Valérie Plante (French pronunciation: [valeʁi plɑ̃t]; born 14 June 1974) is a Canadian politician and television personality who served as the 45th mayor of Montreal from 2017 to 2025. First elected to Montreal City Council in the 2013 election, she served as leader of the Projet Montréal party from December 2016 until March 2025.
Plante was Projet Montréal's candidate for mayor in the 2017 municipal election, and was elected Mayor of Montreal on 5 November 2017. She is the first woman to be elected mayor of Montreal, having been preceded only by councillor Jane Cowell-Poitras's two brief stints as acting mayor following mayoral resignations in the early 2010s and by the ceremonial appointment of Lise Payette as mayor of the city for one day to mark the International Women's Year in 1976.
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Early life and education
Plante was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, on 14 June 1974. She spent a year in North Bay, Ontario, as a teenager to learn English. In 1994, she moved to Montreal to attend university, receiving a degree in anthropology in 1997, and another in museology in 2001, both from the Université de Montréal. She then worked for a number of non-profit organizations, most notably as communications director of the Girls Action Foundation.