Montreal’s newest municipal party unveils party leader, mayoral candidate

At a press conference Wednesday, Montreal’s newest municipal party, Futur Montréal, revealed that Jean-François Kacou will lead them and officially run as a candidate for mayor in the November municipal election.

Founded just this year, the party says it plans to “do politics differently, with bold ideas, pragmatic solutions, and leadership rooted in equity, accountability, and inclusion.”

“For me it’s a very big step, a very bold move also,” Kacou said. “And for the party, I think we are ready to bring forward ideas of change in Montreal.

“I mean, it’s history, it’s a great step for me because I’ve never been an active politician.”

Kacou, a former executive director of the City of Percé and Ensemble Montréal, says he wants to push forward initiatives that will generate new revenue for the city, and invest that revenue in community organization that builds affordable and social housing. 

“I think this is what our city wants and our city needs. We need people that can boldly say, ‘OK, we’re going to bring some new tools, we’re going to stop running around and we’re going to say it like it is and do the job,'” Kacou explained.

Among other credentials, Kacou is also the president of the Salon du Chocolat de Montréal, and an elected member of the executive committee of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

“This is not just a nomination. This is history,” echoed party co-founder Joel DeBellefeuille. “Jean-François Kacou is a leader of unmatched experience and credibility. He has built institutions, shaped policies and now he brings that vision and discipline to Futur Montréal.

“We’ve got to roll up our sleeves, got a lot of work to do.”

Co-founded by DeBellefeuille and Matthew Kerr, Futur Montréal plans to present a full slate of 103 candidates in the Nov. 2 election, including borough mayors, city councillors and borough councillors.

At Wednesday’s introductory press conference, Futur Montréal also presented Gulnar Mousa, the party’s candidate for the Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce mayoralty.

While discussing housing and homelessness, Kacou says the homeless crisis has become a security problem and wants to tackle this “disease.”

While giving small insight into its platform, the party said it wants to replace the 20-20-20 regulation – a bylaw adopted in 2021 that requires construction companies to ensure that 20 per cent of a project is social housing, 20 per cent affordable housing and 20 per cent family housing.

“We want to strengthen our community, our community net to help those individuals, not only going out of the street, but being reinstated into the society,” Kacou said.

The party did not want to provide more context behind its platform, but says more information will be revealed in the coming days.

“We’re here to change. We’re really here to create the future of Montreal and for far too long, we’ve been in that sort of stagnant water with Ensemble and Projet tossing the egg back and forth from each other,” DeBellefeuille said.

“We’re here to intervene, grab that egg, crack it and bring forth bold ideas for the city.”