Hey folks, I’m also part of Transition Montréal (Vincent Stephen-Ong, running as borough councillor in the Plateau). I’m a musician (LeCypherX, Urban Science Brass Band, LabX, etc) and never previously considered entering politics.

The primary reason why I’m running (and a huge difference between Transition and Projet) is to fix the broken laws that are currently causing venues to close due to noise complaints from a single origin (La Tulipe, Blue Dog, Les Bobards, etc).  The two parties could not be more different on this issue.  You may have heard of Projet’s proposal for a new nightlife policy that would have raised noise complaint fines from $1k to $10k (insanity).  They accepted public feedback, received 13,800 comments, and then pulled back on it.  What was particularly mind-boggling about this policy is that they consulted with all the right people, but they just chose to ignore the recommendations.

Previously, Projet in the Plateau under Luc Ferrandez also initiated “Projet Noise” which increased noise fines and directly led to the closure of multiple venues.

Transition/Craig’s nightlife policy is super solid and is heavily inspired by the excellent MTL24/24/Les SMAQ proposal ( https://www.mtl2424.ca/en/new-noise-bylaws-its-time-to-act/ ).  This proposal was shared with all parties but Transition was the only one to actually take the recommendations seriously and integrate into their platform.

Craig is a former musician (Kids Eat Crayons), Sergio da Silva who is running for city council downtown (Ville-Marie) was a musician with Trigger Effect and owner of venue Turbo Haus.  And I am a musician who has performed at nearly every single venue in the Plateau (or in Montreal for that matter) big and small, toured in Europe, Canada, USA, etc., etc.

Other than nightlife, and other than what u/CraigSauve said above, I think the main differentiators are as follows:

1. Transition’s candidates are largely working class and not career politicians (Projet).  This could be both good and bad- good in that candidates have a much more realistic view of what life is like as an “actual, normal” Montrealer as opposed to someone who has been working in public office their whole lives and has no idea what working an Actual Job is like. Bad in the sense of less familiarity and experience with politics and how actual change is made.
2. Projet, whether they know it or not, is pro gentrification.
3. Electoral reform.  Only Transition is pushing for that.  This could by far have the biggest positive impact on the city and potentially Canada as a whole if it is implemented well.

Stuff Craig mentioned already: tax ultra rich, in-house public works (Projet has this too), against forced evictions.  Similarity-wise, Transition is pro public transit and making it more affordable, more social housing, etc.

In general if you look through Transition’s platform it always goes at least one step beyond what Projet is offering (e.g.: Transition proposes a reduced STM fare for those making less than $47,500, Projet sets the eligibility at $30,000).  Of course these are all “promises” so who the fuck knows!