Former Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness forms new provincial party

Former Montreal mayoral candidate Balarama Holness is making the move to provincial politics.

The ex-Montreal Alouettes football player officially made the announcement Wednesday afternoon in Quebec City.

Under the banner Mouvement Quebec, Holness says he wants to target Liberal strongholds in Montreal’s west end and the West Island. Those are the areas where he performed well during the 2021 municipal election, despite only capturing seven per cent of the vote.

“There are many people in Montreal that felt inspired by what we did and that’s why we’re here,” Holness said.

NDG and Nelligan are two of the ridings he wants to capture, along with provincial Liberal leader Dominique Anglade’s riding of Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne.

1:05 New provincial political party launched in Quebec

Holness told reporters that Montreal deserves better representation at the provincial level, and that he hopes to run at least 30 candidates in the upcoming fall election.

The idea of forming a new party to rival the Liberals has been touted recently by a number of Anglo rights groups who feel abandoned by the existing options in Quebec politics.

Quebecers head to the polls on Oct. 3.

— with files from Global’s Phil Carpenter