Valerie Plante is leaving politics.
She was an amazing mayor.
She has gotten a lot of blame for things beyond her control. Canada has one of the highest immigration rate on the planet. Visible homelessness has increased in every single province, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. That had nothing to do with her. Yet some people still blame her for the housing crisis 🤦
Most Canadian mayors are managers. They just manage stuff. They have no vision for their cities. Which is why many Canadian cities are a total disaster.
Valerie Plante is one of the few mayors who is actually a transformative figure.
https://thewalrus.ca/montreal-kicked-cars-to-the-curb-and-thrived/
She widened sidewalks.
She created car-free streets every summer
She created the single-largest bike lane network in North America.
Her last decision was to ban cars from the Mount-Royal Park
Montreal elections are coming very soon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Montreal_municipal_election
Let's hope whoever replaces her continues on this path.
