Quebec public security minister Martin Coiteux on falling in love with Montreal’s West Island

Quebec public security minister Martin Coiteux has lived in Montreal’s West Island for over six years.

A representative of the riding of Nelligan, which comprises of Pierrefonds-Roxboro, l’Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève and Kirkland, Coiteux has been a member of the National Assembly since 2014.

The 54-year-old economist previously served as president of the treasury board.

To better understand why Coiteux decided to jump into the world of politics, Global’s Raquel Fletcher sat down with him to ask a few questions:

RF: What drew you to politics?

MC: Well, actually a sense of trying to make a difference.

I think that was the basic issue for me because I decided to run in the election of 2014 and if you remember, we had this big debate about the Charter of Values and it was actually the one single issue that really convinced me in the end that I had to try and do something.

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I had the discussion with my wife and she said “well, if you can’t do anything about it, why don’t you stop talking about these things?”

And we came to the conclusion that we had to do something and I decided to run – with the agreement of my wife.

RF: What is your favourite thing about the West Island? 

MC: I came to the West Island over six years ago and the truth is, I went there because I fell in love with a woman who lives in the West Island.

I’m happily married with that woman, who lives in Kirkland, so that’s what brought me in the first place.

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I’ve been living for the last six years in a wonderful community, a community that is diverse – we speak French, English, other languages – you have different religions, you have people from different backgrounds and the most beautiful thing about it is that everybody lives in harmony.

There is a spirit of community, which really is something that is very special, very unique to the West Island.

RF: What are some of the biggest concerns brought to you by your constituents in the West Island? 

MC: Transportation is a key issue in the West Island and the good news about it is that we’re already acting on this.

This project with Caisse de Dépôt et Placement is not only a very important project for Montreal, I think it’s particularly important for the West Island.

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The West Island will be connected twenty hours a day with a world-class service operating every five or eight minutes.

Connecting the West Island to the airport, to downtown Montreal, to universities and down to the South Shore and Brossard, I think it’s extraordinary.