MONTREAL—Former Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre says he doesn’t want the city’s upcoming municipal election to be a referendum on his personality, but it’s not clear if Montrealers will agree. The race to lead Canada’s second−biggest city pits Coderre, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister and one−time mayor, against the woman who defeated him in 2017, incumbent Mayor Valérie Plante. And with the two well−known candidates running neck and neck in recent polls, observers say personality may matter more than policy. “It’s a campaign of personalities,” Danielle Pilette, a professor at Université du Québec à Montréal who studies municipal governance, said in a recent interview. While Montreal has a party system at city hall, most of the focus — for both major parties — is on the mayoral candidates, she added. Good mayors generally get two terms, Pilette said, and Plante and Coderre see themselves as competent mayors who deserve another …