Projet Montral votes Sunday for leader to take on Coderre in 2017

Next year's municipal election looms over the Projet Montral leadership vote today, the winner of which will face off against Mayor Denis Coderre in November 2017.

Two councillors withthe Official Opposition Valrie Plante and Guillaume Lavoie say they are ready for the challenge and are vying for the top job.

Their platforms are similar in many ways help public transit users, increase social housing and be good to the environment.

The biggestquestion, however,iswhowill mobilize voters outside ProjetMontral in next year's election.

Who are the candidates?

Valrie Plante, 42, was first elected in 2013 as the councillor for the Ville-Marie borough'sSainte-Marie district. She says she wantsa new Metro line built, more money invested insocial housing and improved energy efficiency for buildings owned and operated by the City of Montreal.

Guillaume Lavoie, 39, was also first elected in 2013 as the councillor for the RosemontLa Petite-Patrie borough's Marie-Victorin district. He wants to improve public transit, bring in more social housing and make Montreal carbon neutral.

Mobility tops the agenda

Plante says 60 per cent of Montrealers didn't vote in 2013, which she attributes to the uninspiring platforms of those running.

As a result, Plante is thinking big: her dream is to build a new Metro line that runs diagonally across the existing lines, the "Pink Line."

It would cost an estimated $6 billionto build, but she doesn't think the price tag would be an issue.

"We are the metropolis in Quebec so it's normal to think that if [Quebec is] willing to invest $4 billion to make a tunnel between Quebec and Lvis, why can't we have $4 billion to build a subway line," Plante told CBC News.

• Quebec City-Lvis tunnel feasible but costly

Lavoie is more interested in improvingthe efficiency of existing mobility options than creating entirely new infrastructure.

His plan is called the 10-45 Strategy: essential bus lines would runon a 10 minutes or less timeframe and all commuters should be able to get where they are going in under 45 minutes.

"This city is stuck in traffic. We have a forest of orange cones on the streets," Lavoie said, adding that his administration would never put a cone down without being able to say when it will be removed.

"We're going to start respecting people," he said.

Campaigning against Coderre

When it comes to taking on Coderre, Lavoie said the mayor has made plenty of mistakes thathe'll needto answer for in 2017.

From the contentious anti-protest bylaw P-6,his failed move to keep bars open until 6 a.m., or the current pit bull ban controversy, Lavoie said of Coderre's missteps "if these aren't well known enough, that's my job."

• Does DenisCoderremake decisions too quickly?

Plante said Coderre is good at looking involved with citizens by taking pictures with them, but he's not actually connecting with them or hearing them out.

She wants to contrast that by getting out in the streets and listening toMontrealers andtheir needs.

"Field, field, field," Plante said of her strategy to overturn the mayor.

"Whether they're in the Plateau or Pierrefonds," she said.

Projet Montral's members will vote for their new leader Sunday at the Olympia Theatre.

• Projet Montral leadership candidates explain why they're best to take on Denis Coderre