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Montreal Gazette
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Luc Rabouin promises to focus on buses, not bikes, if elected mayor of Montreal
Montreal Politics Buses, not bikes, will be central in Projet Montréal's 2025 pitch to voters, mayoral contender Luc Rabouin announced Wednesday. The candidate, who now helms outgoing Mayor Valérie Plante's party, promised an expanded express bus network that would bring new bus lanes to Montreal streets. While he said he is 'proud' of the cycling expansion spearheaded by Plante during her two terms, Rabouin said he now intends to put 'as much love and energy and passion into the bus network as we did for bikes.' The promise came as part of his first policy pitch as candidate for mayor, coming months ahead of the November municipal election. That vote, scheduled for Nov. 2, will pit Rabouin against Ensemble Montréal's Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Both candidates have yet to hammer out comprehensive platforms, but Martinez Ferrada has criticized many of Plante's policies on cycling and pedestrianization. She promises a review of Montreal's bike lanes and opposes the now-walked-back plan to permanently pedestrianize Ste-Catherine St. 'I want to put the priority on the bus network because we have a lot of people every day ... who are moving by bus,' Rabouin said. 'They need to have their own bus lane reserved for them.' The city has the resources to build more bus lanes, Rabouin said. 'I want to do the most we can do ourselves without depending on other levels of government.' While he said he would also like to increase bus service, Rabouin said that would require the support of other levels of government. 'I will continue to fight for that for Montrealers,' he said. Rabouin also pledged to cut delays for residential construction permits in half. 'We want to simplify life for developers' who, he said, 'feel that they're fighting a long, hard battle if they want to develop a project in Montreal.' 'It's not normal,' Rabouin said. In 2024, Plante imposed a 120-day deadline for boroughs to issue building permits, a window Rabouin said he would halve. 'We're going to go much further in our next mandate,' he said. 'The population's first priority is the housing crisis. It's ours, too.' As with the bus network, Rabouin said he is focused on finding solutions within the city's tool kit. Other hurdles in the housing crisis, including interest rates and rising costs, are out of municipal control, he said. Rabouin said he is starting the campaign early to have more time to define himself to voters. 'Montreal's population knows little about me,' he said, calling himself 'attentive, experienced and focused on concrete solutions to respond to Montrealers' needs.' This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM.
CBC
25-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Montreal is officially opening its own French-language office
The City of Montreal is officially opening its own French-language office. The city announced the creation of the new office, the Bureau de la langue française, in a media release last week. In the release, Mayor Valérie Plante said the office "marks a turning point in our engagement with promoting and protecting our common language." CBC asked what concrete responsibilities and powers the office would have. In response, a city spokesperson said it will be "responsible for supporting the city in its transition to exemplarity," and for helping the city apply Quebec's new language law, Bill 96. The city said it is budgeting $325,000 for the office, money that will be used to hire three staff members and for "operational costs." According to the media release, the office will be overseen by Noémie Dansereau-Lavoie, Montreal's French-language commissioner. In October, the city's French-language committee, which was created to review the use of the language in Montreal, presented a report recommending ways Montreal could promote French in the city. That report recommended, among other things, the creation of a municipal French-language office. At the time, Plante said the new office would not threaten Montrealers' access to services in their language, nor impact how cultural communities hold festivals to celebrate their heritage. The city's French-language committee has also recommended promoting French among newcomers, including international students and providing a "passport" to French culture to newcomers in the city. It also suggests inviting students to French classes and visiting municipal buildings. In a media release on Monday, Louise Harel, the president of the committee, celebrated the opening of the new office.
