— Martin Patriquin on Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre
Quebec correspondent Martin Patriquin has written a blockbuster profile of Denis Coderre.
Our Quebec bureau chief begins his profile of the uber-ambitious politician with a sense of the politician’s presence:
“It’s the smile you notice first. Broad, toothy and visible from across the room, it stretches his face seemingly to his eyeballs—a caricaturist’s dream in the flesh. Next, the handshake: firm, professional, brief. You can then expect a slap on the back, an eerily accurate personal anecdote about your family, and perhaps a remark about the Montreal Canadiens. The laugh comes next, a roar emerging from somewhere in his expansive chest. Finally, you’ll get a long, lazy wink. For those few moments, this jovial, hairsprayed man in a tie and suspenders is your best friend in the world.
Call it the Coderre treatment, at once a trademark and key political tool of Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, the loudest noise to come out of city hall in decades.”
Here’s more of Coderre in conversation:
