Denis Coderre riding a Bixi

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Published September 2, 2026

On April 15, 2015, Montréal mayor Denis Coderre climbed onto a public Bixi bicycle for a televised launch segment on Radio-Canada, wearing a red Canadiens de Montréal jersey. The still frame from that spot became one of Québec's go-to political image macros, with editors swapping the Habs sweater for any logo to joke about Coderre's next gig.

Overview

The Denis Coderre riding a Bixi meme lives as a jersey-swap template. Users take a single still frame of the former mayor pedaling a public bike and edit whatever team logo, brand crest, or corporate polo they want onto his chest in place of the Habs sweater1. Every new jersey stands in for a new job, endorsement, or career pivot, which is what keeps the gag running through Québec political circles3.

The reason the template works is the pose itself, arms straight, one foot planted, a slightly awkward grin, which stays readable no matter what image is pasted over the sweater. Québec-based accounts pull it back out whenever Coderre re-enters a Montréal news cycle1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Radio-Canada (broadcast) / Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2015

The image comes from a téléjournal report aired on Radio-Canada on April 15, 2015, covering the seasonal return of Bixi bike-share service in Montréal3. The launch featured a roughly 30-person fashion show of public figures on custom Bixis designed by Léane Labrèche-Dor, including then-mayor Coderre in his Canadiens jersey, TV host Jean-René Dufort in his Infoman costume, humorist Jean-Thomas Jobin, olympic diver Annie Pelletier, radio host Marie-Soleil Michon, entrepreneur Alexandre Taillefer, and rock singer Jonas Tomalty. Coderre later admitted it was his first time actually riding a Bixi3. The full segment stayed online on YouTube, keeping the source video easy to find2.

How It Spread

The picture moved onto Québec Twitter with the hashtag #Coderring, paired with #polmtl for Montréal political chatter1. Every time Coderre re-entered the news, whether during his 2017 mayoral loss to Valérie Plante or later attempts at political comebacks, editors recycled the frame with a fresh jersey swapped over the Habs sweater.

Video of the original Radio-Canada segment stayed in circulation on YouTube, giving newcomers a way to see where the pose came from2. The template stuck around in Québécois political Facebook groups and meme accounts as shorthand for 'Coderre found a new gig'1.

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