Montreal city councillor Abdelhaq Sari is hoping to become the next MP for the federal riding of Bourassa. The riding encompasses the Montréal-Nord borough and part of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
Sari announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Liberal Party of Canada on various social media platforms Saturday.
“I’m very excited to start this challenge,” he told CBC News. “My goal has always been to serve my community and I want to do so [from] where I can have the greatest impact.”
He’s represented the Marie-Clarac district in Montréal-Nord at city hall since 2017 with Ensemble Montréal. He says that after seven years on the job, he thinks he can do more for his constituents from Ottawa.
Montréal-Nord residents have been waiting for years for a sports and recreation facility to be built despite multiple promises from city officials. Sari says he hopes he can finally solve that problem, if elected to Parliament, by making federal funding for those types of infrastructure projects more accessible to the communities that need it the most.
Other issues he’d like to work on include increasing affordable housing in the riding, increasing services for new immigrants, and public safety, he says. Sari is the vice-chair of Montreal’s Public Safety Commission and the Official Opposition’s public security critic at city hall.
“I chose [the Liberal party] because its values of inclusion and equal opportunity and social justice reflect the aspirations of the people of Bourassa,” said Sari, adding that turmoil within the party lately doesn’t phase him.
“Regardless of who leads it, the party values remain the same.”
He says that for now he remains fully committed to his municipal duties and will step down if he’s chosen as the Liberal candidate for the riding and wins the election.
The Bourassa riding has been a Liberal stronghold since 1997 when voters elected former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre as their MP. It is currently represented by Liberal MP Emmanuel Dubourg. In November, 2023, he announced he won’t seek re-election.
The 2025 federal election should take place by October at the latest, but may come sooner.
