Balarama Holness

Balarama Holness
No. 36
Position:	Cornerback
Personal information
Born:	July 20, 1983 (age 38); Montreal, Quebec
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:	194 lb (88 kg)
Career information
University:	Ottawa
Undrafted:	2008
Career history
	Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2008–2009); Montreal Alouettes (2010–2011);
CFL status:	Non-Import
	Player stats at CFL.ca (archive)

Balarama Holness^[1] (born July 20, 1983), also known as Steven Holness, is a former Canadian football safety. He was originally signed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He won a Grey Cup Championship with the Montreal Alouettes in 2010. He played CIS Football at Ottawa.

While studying law at McGill University,^[2] he ran for borough mayor of Montréal-Nord for Projet Montréal in the 2017 Montreal municipal election but lost to Christine Black.^[3] After the 2017 election, Holness launched a petition calling for the city to hold a public consultation on systemic racism and discrimination.^[4] Founder of a social justice lobby group "Montreal in Action," Holness was profiled on November 21, 2020, by the CTV Television Network as "an inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism."^[5]

On May 20, 2021, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Montreal in the 2021 Montreal municipal election^[6] as a candidate of the Mouvement Montréal party. Holness finished in third place with 7.23% of votes and Mouvement Montréal failed to elect any of its candidates.

Andrew Michael Holness, the current Prime Minister of Jamaica is his first cousin. Balarama's mother is a French-speaking Quebecer from Montreal. His daughter is named after Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Portuguese-born black slave in New France.^[7]

Election Results[]


2017 Montreal municipal election results: Borough Mayor, Montreal-North
Party	Candidate	Total Votes	% of total votes
Équipe Denis Coderre	Christine Black	11,864	66%
Projet Montréal	Balarama Holness	6,038	34%
Total		17902	100%
Source: CBC News, Quebec votes, Municipal 2017

2021 Montreal municipal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Projet Montréal	Valérie Plante	217,986	52.14	+0.72
	Ensemble Montréal	Denis Coderre	158,751	37.97	-7.69
	Mouvement Montréal	Balarama Holness^[8]	30,235	7.23
	Action Montréal	Gilbert Thibodeau	4,327	1.03	+0.68
	Independent	Beverly Bernardo	1,760	0.42
	Montréal 2021	Luc Ménard	1,666	0.40
	Independent	Jean Duval	1,129	0.27
	Independent	Fang Hu	1,035	0.25
	Independent	Dimitri Mourkes	841	0.20
	Independent	Widler Jules	349	0.08
Total valid votes			418,079	98.19
Total rejected ballots			7,687	1.81	-0.59
Turnout			425,766	38.32	-4.15
Eligible voters			1,111,100
	Projet Montréal hold		Swing		+4.21
Source: Elections Montreal^[9]

References[]

^ Jason Magder (2017-10-11). "Montreal elections: First-time candidates plan big changes for Montreal". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-14. Known as Steven Holness when he played on the Montreal Alouettes from 2010 to 2011, Balarama Holness (his legal name)…
^ Cabrera, Holly (May 20, 2021). "Balarama Holness, activist and former CFL player, enters Montreal mayoral race". CBC. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
^ Verity Stevenson (2017-11-07). "How the Projet Montréal 'wave' spread across the city". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
^ "20,000 sign petition for Montreal inquiry into systemic racism".
^ Neff, Kirk (2020-11-21). "Filming Balarama Holness provides inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism". W5. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^ @BalaramaHolness (20 May 2021). "I'm officially running for Mayor of our city!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ "The Man Striving to Be the 'Canadian Obama'". The New York Times. July 10, 2020.
^ Maltais, Isabelle (May 20, 2021). "Balarama Holness se lance dans la course à la mairie de Montréal". Radio-Canada (in French). Retrieved May 20, 2021.
^ "Rapport officiel du recensement des votes" (PDF). City of Montreal. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

External links[]

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[1] Jason Magder (2017-10-11). "Montreal elections: First-time candidates plan big changes for Montreal". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-14. Known as Steven Holness when he played on the Montreal Alouettes from 2010 to 2011, Balarama Holness (his legal name)…

[2] Cabrera, Holly (May 20, 2021). "Balarama Holness, activist and former CFL player, enters Montreal mayoral race". CBC. Retrieved May 21, 2021.

[3] Verity Stevenson (2017-11-07). "How the Projet Montréal 'wave' spread across the city". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2018-04-21. Retrieved 2018-11-12.

[4] "20,000 sign petition for Montreal inquiry into systemic racism".

[5] Neff, Kirk (2020-11-21). "Filming Balarama Holness provides inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism". W5. Retrieved 2021-05-26.

[6] @BalaramaHolness (20 May 2021). "I'm officially running for Mayor of our city!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[7] "The Man Striving to Be the 'Canadian Obama'". The New York Times. July 10, 2020.

[8] Maltais, Isabelle (May 20, 2021). "Balarama Holness se lance dans la course à la mairie de Montréal". Radio-Canada (in French). Retrieved May 20, 2021.

[9] "Rapport officiel du recensement des votes" (PDF). City of Montreal. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

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