Équipe Montréal

Équipe Montréal (English: Team Montreal) was a municipal political party that existed from 1998 to 2001 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded by Jean Doré, a former leader of the Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM) who served as mayor of Montreal from 1986 to 1994.

Doré, who resigned from the MCM in 1997, announced Équipe Montréal's formation at a press conference on 27 April 1998. He acknowledged having made mistakes that led to his former party's defeat in the 1994 municipal election, saying, "I became more of a spokesperson for the apparatus, the bureaucracy, rather than for the interests of the citizens." He promised to govern "more from my heart" and to pursue a policy of economic renewal if returned to office. Doré also promised that his party would freeze and eventually reduce municipal taxes, simplify government services, and restore Montreal's cleanliness, while remaining neutral on the issue of Quebec nationalism. When asked if he still identified as a social democrat, Doré responded that his party would govern from a position of pragmatism.

Two sitting councillors, Pierre Goyer and Martin Lemay, were present for the party's official launch. Councillors Helen Fotopulos and Sammy Forcillo also joined over the following months, as did former councillor Scott McKay and former Coalition Démocratique et Montréal Écologique party leader Yolande Cohen. All were candidates in the 1998 municipal election.

Doré did not initially plan for Équipe Montréal to release an election platform, and some critics charged that the party was more an electoral vehicle centered around the former mayor's personality than a proper political party. Doré rejected this, saying that the party was "born out of necessity" and was "not a closed political club." Équipe Montréal held a founding convention in June 1998 that was attended by about five hundred people and released a platform after a follow-up convention in August.

...
Wikipedia