Denis Coderre announces he is quitting political life after losing bid for Montreal mayor

Former Montreal mayor and runner-up in the 2021 mayoral race Denis Coderre announced he is quitting political life after losing to Valerie Plante in the municipal election.

Coderre had kept a low profile since the Nov. 7 election, but was seen heading into a closed-door meeting Friday with his team at Casa d'Italia, a community centre on Jean-Talon Street.

Coming out of the meeting after the lunch hour, Coderre said he is stepping down from leader of the opposition, which means the job of Ensemble Leader will be vacant. The party said details of the new leader will be announced "in the coming weeks."

"I gave 40 years of my life. I took time for me to reflect. It was pretty hard," he said Friday of his decision to quit as he was surrounded by his team. 

Appearing emotional at times during the press conference, he said he explained that the exremely low voter turnout in Sunday's election as one of the reasons why he is leaving and that he is done with politics altogether. He said he "will do other things" in his future life.