Political podcast: Bruno Marchand launches hostilities against Sam Hamad

The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, launched a full-blown attack on former Liberal minister Sam Hamad. According to him, the political proposal of his possible opponent at town hall will be a “Make America Great Again in a slightly more simplified formula.

This quote from the mayor, which evokes Donald Trump’s favorite slogan, comes from Politically speakingpodcast dedicated to Quebec and Canadian politics. The interview, filmed Wednesday in Montreal, lasted more than an hour and was conducted by Salim Idrissi and George Tsantrizos, two former provincial Liberal political advisors.

Asked whether Mr. Hamad would be a good or bad candidate for mayor of Quebec. Mr. Marchand responded: “It’s the people who will decide. Without knowing him personally – we have already met –, without knowing the proposal he will make, it will be in total distinction with the vision of the City that I am proposing. People will have a choice. She’s going to be [la proposition de M. Hamad] and Make America Great Again in a slightly more simplified formula.”

“Go back”

The outgoing mayor went so far as to anticipate the angles of counter-attack to which he thinks he will be exposed in the coming months.

“It’s going to be: what we’re doing now is terrible. The mayor wants to take away your car, which is not true at all. The mayor just wants bike paths, which is not true at all. The City is changing, you don’t like it and I [Sam Hamad]I’m going to go back and reassure you. There will be no more change,” he said.

According to the latest Léger surveyThe Journal, Sam Hamad is statistically tied with Mayor Marchand in voting intentions. The former minister is, however, still “in consideration” about running for mayor of Quebec next year.

«Mini Very James»

In the same interview, Mr. Marchand described the economic and demographic boom projected in the Capitale-Nationale region in the coming years as “mini James Bay”.

“If the tramway – and all the developments around it – goes ahead, that’s easily $6 to $7 billion of public capital invested in the economy. We know that we have at least $2 billion in private capital in housing investments. […] We will add to that the island bridge, the Davie construction site […] The next 15-20 years will be a mini James Bay in an already thriving economy. Quebec will experience an incredible economic boom,” he predicted.

Asked about the third link, Bruno Marchand showed interest in the possibility of a significant presence of an underground public transport component. “Moving people from city center to city center in seven minutes, the impact is enormous,” he maintained. This means that you are able to connect the Lévis Convention Center and the Quebec Convention Center – and ExpoCité in Quebec – and make it a huge center of attraction for conventions. You don’t even need to put on your coat when going to attend a conference in Lévis and staying in Quebec.”