Valérie Plante (born June 14, 1974) is a Canadian politician serving as the 45th and current mayor of Montreal since 2017. First elected to Montreal City Council in the 2013 election, she has served as leader of the Projet Montréal party since December 2016. Plante was Projet Montréal's candidate for mayor in the 2017 municipal election, and was elected Mayor of Montreal on November 5, 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.