Valérie Plante demands that the mayor of Anjou apologize

The mayoress of Montreal, Valérie Plante, is “extremely angry at the remarks” of her counterpart from Anjou, Luis Miranda. Because of her controversial remarks towards a teenager, she demands that he apologize.

Earlier this month, Hocine Ouendi, a teenager, ran for the municipal council of Anjou. He wanted to express his disappointment with the ban on free soccer decreed by the borough more than a month ago. Calmly, the 15-year-old asked the mayor to consider opening the synthetic pitches once a week.

Mr. Miranda answered the question vaguely, then lost his temper. « At 15, I wouldn’t have come to confront the mayor like you do. I don’t know why it’s you, it should have been your mother or your father“, indicated the mayor of Anjou to the teenager.

Attack on youth

Valérie Plante fears that the mayor of Anjou has sent the wrong message to young people with his remarks. “What Mr. Miranda did harms much more than him,” she considers. Young people might feel that politicians do not consider them. That adults have no consideration for them”.

Mr. Miranda should follow the example of our municipal council. There are young people who ask questions, and even children.

Valerie Plante

Like the mayor, Hocine Ouendi’s family also demands an apology. If she does not obtain them, she considers filing a complaint against the mayor of Anjou.

Plante says he wants to bet on young people

Valérie Plante met the media on Thursday to share the focus of the City’s next participatory budget, which specifically concerns youth. His administration will fund projects related to youth, equity and security. The projects funded may be varied, ranging from the construction of sports infrastructure, to awareness campaigns, to the creation of podcasts.

An envelope of $30 million is dedicated to the budget. Of this amount, $7 million will be earmarked for youth projects. By offering more activities, more possibilities to young people, Projet Montréal believes it can reduce armed violence.

“It’s essential to work upstream to give our young people every chance of succeeding,” says Valérie Plante. These
initiatives will allow the entire population of Montreal, and in particular young people, to create a safer, more united city, where opportunities are accessible in all neighborhoods.

The opposition, Ensemble Montreal, saw only a “communication operation” in this announcement. The sums revealed are “recycled”, it is denounced, as the Plante administration had already announced an investment of $7.4 million intended for youth, last March.

« [Les mesures] only offer young people the opportunity to contribute to one-off projects without planning a real long-term vision. If the Plante administration had really wanted to listen to young people and offer them tools to have fun, it would have offered them the sports center it promised them in Montreal North and which they have been waiting for too long,” concludes the chef. of the opposition, Aref Salem.