Can Coderre Save Montreal?

For those outside Quebec, you probably don't know that elections were held last Sunday for mayors and town councils across the entire province.
In Montreal, uber-federalist Denis Coderre won the job as mayor, but failed to elect enough councilors to form a majority.
I'm glad the way things worked out, most of those on Coderre's team were retreads from the defunct Union Montreal party that was racked by scandal and corruption.

I don't know Coderre personally but gather from media reports that he is a consummate politician, not too bright, but an expert self-promoter.
I wouldn't worry about his intelligence, in my experience, politicians with high IQ's are no more effective or successful than those on the lower end of the intelligence scale.

Let us remember that Paul Martin was an excellent finance minister who managed to run Canada's budget in the black. But as a Prime Minister, he destroyed the Liberal party by calling the Gomery Commission that looked into the Sponsorship Scandal.
He should have taken advice from Jean Chretien, who while no mental giant was one of Canada's great Prime-Ministers, dukeing it out with the separatists with any means at his disposal.
Chretien's sage advice was to sweep the entire sponsorship scandal under the carpet, even if it made for an awfully big bump. HA!

There were successful American presidents with high IQs, like Bill Clinton and then there were busts like Jimmy Carter, who supposedly has the highest IQ of any president ever!
So don't listen to the pundits snigger over Coderre's supposed lack of intelligence, it is actually inconsequential.
I hope he hires his mayoral rival, Marcel Coté who very definitely is smart, to fill the job as the new Inspector-General, a job that Coderre promised to create in order to get a handle on corruption and over-spending. Coté is a no-nonsense guy who is driven by the numbers. Good leaders need a qualified team to make them look good and I hope Coderre recognizes this.
This afternoon Jacques Duchesneau's name was floated for the job of Inspector-General and when asked if he was interested he immediately said yes.
I laughed at the response, it was to be expected. The Jacques Duchesneau I know has always had an eye on the next job.
Here's what I wrote three years ago about Duchesneau in a blog piece defending him, when his integrity was attacked.

"I knew him from the time he was chief of police of Montreal where I noticed right away that he didn't do much of the  mundane everyday work related to his job, preferring to let highly capable associates carry the ball.
It was his style of management to delegate everything, whilst he looked for a new challenge. Something his employees joked about. Ambition.  " Link

Don't get me wrong, I like and respect Jacques, but truth be told, he never had much Sitzfleisch.

By the way readers, telling some uncomfortable truths about friends, acquaintances or politicians who I generally like, is the most difficult part about blogging out in the open. It'll take some getting used to.
That being said, Duchesneau would also be a great choice for Inspector-General and he'd no doubt get the job done by getting his band back together.

So all I can say is good luck, Coderre will need it. Corruption and waste can't be rooted out overnight, but I do hope we have turned a page and embarked on a process, and believe it or not, I remain cautiously hopeful, because Coderre never deflected or flinched when it came to language or the Charter of Values and he has already gone on record promising that the City of Montreal will launch a legal challenge under his administration.

It will be interesting to see the relationship between the PQ and this staunch federalist, a situation that will likely drive Montreal farther apart from the rest of the province.
I'm crossing my fingers.

Oops... going back to the comments section, I appear to be parroting a comment penned by  'AnecTOTE';

"With Coderre being ushered in as new Mayor for Montreal, an individual not fond of the separatist cause apparently, it will be interesting to see how much head-butting there will be between him and popo...lol

That's OK.
I've told readers all along that I read the comments and form or change opinions as a result! When I borrow directly, I always credit.

Two other stories concerning Sunday's election caught my interest, the first about the new mayor of Laval Marc Demers, a retired detective who has promised a massive cleanup.

Before I tell you that story, I  want to tell about a poll that indicated that 38% of Lavalois would still have voted for Gilles Vaillancourt had he run for mayor. Is that not unbelievable?

At any rate Marc Demers' legitimacy is being challenged because some say he hasn't been a resident of Laval over the previous 12 months, as required by the election rules.
There is talk of a court challenge or a complaint to the Elections office by the losers.
But imagine the mess if a challenge occurred.
Demers is going to be installed as mayor now and should a challenge occur, it will take months and perhaps years with appeals. But at that future point, Demers would have lived long enough in the city and so kicking him out in favour of a new election seems rather silly.
In this case, the law is an ass. If he didn't qualify, he should have been disqualified before the election.

And finally my favourite election story was the race between Mindy Pollack a Hassidic 25-year old in Outremont and Pierre Lacerte, an anti-Hasid activist.
The large field split the votes, allowing the Hasid bloc vote to propel Ms. Pollack into city council as the first Hasid ever to gain election.

Outremont is home to Montreal's 10,000 strong Hasid community and relations haven't been easy between them and their neighbours. Link
It isn't a case of antisemitism, the Hasids are notorious scofflaws.

Mr. Lacerte runs a blog highlighting what he documents as Hasid abuse. It's a hilarious and comical battle to watch, but only if you live outside of Outremont, I imagine. Read the blog {fr}
Up to now the Hasids have claimed one victory after another, over the hapless Lacerte, who seems to be playing for the Washington Generals and seems to get clobbered by the Hasids, as often as Wile E. Coyote.

Pollack's election victory was not only a bitter pill for Lacerte, but also for Richard Martineau, the secular fundamentalist journalist who writes for Le Journal de Montreal. Martineau savaged Pollack in an article, telling readers that Pollack refuses to shake hands with men and regularly asks her rabbi for advice. THE HORROR! Link{fr}

That being said, I'm no fan of the Hasids, they are an annoying cult that flaunt the rules and act as if they own the place. Representing only about 10% of the Jewish community in Quebec, they are responsible for 99% of the bad press the Jews of Quebec receive.
It isn't about antisemitism ,because even in Israel, Hasids are roundly disliked by the general population.
Read a post I wrote about them: Hasid's Demands for Accommodations Hurt Image of Quebec Jews 

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I'd like to thank readers for the many kind messages and emails over the last days. I heard from people all over the world and without yours and their support, I wouldn't continue writing this blog.
While I told you in the past that many people knew who I was, I was surprised by how many readers, even within my family didn't know it was me writing this blog all the time!

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If you see something going on in your company, town or in the street that would interest readers, please let me report it.
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