Holness rekindles the politics of division

Mouvement Montréal leader Balarama Holness held a press conference with Marc-Antoine Desjardins on October 12, 2021 to address their conflicting positions on the proposal for a bilingual status for the city of Montreal. / Photo: Radio-Canada.ca

Since Melanie Joly’s meteoric run for the mayoralty in the 2013 municipal elections, Montrealers have been wondering who will fill the “third way” position − in French: “la 3e voie”.

(Disclaimer: I was elected in 2013 thanks to Joly’s magnetic pull, especially in the outer, mainly anglophone boroughs of Montreal.) 

Each election is a whole new deck of cards – some of the players have been shuffled out, new ones have been shuffled in. The electorate too has undoubtedly changed, due to shifts in opinion; and after four years, there are new concerns and fresh issues to tackle. Whatever tactics may have worked the last time around are unlikely to work again. 

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