in the boroughs in which they hope to be elected. He said Transition Montréal is aiming for 'quality candidates that represent their neighbourhoods.'
Luc Corbin, who hopes to become the next mayor of the Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie borough, is a manager in manufacturing and co-founded the non-profit Masson Village, which brings green spaces to the busy Promenade Masson. He said if he is elected, he wants to meet with constituents across the sprawling borough and address their needs.
Mama Khan restaurant owner Abdul Raziq Khan is running for city councillor in the Parc-Extension district, where he has lived for his entire life. He has distributed free meals outside the Parc métro station and he is behind the Madinah Foundation, which fights food insecurity in Montreal. Khan is hoping to oust stalwart Mary Deros, saying 'it's time for change.'
UQAM law student Marika Lalime, who has run for the federal New Democratic Party multiple times, is Transition Montréal's candidate for borough councillor in Outremont's Joseph-Beaubien district. She has worked with Indigenous youth and the unhoused community through legal workshops and clinics, experiences she said has inspired her to help the city's most vulnerable.
When asked about how many districts Transition Montréal has filled with candidates so far, Sauvé declined to give a precise number but said he's 'waiting on responses from so many people.' He added full slates are 'really tough to come by' but the party plans to 'cover as much as we can of the ground and try to get people in every borough.'
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