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Meet the underdog >> Michel Bédard is the mayoral candidate with tour guide charm and a moustache as long as your arm by DOMINIQUE RITTER If you weed through the tangle of party signs currently ensnaring city lampposts, you may spy the face of Montreal's newest and least-known mayoral hopeful.
But he isn't expecting too many phone calls. Bédard's party, Montreal 2000, may only have 17 candidates right now, but they intend to take 10 per cent of the vote on election day. "I want to make Montreal a model city," Bédard told the Mirror. "It will be the mayors of other big cities who will come to Montreal to be inspired by what we have done." Bédard touts himself as a man of the people and says that, unlike his opponents, he has no delusions of grandeur. "I won't be in an ivory tower. I won't be in a limo with tinted windows. People will see me on the bus and on the metro." Tour guide turned mayor? Bédard studied architecture, holds a diploma in municipal management from UQAM and has worked for the Régie de l'assurance automobile du Québec. At age 24, his bid for city councillor in the Plateau district met with defeat. But now, with 14 years experience as a tour guide, animating tourist travels throughout North America, he claims he's in a position to judge good and bad urban development. What does he consider good urban development? Multi-level parking complexes. "The aesthetics of some of these [multi-level lots] merit architecture prizes," exclaims Bédard, although he admits some of them are fairly offensive. What he finds truly objectionable? The meters lining our streets. "Liberate! Liberate the sidewalks from these awful meters that only make the city ugly!" he cries. Bédard says Montreal 2000 would reduce the number of parking meters, though he refused to say by how many. He wants to extend the two-hour parking period and introduce a 10-minute grace period before tickets are issued. And he wants to fix the 20 per cent of meters that he says are defective because their timers wind down too fast. More than just maple syrup Among Bédard's more ambitious projects is a plan for a new arts centre in the East End. The centre, to be built in the shadow of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, would house an animation centre and theatre and would provide artisans with kiosks to sell their wares. The centre would also cater to tourists who, Bédard says, are currently left asking, "What can we buy in Quebec other than maple syrup?" Bédard claims he has a refined appreciation of beauty, especially that of his native Montreal, and is upset by the commercial defacing of his city. He abhors ads on buses and benches, and promises to prevent the city from becoming a giant PubliSac. "I'm not in the mood to travel on a metro car shaped like a bottle of beer," he says. "A citizen is not by first order a consumer."
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Michel Bédard is the candidate on the black-and-white-only signs, the candidate most people haven't heard of. But if he were elected mayor of Montreal, not only would you be familiar with his red mustachioed face, but you would have his personal phone number. He says every resident would be free to call him and voice any complaints they may have.