Marcel Côté may go down in history as the best mayor Montreal never had.

The city went into November’s municipal election as a rudderless financial basket case mired in corruption and facing a province bent on creating linguistic and political divisions by imposing a “values charter” that some allege targets religious minorities.

Montreal had a $100-million budget shortfall; a bloated pension plan was its fastest-growing expense. The city had had three mayors over the previous year: one left in disgrace over his apparent ignorance of rampant criminality in awarding contracts; another quit after he was charged with conspiracy, fraud and breach of trust.

So you would think Côté – a universally respected, independently wealthy economist/management consultant running with a federalist/separatist coalition – would be the perfect fit.

But Montrealers went with style over substance. When the votes were tallied, Côté ended a distant fourth, garnering just 13% of the ballots.

Montrealers instead chose former Liberal MP Denis Coderre, an old-style, back-slapping career politician. A master glad-hander much loved in his Montreal federal riding of 16 years, Coderre has a huge following on Twitter, where he’s famous for “…et le buuuuuttttt!!!” tweets during Habs games.

No. 2 on election night: political neophyte Mélanie Joly, a 34-year-old lawyer and public-relations executive with zero name recognition and a last-minute team of unknowns.

Côté, at 71 years old, has worked for a prime minister and a provincial premier, not to mention countless CEOs and CFOs. There’s not a whiff of corruption about this man, a self-made millionaire who founded SECOR Inc., which became Canada’s largest independent management-consulting firm. (KPMG acquired it in 2012.)

And Côté had a much more detailed plan – including firing many top city hall managers – than Coderre or Joly. Côté had argued that his better management would boost investor confidence and reboot the economy.

But while well known in the business community, average Montrealers reacted with “Marcel Who?” Côté, although animated and affable off-camera, failed to inspire in debates and clearly was out of his comfort zone in answering off-the-cuff questions from reporters. Montrealers wanted a personality for mayor, and Côté indicated he didn’t have much of one.

Despite years of complaining about corruption at city hall and Montreal’s financial troubles, the people of Montreal greeted the mayoral campaign with a yawn. Voter turnout was 43%, a slight increase over the 39% who voted in 2009.

Coderre doesn’t seem to have a plan. But he sure is a character. His first “scandal” after winning was about the Canadiens. He had the temerity to tweet that struggling centre David Desharnais should “get a one-way ticket” to the minors “…please.”

That tweet sent the city into a frenzy. But maybe that’s the point. After years of dark clouds over city hall, Montrealers may just want a regular guy running the show.

© 2013 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.