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Plan B: Anyone but Coderre

By Don Macpherson, The Gazette
October 8, 2013 9:16 AM

Denis Coderre wanted the mayoralty of Montreal only as a consolation prize.

He was tired of being a member of Parliament, and Justin Trudeau was blocking his way to the job he really wanted, the federal Liberal leadership.

So Coderre settled for running for mayor of Quebec’s metropolis.

At a time when everybody in Quebec claims to yearn for a new style of politics, Coderre is a caricature of the old-fashioned pol: glad-handing, backslapping, winking and grinning — everything but the cigar and the homburg hat.

The city’s business establishment, and many in its media, roll their eyes at the thought of Coderre as mayor.

Business leaders found him so lacking in anything but personal ambition that they went looking for an ABC candidate (Anybody But Coderre), and settled on a 71-year-old technocrat unknown to the general public, Marcel Côté.

And Coderre welcomed into his “team” — as “party” is a bad word in this year’s Quebec municipal elections — several refugees from the discredited Union Montreal, whose last two mayors were forced to resign in disgrace.

But after six victories in seven federal elections, Coderre is the most politically experienced of the mayoral candidates, and the best-known.

Plus, he is a man of the people who livetweets updates of Canadiens games.

And apparently, glad-handing, backslapping, grinning, winking and livetweeting “c’est le BUUUT!” is what the people want.

[...]

dmacpherson@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: MacphersonGaz
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Original source article: Macpherson: Plan B: Anyone but Coderre

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