# Balarama Holness

Balarama Holness (born July 20, 1983), also known as Steven Holness, is a politician and 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.

## Family and early life

Holness was born in Montreal to a Québécois mother and a Jamaican father. Andrew Michael Holness, the current Prime Minister of Jamaica is his first cousin. His mother's Hinduism resulted in the name Balarama and a childhood at an ashram in West Virginia. Aged nine he moved to Boisbriand, where he was required to use the name "Steven", which he maintained in his pro football career. His daughter is named after Marie-Joseph Angélique, a Portuguese-born black slave in New France.

## Political career

While studying law at McGill University, he ran for borough mayor of Montréal-Nord for Projet Montréal in the 2017 Montreal municipal election but lost to Christine Black. After the 2017 election, Holness launched a petition calling for the city to hold a public consultation on systemic racism and discrimination. 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."
On May 20, 2021, he announced his candidacy for mayor of Montreal in the 2021 Montreal municipal election 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.
On June 7, 2022, Holness announced the creation of party Bloc Montreal, being a part of the 2022 Quebec general election. Bloc Montreal finished with only 0.2% of votes and it failed to elect any of its candidates, including Holness himself.

## Electoral record
### Provincial

vte2022 Quebec general election: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Désirée McGraw | 12,918 | 50.46 | -12.52 |
| | Québec solidaire | Élisabeth Labelle | 3,967 | 15.49 | +3.65 |
| | Conservative | Roy Eappen | 2,087 | 8.15 | +6.64 |
| | Coalition Avenir Québec | Geneviève Lemay | 1,877 | 7.33 | -0.68 |
| | Bloc Montreal | Balarama Holness | 1,701 | 6.64 | – |
| | Parti Québécois | Cloé Rose Jenneau | 1,302 | 5.09 | -0.37 |
| | Green | Alex Tyrrell | 956 | 3.73 | -2.94 |
| | Canadian | Constantine Eliadis | 723 | 2.82 | – |
| | Marxist–Leninist | Rachel Hoffman | 71 | 0.28 | -0.03 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 25,602 | 98.72 | – |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 332 | 1.28 | – |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 25,934 | 55.76 | -0.38 |
| Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | Electors on the lists | 46,506 | – | – |

### Municipal

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 | Total | 17902 | 100% |
| Source: CBC News, Quebec votes, Municipal 2017 Archived November 2, 2021, at the Wayback Machine ||||
vte2021 Montreal municipal election: Mayor :
| 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 | 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 | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 418,079 | 98.19 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 7,687 | 1.81 | -0.59 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 425,766 | 38.32 | -4.15 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 1,111,100 |
| | Projet Montréal hold | Projet Montréal hold | Swing | Swing | +4.21 |
| Source: Elections Montreal |||||||