MONTREAL – #Balarama Holness who is reported to be ” a distant cousin” of Jamaica’s Prime Minister #Andrew Holness, has announced his candidacy in Montreal’s mayoral race set for November this year.

Holness, the 37-year-old political activist and community organizer who once played professional football for the #Allouettes, made the announcement outside City Hall last week, saying that his new political party, Movement Montreal, wanted to bring new blood and new ideas to the table.

“What we really want to do is address the issues of environment, address the issues of culture, address the issues of transportation,” said Holness, who has become a leading voice against systemic racism.

His grassroots Mouvement #Montréal organized a 22,000-name petition that in 2019 sparked hearings by Montreal’s public consultation agency on racism and systemic discrimination.

He  ran unsuccessfully to become borough mayor of Montreal North for #Projet-Montréal in the 2017 municipal election

He will be running against Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and Denis Coderre, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2017.

  Montreal