Mayor Valérie Plante Takes Charge Of Montreal Street Cleaning By Doing It Herself

Quebec Premier François Legault isn't the only one who has a sense of humour! After Legault sported a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey as an April Fools' joke, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante also joined in on the fun.

Following Plante's re-election last fall, the mayor made it clear that she has many promises for the city, and today, street cleaning was one of them.

In a video posted to Twitter by Ville-Marie City Councillor and Projet Montréal member Robert Beaudry, Plante was filmed operating a street-cleaning truck in Montreal's Gay Village.

"The start of spring cleaning in the Village with Valérie Plante in charge," Beaudry tweeted along with the video of Plante cleaning the sides of rue Ste-Catherine Est.

The mayor was guided by city workers, who appeared to be helping her maneuver the truck carefully.

Well, turns out Plante isn't actually heading this year's street cleaning.

The mayor later tweeted a photo of her in the truck, revealing to Montrealers that it was all an April Fools' gag.

"Mayor AND blue collar!" Valérie Plante wrote. "Today, I am personally in charge of the cleaning operation for the City of Montreal."

Plante attached thumbs-up and fishing emojis to her tweet, making it clear it was an April Fools' Day joke, or "poisson d'avril," as it's said in French.

Despite the effort, it seems as if Plante's joke slightly backfired after the video garnered a few angry responses. A number of Montrealers replied to her tweet with demands to fix the Montreal roads and potholes before cleaning 'em. Yikes!