100 days of Valrie Plante: Time for a reckoning

Montreal Mayor Valrie Plante's administrationcrossed the 100-day thresholdthis weekend, the traditional firstcheckpoint for measuring the success of a new government.

Received political wisdom suggests that's the point thatan administration should already be crossing items off its to-do list.

• WatchValriePlante'sinterviewwith CBChost DebraArbec

Planteentered Montreal City Hall last November with a fairly long list. Herupset victory, after all, was the product of an ambitious,promise-filled campaign.

But time has come for a reckoning. Here is a look at what progress Plante hasmade on some of her biggest election promises.

Promises kept

Formula E:

Last summer's Formula E race played an outsized role in the campaign.Plantewas unambiguous about not wanting to see the race in downtown Montreal again.

She was in powerbarely a month when she cancelled the city's contract with Formula E's governing body.

"Montrealers have made it clear that we can't waste their money on poorly planned projects that don't serve them," said the mayor when she announced her decision.

• Montreal mayor cancels Formula E race, calls it 'financial fiasco'

Public transit:

Plantecampaigned on a promise to boost public transit options for Montrealers, vowing that her first order of business would be to buy 300 new buses for the city.

While it wasn't quite accomplished on her first day, Plante announced in January that with help from the provincial government, that purchase was going ahead.

Animal control:

Another central plank of the Projet Montral platform was the promise to revisit the previous administration's animal controlbylaw, which infuriated dog owners across the city because ofits anti-pit bull provisions.

Planterevoked those clauses inthe bylaw soon after taking power and will hold further consultations in order to draw up newanimal control regulations.

The administration has ruled out the breed-specific approach favoured by former mayor Denis Coderre.

Promisebroken

Property taxes:

Both front-runners in the mayoral race vowed they would not raise property taxes beyond the rate of inflation, which is pegged at 2.1 per cent for 2018.

Strictly speaking, Plante kept that promise. In her first budget, property taxes were raised by only 1.9 per cent. But she also raised the water tax by 1.1 per cent, and borough taxes increased by a further.3 per cent.

That means Montreal homeowners will see their municipal tax bill jump by an average of 3.3 per cent this year, well above the inflation rate.

Plantejustified the increase by pointing out the water tax hasn't been increased since 2013, despite aging city sewers and water mainsin direneed of repair.

"There arebig problemswith everything related to the water infrastructure.That is why I made that decision,"the mayor said earlier this month.

• Luc Ferrandez says he regrets calling his party's promise to not raise taxes 'amateurish'

"I know it's not a popular one. I know it's not going to make me win political points."

Indeed, the decision was so unpopular that it promptedone of the most prominent figures in her administration, Plateau-Mont-Royal borough MayorLuc Ferrandez,to muse that it was a "mistake" to promise a tax freeze in the first place.

"I think we regret it," he told CBC News.

Promisepending

Pink Metro line

It was the Pink Line, more than any other campaign promise, that made voters sit up and take notice ofPlante.

Proposing to build a new Metro line cutting diagonally across the city could have doomed her mayoral hopes, but she made her pitch with enough conviction that it helped, rather than hindered, her campaign.

Since Novemberthere has been nary a mention of the Pink Line from the administration. No money was allottedfor it in the annual budget or in city hall's three-year planning document.

That, though, need not alarm backers of the project, which would connect Montreal North to Lachine.

Plantehas always been counting on financial support from the provincial and federal governments to make the Pink line a reality.

The Quebec Liberals, up for re-election this year, have so far sent encouraging signals. Most recently, the project was described as a "priority" in a regional planning document released by the provincial government.

In Plante's favour: there remain roughly 1,360 days in her mandate to demonstrate that progress is being made on her signature project.

On the other hand, that is not a lot of time to find $6 billion, design a colossalexpansion ofthe existing subway network and start digging which is what she persuaded voters was reasonable to expect from her.

They say a week is a long time in politics.Four years, though, is not not when you've promised to change a city.