Contents

• About
• Origins
• Uses of the meme
• Other viral content with Denis Coderre
• Search Interest
• External References

About

Denis Coderre riding a Bixi is a meme frequently used in Québec. His jersey is often changed to mean Denis Coderre found a new job.

Origin

Denis Coderre was a federal member of Parliament of Canada between 1997 and 2013. In particular, he was in 2009 the "lieutenant" of the federal Liberal Party of Canada, meaning the spokesperson of the party in the Quebecer media in French. After he retired from federal politics, he was the mayor of Montréal between 2013 and 2017.

On 15 April 2015, the téléjournal (TV News) of Radio-Canada made a report about the return of the public bicycles Bixi in Montréal. To launch the return of the Bixi, there was a "fashion" show" of about 30 public figures riding a Bixi, including the mayor Denis Coderre, the TV host Jean-René Dufort, the humorist Jean-Thomas Jobin, the olympic diver Annie Pelletier, the radio host Marie-Soleil Michon, the entrepreneur Alexandre Taillefer, and the rock singer Jonas Tomalty.

Denis Coderre wore a jersey of the Canadiens de Montréal hockey team, and Jean-René Dufort wore his Infoman costume. The custom Bixi made for the "fashion show" were made by Léane Labrèche-Dor^[1]. Denis Coderre confessed it was the first time he used a Bixi^[2]:

« Je vais être honnête, c'est la première fois que j'essaie un BIXI. À l'occasion, je vais l'utiliser, je ne le fais pas que pour la parade »
"I'll be host, it's the first time that I try a BIXI. I will use it occasionally; I'm not doing it only for the [fashion] show"
(Denis Coderre, 15 April 2015)

It was at the end of the TV report that the famous picture was taken, and spread by Radio-Canada on its official website^[3].

Uses of the meme

After Denis Coderre lost the municipal elections of 2017 and 2021, there was much speculation about what would be his next job. He was for example expected to run to become the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec^[4].

It became common to use the template of Denis Coderre riding a Bixi every time it was announced that someone retired from their position, every time a job became available : a leader for the new party Démocratie directe, an new candidate to run for the Parti québécois, a new leader for the Coalition Avenir Québec, a new lieutenant for the Liberal Party of Canada, a new president for Venezuela…

Other viral content with Denis Coderre

The first appearance of Denis Coderre on television was when he was in fact 16 years old. He was a student of the polyvalente Henri-Bourassa in Montréal^[5]. On 19 May 1979, he was interviewed as participant to a science fair (Expo-Science). At the time, he wanted to become astronomer and had an interest in UFO. He made his science exhibition about UFO and aliens, and his sign had a spelling mistake in French (Nous ne sommes pas seules, with seules agreed in the wrong gender).

Denis Coderre was famous for making all kind of funny faces, and eventually people posed imitating him, a practice that was called "coderring"^[6].

Everyday I'm #Coderring! #polmtl #mtl2013 pic.twitter.com/sIW3kYxF7Q

— Arcadio Marcuzzi (@_marcuzzi) November 4, 2013

In 2021, Denis Coderre was caught texting while driving^[7], which is an infraction to the Highway Safety Code of Québec, article 443.1. The punishment is 300 to 600 $ CAD and adding 5 demerit points to the driving record.

Denis Coderre was also famous for his strange expressions:

The editorial cartoonist Yannick Lemay (Ygreck) of the Journal de Québec often liked to mock the mayors of Québec City and Montréal, Régis Labeaume and Denis Coderre, by depicting them as Astérix and Obélix.

Search Interest

References

^[1] RADIO-CANADA. « Une nouvelle saison pour bixi », Téléjournal – Grand Montréal, 15 April 2015, Archived URL: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/le-telejournal-18h/2014-2015/segments/reportage/1646/lancement-saison-bixi-montreal-coderre-cormier

^[2] PROVOST, Anne-Marie. « Lancement de BIXI: plusieurs personnalités présentes », Le Journal de Montréal, 15 April 2015, URL : https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2015/04/15/lancement-de-bixi-plusieurs-personnalites-presentes

^[3] LA PRESSE CANADIENNE. « Denis Coderre lance la saison Bixi et donne des précisions sur les VLS et Uber », Radio-Canada, 15 April 2015, URL : https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/716108/denis-coderre-bixi-lancement-saison-2015

^[4] ARCAND, Paul & NORMANDEAU, Nathalie. « Denis Coderre donne l'impression d'un gars qui cherche une job », Radio 98.5, 11 January 2024, URL : https://www.985fm.ca/audio/600043/denis-coderre-donne-l-impression-d-un-gars-qui-cherche-une-job

^[5] RADIO-CANADA. « Un jeune exposant à l'Expo-Science de Montréal », Archives de Radio-Canada, 9 April 2019, URL: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/videos/1-8071195/un-jeune-exposant-a-expo-science-montreal?liste=28-34803

^[6] ADAM, Aalia & LAU, Rachel. "Now trending: #Coderring lights up social media", gLOBAL nEWS, 4 November 2013, URL : https://globalnews.ca/news/945183/trending-coderring-lights-up-social-media/

^[7] LAGACÉ, Patrick. « Les mensonges de Denis Coderre », Le Journal de Montréal, 2 June 2021, URL : https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2021-06-02/les-mensonges-de-denis-coderre.php