After Luc Rabouin’s resignation, what’s next for Projet Montréal?

Luc Rabouin has officially bowed out.

The Projet Montréal leader announced Sunday night he’s stepping down after losing the mayoral race to Ensemble Montréal’s Soraya Martinez Ferrada, a defeat that ends his party’s eight-year run at City Hall.

After Rabouin’s loss, carrying 35 per cent of the vote, all eyes turn to what’s next for Projet Montréal, and who step up to pick up the pieces after a bruising campaign.

“I take full responsibility for this defeat,” the outgoing leader told supporters on election night, later adding, “I gave it everything I had, but it wasn’t enough.”

Rabouin pitched himself as a pragmatic insider, someone deeply familiar with the machinery of City Hall after six years on the executive committee, where he managed the city’s finances.

His campaign slogan: “No slogan. Only solutions.”

Throughout the election he promised to tackle homelessness through transitional housing, boost social housing, revive tramway projects in the East End, centralize construction planning and build a more climate-resilient city.

On election night, campaign staff defended Rabouin’s leadership, describing him as someone who’s never afraid to roll up his sleeves

“Luc is somebody who likes getting his hands dirty, ‘in the dossier,’ as we say in French,” said Mathieu Vick, Projet Montréal’s campaign director.

But in a race defined by what analysts have identified as voters’ thirst for change, Rabouin’s biggest challenge may have been his biggest strength: experience. Having served two terms as borough mayor for the Plateau–Mont-Royal, analysts say he was inseparable from former mayor Valérie Plante’s now-divisive legacy.

“It was hard for him to distance himself from the legacy of Projet Montréal,” said Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “In fact, he was very much part of it. And when you’re so much part of a legacy, it’s hard to project change.”

“When you’re in power for eight years, people accumulate grievances against you and your party,” Béland added. “Power wears on you.”

Plante, of course, led Projet Montréal to victory in 2017 and 2021, becoming the city’s first woman mayor before stepping down last fall. Rabouin won the party leadership in March, but according to some Montrealers CityNews spoke to Monday, he also inherited the baggage that came with it.

“I think Luc Rabouin was not the good one to take for the leadership of the party,” said Montrealer Aymen Belkalem said.

“He was closely associated with the old mayor, so it probably affected his outcome,” Montrealer Glenn Pasquarelli added.

“The worst thing that could have happened to him is just Valerie Plante. He kept getting associated with that,” said Montrealer Oscar Parent.

Belkalem added, “He doesn’t have the personality of a leader. When you saw him talk, he’s always shy.”

Analysts were also watching Côte-des-Neiges–NDG, where borough mayor Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, once seen as a rising star, lost by 19 points, despite high visibility and a promise she’d chair the city’s executive committee if reelected.

“(Kasoki Katahwa) has done very popular work, and Projet Montreal, don’t forget, gave her a lot of visibility during the campaign,” Eleni Bakopanos, political analyst and former federal Liberal MP, told CityNews on election night.

Other big losses: Robert Beaudry, the executive committee member responsible for homelessness, lost his race by just 13 votes. In Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, the executive member in charge of water, was edged out by a single vote.

According to Élections Montréal, the official report on the vote count will be finalized Tuesday, after which parties have four days to request a recount. CityNews reached out to Projet Montréal to ask if it plans to do so but did not receive a response by deadline.

 “It’s a clear defeat for them,” Béland said, “and not just at the mayoral level, not just in terms of mayors (across) Montreal.”