Montreal Votes 2025: What each party is saying about nightlife this election

Montreal’s nightlife is part of the city’s DNA. What happens after dark here defines how the city feels, sounds, and even sees itself.

And yet, the scene in the midst of a cultural mutation as bars close earlier, younger generations drink less, and the city’s underground fights to stay afloat between rising rents and tightening regulations. The Paris of North America ain't what it used to be, and between venues doing their darnedest to make this town feel alive and festivals trying to adapt what happens after dark, we're experiencing a referendum both spoken and not on how, and for whom, Montreal works.

Ahead of the 2025 municipal election, The Main asked every party how they plan to support the city’s nightlife economy, from bars and clubs to late-night cultural spaces. We also asked whether they’d extend metro hours, how they’d balance noise complaints with vibrancy, and what role the city should play in protecting Montreal’s after-dark culture.

Editor's Note: Projet Montréal and Action Montréal did not respond to our repeated requests for an interview. The notes included for those parties are extrapolated from their published platforms.

Here’s what each party had to say in their own words, where available.

How would your administration support Montreal’s nightlife economy, from bars and clubs to late-night cultural spaces?

Transition Montréal – Équipe Craig Sauvé:

"Transition Montréal sees nightlife as a public good, a space for creation, coexistence, and solidarity. Our plan is to appoint a Night Mayor within the first 100 days, supported by a Night Council that brings together residents, cultural actors, and businesses. Their mission: mediate conflicts, simplify regulations, and make sure independent venues are supported, not punished."

Futur Montréal – Équipe Jean-François Kacou:  

"Nightlife is a part of Montreal. The nightlife sector creates over 30,000 jobs, contributing to Montreal’s attractiveness as a destination. The theatres, concert halls and galleries expose Montreal's arts and culture scene, and our restaurants feed a foodie culture that is known around the world. Our administration would : 

• Work with commercial associations to increase nighttime security by supporting programs for nighttime security brigades similar to the project launched by the SDC Centre-Ville. 
• Our mobility platform proposes an increase in bus service in Montreal, 7 days per week, and working to develop parking towers with shuttle bus service in the downtown area to make it easier to people to come into the city to catch a show."

Ensemble Montréal – Équipe Soraya Martinez Ferrada:

"We’ve already announced that we want to review the approach to noise complaints targeting entertainment venues. Currently, it is the police who must intervene. What we want is to find a common ground so our cultural scene and nightlife can thrive, while respecting citizen’s wellbeing. As we all know, nightlife contributes to the vitality and dynamism of the city, and we want to preserve it."

Projet Montréal – Équipe Luc Rabouin:

Projet Montréal’s platform positions culture as a public good and a defining part of Montreal’s identity. The party commits to strengthening the Politique de la vie nocturne and protecting independent venues through clear, citywide noise regulations. It also proposes funding a mediation body to handle nightlife-related disputes, reducing police involvement and promoting coexistence between residents and cultural actors.

Action Montréal – Équipe Gilbert Thibodeau:

Action Montréal’s platform centres on reviving local commerce through improved accessibility and fewer administrative barriers. The party pledges to support small businesses by improving parking and vehicle access along commercial streets, abolishing street parking fees on weekends, and reviewing street configurations to facilitate traffic flow and customer visits. It also calls for reducing paperwork and delays that affect entrepreneurs, and for supporting public events and activities that stimulate neighbourhood life. These measures suggest an approach aimed at easing operating conditions for small businesses — including nightlife venues — and encouraging greater evening activity in commercial areas.

Do you support extending public transit or metro hours to better serve nighttime workers and audiences?

Transition Montréal – Équipe Craig Sauvé:

"Yes. Montreal can’t claim to be a global cultural city if its artists and workers can’t get home safely. We’ll work with the STM to ensure more frequent and reliable late-night mobility is implemented as part of our broader vision of a sustainable, inclusive city that truly lives both day and night."

Futur Montréal – Équipe Jean-François Kacou:

"We do! Our platform proposes creating the best bus system in the world—an agile service that can be adapted to different times of day and that can extend to broader areas of the city. This will provide transport solutions that help people enjoy the nightlife and hopefully reduce drunk driving on the road - as well as providing transport solutions to the workers who end their shifts in the middle of the night."

Ensemble Montréal – Équipe Soraya Martinez Ferrada:

"We’re open to evaluating it, as the metro currently needs maintenance during the night and would make operating it beyond the current hours quite difficult. We are already considering extending the opening hours of certain sports and cultural facilities in order to offer late-night programming for young people aged 16 to 25."

Projet Montréal – Équipe Luc Rabouin:

While the platform doesn’t mention extending metro hours specifically, it includes plans to improve late-night mobility by expanding the frequency and coverage of the city’s bus network. Projet Montréal also pledges to better coordinate transit schedules and create safer, more reliable active transportation options for workers and audiences returning home after dark.

Action Montréal – Équipe Gilbert Thibodeau:

The platform prioritizes automobile mobility rather than expanded public transit service. Action Montréal proposes to cap residential parking permits at $50 per year, maintain affordable public parking, and restore car access in areas where it argues restrictions have hurt local businesses. The overall goal is to make it easier for residents and visitors to reach commercial districts by car, rather than focusing on late-night metro or bus extensions.

What role should the city play in balancing noise complaints with the vibrancy of late-night culture?

Transition Montréal – Équipe Craig Sauvé:

"The current approach is overly punitive and short-sighted. We’ll end the “one complaint = one shutdown” logic and replace it with dialogue, mediation, and design solutions led by the Night Mayor’s Office. Our goal is coexistence, not elimination. Nightlife shouldn’t be criminalized; it should be coordinated. Fines and shutdowns are only a last resort for unresponsive and repeated offenders. Furthermore, we would create protected cultural zones based on the “agent of change” concept, which puts the onus on new occupants to adapt to existing conditions and not vice-versa."

Futur Montréal – Équipe Jean-François Kacou:

"A vibrant nightlife is important—but there is no doubt that having bars and venues situated in proximity to a large residential population of consumers has its benefits as well. We need to learn to co-habitate.

• We work to create programs to help bars and venues located in direct proximity to residential areas improve their soundproofing of their spaces. 
• Work with commercial and resident associations to explore reasonable options to improve the quality of life in urban neighborhoods. 
• Pilot project an innovative program to add connected decibel monitors that signal venue or bar owners an alert if the noise had exceeded acceptable levels, giving them an opportunity to respond proactively before a complaint."

Ensemble Montréal – Équipe Soraya Martinez Ferrada:

"As we’ve said before, Ensemble Montréal will work with citizens and late-night cultural spaces to find common ground. The current administration has always imposed its will on Montrealers and that’s just not the way we want to run the city."

Projet Montréal – Équipe Luc Rabouin:

Projet Montréal explicitly supports adopting a consistent, citywide noise regulation aligned with the Politique de la vie nocturne. The platform emphasizes dialogue and mediation over punitive measures, proposing the creation of an independent organization to facilitate conflict resolution between venues and residents. The goal is to protect cultural spaces while ensuring harmonious coexistence in mixed-use neighbourhoods.

Action Montréal – Équipe Gilbert Thibodeau:

Action Montréal’s platform places a strong emphasis on safety and order in public spaces. It includes commitments to increase police presence and install additional surveillance cameras in commercial zones. While it does not address nightlife directly, these measures indicate an approach that prioritizes enforcement and security in managing urban disturbances. Under an Action Montréal administration, nightlife regulation would likely focus on maintaining public order and limiting disruptions to residents.