What 2025 has in store for us at the municipal level: a new mayor in Montreal

The year 2025 will be marked, on November 2, by the municipal elections in Quebec. Among other things, eyes will be on Montreal, where Valérie Plante will not run for a third term. The housing and homelessness crises have marked the news of cities in 2024 and will most likely not be resolved. Although they fall under federal or provincial jurisdiction, they still risk falling into the hands of municipalities.

• Also read: 2025, a pivotal year for Trump and Trudeau… but also for you

A race to watch

Who will succeed Valérie Plante as mayor of Montreal? The question will be on everyone’s lips in 2025.

The start of the year will be marked by the race for the leadership of Projet Montréal, the outcome of which will be known in the spring. “Are we going to have an internal leader or someone completely external? It will be very interesting to follow,” believes Danielle Pilette, professor at UQAM.

Will Ensemble Montréal remain the opposition party? This remains a big question mark, according to the municipal management expert. Denis Coderre’s former party seemed in bad shape at the end of 2024, having postponed its leadership race for lack of candidates.

Call to women and young people

All of the province’s approximately 400 municipalities will be in electoral mode. The Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ) wants to motivate people to run, particularly women and young people.

“We are seeing more and more young people getting involved, whether by voting or by running. They must make their voices heard,” said Guillaume Tremblay, mayor of Mascouche and first vice-president of the UMQ.

Mayors who will get involved in housing and homelessness

Housing and homelessness are Quebec’s responsibilities, but mayors had to tackle them in 2024, a trend expected to continue in 2025.

“We are going to ask Quebec to assume leadership, but it seems that there is no ministry that is ready to assume these responsibilities,” laments Guillaume Tremblay.

He recalls that the crisis does not only affect large cities like Montreal and Quebec.

Camps also appeared in Longueuil, Saint-Jérôme, Granby and Drummondville.

Financial challenges

For cities, the year 2025 will be one of financial challenges, according to Danielle Pilette.

She predicts that the provincial and federal governments will be even more parsimonious with subsidies, especially if the Conservative Party candidate, Pierre Poilievre, unseats Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa.

Municipalities will want to have access to other sources of financing than property taxes, believes M^me Drains.

They could turn more towards royalties to developers, a measure which risks slowing down construction starts even more and making properties even more expensive.

What impact for public transport?

While public transport companies are starving, Quebec does not seem to have any intention of giving more money.

The CAQ government has ordered performance audits in 2024 that recommend companies subcontract more services and modify collective agreements to save money.

The Société de transport de Montréal is the one that pays its drivers the best. Will she change the way she does things? What will be the impact on users’ daily lives? We could have the beginning of an answer in 2025.