Craig Sauvé, former Projet Montréal city councillor, running for mayor

Craig Sauvé, an independent councillor for Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough, is hoping to claim the mayor's seat in the upcoming municipal elections by running for a new party: Transition Montréal.

"Until now, Montrealers have had only two options: two old parties that have been in constant opposition on city council for the past four years," he told reporters on Thursday morning. 

"Our party, Transition Montréal, wants to offer a new voice: a constructive voice, a voice that focuses on collaboration and good ideas."

The former Projet Montréal city councillor will be facing Luc Rabouin, leader of Projet Montréal, and Ensemble Montréal Leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada.

Sauvé has been a city councillor since 2013 and has sat as an independent at city council since November 2021. 

Just days before the last municipal elections, he withdrew from Projet Montréal over a sexual assault allegation from 2012 that he emphatically denied.

At the time, CBC News had obtained documents that showed police closed an investigation into the matter in February 2021.

Sauvé was also an NDP candidate in the riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun during the last federal election.

WATCH | The Montreal municipal election is shaping up to be one of the most open races in decades: 

Here are the latest candidates and parties entering the race for Montreal mayor

6 hours ago

Duration 2:36

Former Projet Montréal city councillor Craig Sauvé is running for mayor with a new party. The Montreal municipal election is shaping up to be one of the most open races in decades with no mayor running for re-election and six city-wide parties registered in the race so far.

Another party, Futur Montréal, will also be joining the race, having been officially authorized as a municipal political party this week. It hasn't put forward a candidate yet.

The party's co-founders are Joel DeBellefeuille, who also founded and serves as the executive director of the Red Coalition, and Matthew Kerr, a public policy strategist and a community leader.

'More needs to be done' to tackle homelessness, Sauvé says

In his announcement on Thursday, he said the party would try to tackle several issues, including: homelessness, the housing crisis, climate change, public safety, infrastructures, and tax fairness.

"Transition Montréal will be putting forward some out-of-the-box ideas," said Sauvé.

He presented two ideas designed to address some of those pressing challenges: taxing the ultra-rich and bringing more public works under municipal control, reducing reliance on the private sector.

The tax would apply to owners of luxury condos or single-family homes —  but only individual units, not entire buildings — worth over $3.5 million. The revenue from that tax, according to Sauvé, would be dedicated to fighting homelessness.

"The current administration has not taken the necessary leadership on the homelessness file, because everyone knows that more needs to be done," said Sauvé.

"[Homeless people] are all citizens of Montreal."