Balarama Holness Is Officially Running For Mayor Of Montreal
Former Montreal Allouettes Gray Cup Champion, lawyer, and longtime community activist Balarama Holness is officially running for mayor of Montreal.
Holness officially announced his candidacy on May 20 and joins a field of candidates that includes current mayor Valérie Plante, former mayor Denis Coderre, and newcomer Marc Antoine Desjardins.
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Holness, a born and bred Montreal local, who the New York Times dubbed as the "Canadian Barack Obama," is running on a platform of "People Before Politics" under a new party named Mouvement Montréal (Movement Montreal).
In his campaign announcement press release, Holness said that "Movement Montreal is focused on energizing the city by serving and representing all Montrealers [...] Movement Montreal's new approach to political organizing, campaigning, and policy-making will prioritize peoples' needs, support their aspirations, and give them a voice."
In an interview with MTL Blog in October 2020, Holness said that "I want to ensure that, once elected, people are engaged in a participatory democracy, whether it's the budget, decision making at City Hall, ensuring that parties have more representation."
"Most people at City Hall [...] [follow] a political culture that is not to stand up for people who don't vote for them or people who don't look like them [...] If you don't have a City Hall that represents the population, you're going to have a void."
