Ville-Marie borough Mayor Benoît Labonté continues to spar publicly with Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay over how best to represent the downtown sector.

The two leaders have been at odds throughout the fall about political representation in the Ville-Marie borough, with Tremblay recently suggesting the city take control of the downtown region because of its economic and cultural importance to the island.

The proposal is undemocratic, Labonté said on Monday.

"We can't create two classes of citizens — those who have the right to directly elect their representatives, and those who don't have the right. That's the fundamental issue here," he told CBC's French-language service.

Labonté quit Tremblay's political party earlier this fall, citing irreconcilable differences over leadership. The Ville-Marie borough mayor is rumoured to be a potential candidate for city mayor, which he denies.

The two leaders clashed in late summer when cracks were discovered in a tunnel linking the McGill subway station to a nearby shopping mall.

A large section of Montreal's downtown core was closed for a weekend in the peak of back-to-school shopping, which cost local merchants undisclosed losses.

The mayors reproached each other for how they handled the crisis.