Luc Ferrandez won't run for leader of Projet Montral

ProjetMontral'sLucFerrandezwon't run for the leadership of the city's Official Opposition, he announced on Sunday.

In longspeech at his party's general meeting, the interim leadersaid he won't seek thepermanentleadershippositonbuthe will staywiththe party.

ProjetMontralcould hold its leadership race as soon as thisfall.The next election for city mayor will be in 2017.

Ferrandezsaidthe controversy around some of hisPlateau-Mont-Royalpolicies would only work inCoderre'sfavour.

"His eternal argument is to show me as the radical and someone people should be scared of. I'm going to take that card out of his game," he said.

• Luc Ferrandez, Plateau borough mayor, singled out for red tape
• Richard Bergeron leaves Projet Montral to join Denis Coderre
• Plateau property tax hike decried as bad for local business

Ferrandez, borough mayor of PlateauMont-Royal,was named interim leader when RichardBergeronstepped down on October 2014.

After running for mayor in three different races,Bergeronsaid he could "feel the weight of the years" and wanted to give the reins over to someone new.

Ferrandez calls Coderrean 'impostor'

Ferrandez'sspeech was heavy with condemnationfor Montreal Mayor DenisCoderre.

He calledCoderrean "impostor, with respect tohis promises to work together."

He said the mayoris focused more onbaseball thanissues that matter, like social housing, small businesses and road safety.

Coderre, on the other hand, saidhe's not in conflict with ProjetMontraleven though they disagree on some issues.

He said the fact that two of Projet Montreal'sstar members Bergeron and later Marc-AndrGadoury joined his team proves he's willing to work together.

"We are all Montrealers and we will work for collective efforts," he said.