MONTREAL — Denis Coderre says he has already moved on from asking himself why he lost Montreal’s mayoral election and that he is comfortable with his record in office.
“It may sound pretentious, but I don’t have any regrets,” he said Wednesday in his first remarks to reporters since his stunning defeat by Valerie Plante on Sunday.
“When you take decisions, you live with it. And there is a purpose for that. You win some, you lose some. So the batting average is not bad.”
Coderre, who had announced in his concession speech the night of the vote he was leaving municipal politics, said he has no immediate future political plans and intends to take a few weeks off to reconnect with family.
He said he was “delighted” with his spell as mayor.
“We know that the people always have the final word and we have to respect that but I feel that for the last four years, our administration was so dedicated,” Coderre noted. “We’ve done in four years what we could have accomplished in 15.
“Of course we can be disappointed in the results…But the most important thing is how Montreal is (today), and Montreal is amazing.”
The former Liberal MP and cabinet minister, who was elected mayor in 2013, campaigned largely on his record.
He was criticized for spending millions on showy projects to celebrate Montreal’s 375th birthday, and drew the ire of dog lovers when he introduced legislation last year to ban pit bulls from the city.
Coderre, 54, tried to play up Montreal’s booming economy and his efforts over the past four years to rid the city of the corruption stench that permeated from the previous administration.
He managed to increase his share of the popular vote from his 2013 score, but still fell short against Plante, 43, the first woman to be elected Montreal mayor.