Do better or do differently: Montreal mayoral candidates pitch differing economic visions in debate

Do better and do differently. Those were the recurring themes Thursday night as two leading candidates for mayor of Montreal faced off in a debate on economic issues as they tried woo the business community.

Ensemble Montréal’s Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Projet Montréal’s Luc Rabouin shared their proposals for improving downtown vibrancy, solving the city’s housing crisis, speeding up infrastructure projects and cutting the City’s bureaucracy.

Rabouin touted his credentials as the City’s executive committee chairman and called his opponent’s vision as “pessimistic” and positioned himself as the best candidate. “My proposals are clear, realistic and feasible…I know how [things work] in the City of Montreal.”

Former federal minister Martinez Ferrada, for her part, called Rabouin “disconnected” from the challenges facing the city and pitched herself as a better candidate.

The night’s event was organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) and attended by about 500 people in person and online. Stéphanie Grammond, editor-in-chief of La Presse, moderated the debate.

CCMM set the threshold for participation in the debate at 10 per cent or higher in the latest voter intention polls. Only Martinez Ferrada and Rabouin qualified.

Isabelle Dessureault, president of CCMM, spoke before the candidates took the stage and said she was looking forward to hearing the candidates vision on tackling the challenges facing the city.

She cited a survey commissioned by her organization which showed that nearly half of Montrealers — and 60 per cent of CCMM members — thought that the business climate had deteriorated. Sixty nine per cent of the members felt that doing business with the City was “neither simple nor quick.” She also highlighted that 62 per cent of Montrealers felt that travel within the city has become more complicated in the last year.

Downtown Vibrancy

Martinez Ferrada said improving vibrancy would be a priority for her administration, if elected. “Downtown is not doing well. the vacancy rate is high, and you increased the commercial tax in 2024, the highest commercial increase in Montreal,” she said. “We need to tackle them head-on and work together to give the downtown area a real boost, a real economic boost, and a real industrial boost.”

Rabouin called downtown the “heart of economy and culture of Quebec” and said it was already vibrant. “Festivals are back, tourists are back, but when there is an unprecedented (housing) crisis, it affects the business environment,” Rabouin said. He said it was due to a historic lack of investment in social housing.

Housing and Homelessness

Rabouin called solving the housing crisis will be “biggest project for Montrealers.” He said that, if elected, his future administration would build upon the 20-20-20 bylaw, which requires developers to set aside 20 per cent of the units each for social, affordable housing and family housing.

Martinez Ferrada said she would abolish the 20-20-20 rule. “It is not working….It has caused construction to flee Montréal, we need to completely change how we do things,” she said. Instead, she would partner with companies and seek funding from Canada Infrastructure Bank.

Rabouin said his administration would tackle homelessness by investing in transitional homes. “It means getting 1,000 people off the streets and creating transitional housing, particularly with modular homes,” Rabouin said.

Martinez Ferrada promised to triple the funding to $30 million annually, for shelters and social services for dealing with homelessness.

The candidates also drew contrast with each other on the short-term rentals bylaw that limits renting out on platforms like Airbnb, VRBO to June to September.

Martinez Ferrada said the administration had created it without consultations and said she will review the bylaw. However, Rabouin defended that bylaw as helping reduce the housing crisis in the city.

Cutting down bureaucracy

Martinez Ferrada said that she would reduce the number of city employees by 1,000 by the end of her term.

Rabouin said he will appoint a committee to study reduction of regulations. “Citizens find it complicated, businesses find it complicated, even elected officials find it complicated,” he said. He said he will also consider reducing approval times for construction projects by half, taking a leaf from Laval, which has set efficiency targets for approvals.

Martinez Ferrada jumped on that and said Rabouin hasn’t reduced regulations in his own borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal, where he has been mayor for six years.

“When I hear your (Rabouin’s) platform wants to keep moving forward, I don’t want to continue, I want to change,” she said.

Infrastructure Planning

Montreal’s infamous orange cones were back in the spotlight as well – with Rabouin saying the city’s roadwork should be managed centrally.

“I want to abolish orange cones, I don’t want them anymore,” Rabouin said. “Big orange cones on a highway, are fine. But I want to go further, I don’t want them anymore, zero on our smaller roads and increased surveillance.”

Martinez Ferrada said the current administration had phantom projects (“chantiers fantômes”) which she said have led to a proliferation of orange cones. She called for use of technology for better planning. “Yes, we can remove orange cones, but at some point, if the planning isn’t there, it’s not there. What I proposed was a summit on municipal issues and artificial intelligence,” she said.

She also said that the administration has done a poor job of communicating its projects, “Citizens need to know what is coming to their streets… it’s not normal to have phantom projects,” she added.

With a month to go before the election date, the latest Léger-TVA-Le Journal polls show that nearly half of Montrealers are yet to make up their mind on who they would like to see as their next mayor.

Montrealers head to the polls on Nov. 2.