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Former party leader quits municipal election, rebuking Mouvement Montréal

Marc-Antoine Desjardins, the leader of Ralliement pour Montréal, left, is cutting ties with Balarama Holness, the leader of Mouvement Montréal, right. (Jérôme Labbé/Radio-Canada - image credit)
Marc-Antoine Desjardins, the leader of Ralliement pour Montréal, left, is cutting ties with Balarama Holness, the leader of Mouvement Montréal, right. (Jérôme Labbé/Radio-Canada - image credit)

The leader of the party that joined with Balarama Holness's Mouvement Montréal has bowed out of the municipal election.

Marc-Antoine Desjardins, of the Ralliement pour Montréal party, said he was pulling out of the race for mayor of Outremont mere weeks after his party merged with Mouvement.

In a statement, Desjardins said he is "completely dissociating myself from the Mouvement Montréal party, its leader and his remarks made Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021."

That was the day Holness announced he would hold a referendum on the status of Montreal as a bilingual city.

Prior to the merger, a cornerstone of the Ralliement platform included protection of the French language.

"I am therefore leaving my post as co-leader of this party," he said.

When reached for comment, Holness said that Desjardins was "unlikely to win, had very few connections to Outremont and it is not surprising that he decided to quit."

Desjardins said he will make no further comment before the end of the election campaign.

A tense relationship

Desjardins is not the first Ralliement candidate to leave following the merger.

Jean-François Cloutier, who was running for mayor of Lachine, also withdrew, saying the parties were "not compatible."

Mamoun Ahmed, who was originally running with Ralliement for the Parc-Extension city councillor position, also withdrew after the merger.

The party had told him he would have to run in Ahuntsic instead, because Mouvement had a candidate in Parc-Extension. He chose to withdraw rather than "be a candidate just to be a candidate."

Those running on both sides said they were not consulted prior to the decision.

Holness said the merger was a political decision that allowed the party to run with a fuller slate of candidates.