Who will be the next Montreal mayor? Hear what’s on voters’ mind, a day before municipal elections

Montrealers are having a busy weekend.

A complete STM shutdown leaving Montrealers scrambling and a nail-biting Blue Jays game on Saturday aside, Montrealers are heading to the polls to pick their next mayor on Sunday.

While nearly 12 per cent of voters have already cast their ballots during the advance voting period between Oct. 24 and 29, all eyes are on the undecided voters and youth. Latest polls showed that about one in three were undecided about their choice for the city’s next mayor.

As candidates make their last-minute pitch, some Montrealers are hoping that their candidate will carry the race.

“I hope Luc Rabouin wins. That’s why I’m voting for him,” said one Projet Montréal supporter.

But others have yet to be convinced to go out and vote.

“In the city, I don’t know really the people,” said one Montrealer, “I’m not that interested.”

“I have no idea to be honest. I haven’t followed it that much,” said another.

Besides candidates, community organizations have also been working to get people, especially the youth, to engage. This year, nearly 49,000 young Montrealers are eligible to vote in a municipal election for the very first time.

Erika De Torres, director of impact and development at Apathy is Boring, an organization focused on promoting youth voting said there is a lot at stake for young voters.

“For this particular election, there’s so much on the docket that young people should be aware of and are super interested in, including housing, including affordability,” Torres said.

Torres believes that with worldwide concerns about “backsliding” of democracy, people young and old are paying attention.

“Democracy is such a great privilege,” Torres said, “And it’s also a muscle that has to be practiced.”

Élections Montréal said they have set up 450 polling stations across the city and they will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday.