Ali Nestor dropped from Denis Coderre’s team due to allegations
Denis Coderre #DenisCoderre
No sooner had he been announced, boxer Ali Nestor was forced to withdraw from Denis Coderre’s Ensemble Montréal party on Friday, due to allegations of assault and sexual assault.
“I’m shocked,” said Coderre, who Friday morning had touted Nestor as his special adviser on public security, youth and diversity, should he be elected mayor in November. Nestor’s ex-girlfriend filed a complaint against him with Repentigny police in March. No charges have been filed.
“I know that charges have not been laid, but it is necessary that Ali Nestor withdraw from our team,” Coderre said in a statement. “In any case, justice will follow its course.”
Nestor and photographer Heidi Hollinger were among the new recruits announced by Coderre, along with lawyer Alba Stella Zúñiga Ramos and environmentalist Emilia Tamko.
“I think the messengers are the message,” Coderre said. “People talk about diversity, saying we need to study diversity. We are diversity. I think that’s the most important thing we’re showing today.”
Nestor is a former pro boxer and mixed martial arts fighter who has served as Coderre’s fitness coach for the past several years, helping the former mayor undergo what he calls a physical and mental transformation . Nestor is founder and general director of youth organization Ali et les Prince*sse*s.
“He’s my life coach, my brother, who saved my life,” Coderre said, before news of the allegations broke.
Hollinger will run as a candidate in the Sud-Ouest borough district of Saint-Henri-Est—Petite-Bourgogne—Pointe-Saint-Charles—Griffintown.
“I share (Coderre’s) vision of an inclusive Montreal, where people live together, help each other, love each other and where diversity is a positive,” said the photographer, author and TV host, who has lived in Moscow and Cuba.
McGill grad Zúñiga Ramos, who arrived here from Colombia at 15, is running for councillor in the district of Louis-Riel in Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
“Each day, thousands of immigrants in Montreal are working hard, as I did, to build a better future,” she said. “I share (Ensemble Montreal’s) vision of a Montreal that is inclusive, with durable development and dynamic cultural communities.”
Tamko is co-founder and director of l’Université dans la nature, a non-profit organization that seeks to find ways to help populations reconnect with nature. Originally from the Paris suburbs, she is running for councillor in the district of Maisonneuve-Longue-Pointe, also in Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
“The ecological transition can’t be done while increasing inequalities,” she said. “That’s why I got involved with Ensemble Montréal.”
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