Trash talk

‘Montreal is dirty,’ Coderre says as he pledges to clean up city

Denis Coderre says he’s not concerned about a poll that indicates his lead over incumbent Valérie Plante has vanished.

A Le Devoir poll published Wednesday showed Coderre and Plante in a statistical dead heat in the Montreal mayoral race. That compares to a 12-point lead Coderre enjoyed back in May.

Speaking to reporters at Parc Frédéric-back in Montreal North Wednesday morning, Coderre said the polls show he still has work to do to convince electors.

“What I see in that poll is that there are only 33 per cent of people who think the team in place should stay,” he said. “I take nothing for granted, and we have to work hard and speak to people. We have a good team, and we will have an extraordinary platform.”

Coderre was standing in front of the St-michel ecocentre to detail his party’s plans to make the city cleaner if elected on Nov. 7. “Montreal is dirty,” Coderre said. His team would create a fund that would allow the boroughs to spend more on adding closed garbage and recycling containers in parks. The fund could also be used to increase the frequency of trash collection in the summer.

Coderre is also pledging to eliminate all offensive graffiti within 24 hours of a complaint being lodged; he contends it now takes between 11 and 14 days to do so.

As for the city’s rat problem, he said roadwork projects contribute to the issue, and his administration would put in place a plan to systematically exterminate rats whenever there is a construction project that requires sewers to be opened.

Plante took Coderre to task on Tuesday about his plan to walk back a decades-old law that limits the height of buildings in order to preserve views of Mount Royal.

Coderre defended his plan and said he doesn’t want to necessarily block anyone’s view of the mountain, but added all things must be taken into account when looking for solutions to the city’s housing crisis.

“We never spoke about blocking the view. We were talking about density. We need to realize that in a place like Montreal, especially downtown — where there isn’t a lot of land — the only way to truly have an answer against climate change is density,” he said. “But we need to do it wisely.”

Coderre was also asked about Bill 96, and claims by his former candidate Joe Ortona that the proposed language law would force the city to stop providing services in English. He didn’t commit to maintaining such services, but said he believes the law will allow some latitude.

“We all know that Montreal is a French metropolis, but at the same time when we are talking about health and we’re talking about health and public safety, there is already a series of services we can provide,” he said. “But instead of dividing people, let’s work on living together.”