Montreal Mayor Martinez Ferrada unveils executive committee, with homelessness a key priority

New Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada unveiled her executive committee on Tuesday.

Martinez Ferrada says Montrealers should expect the new team at city hall to put homelessness front and centre.

“We found a way to put the homelessness issue at the core of what our administration will be,” the mayor said.

The equivalent of a prime minister or premier’s cabinet, the executive committee is made up of councillors appointed by Martinez Ferrada to handle important dossiers.

Her right-hand man will be Claude Pinard, who was named both president of the executive committee and member in charge of homelessness – a dual role the mayor insists won’t overload his plate.

“If you want this to be the biggest priority of our administration in the next few months in their mandate, it has to be carried out by I think the most important person in the executive committee that holds the levers of the budget.”

“The complexity does not scare me,” said Pinard, city councillor for the Saint-Jacques district in the Ville-Marie borough.

Martinez Ferrada says she’ll be asking the province for more powers to be able to handle the homelessness crisis – like the ability to dole out projects directly to non-profits — but concrete plans are still in the works.

“We will be presenting a plan that will be more substantial in terms of what we need to do,” the mayor said.

Reacting to the committee announcement, Projet Montréal interim leader Ericka Alneus says the mayor still hasn’t presented a plan with enough sustained vision.

“We have to think about how we’re going to make sure that in the long term those people will have a roof over their head. And this is something that is lacking,” Alneus said.

Opposition members included

The new committee will also bring in two opposition members as non-voting observers — a move the mayor says is meant to reach beyond partisan lines. Those members are Équipe LaSalle’s Nancy Blanchet, borough mayor of LaSalle, and Projet Montréal’s Jean François Lalonde, borough mayor of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension. They will be co-chairs of the “Table of mayors” and will hold the title of associate advisor to the executive committee.

“It was very important to me to have experience and new people – a representation of all the city. And also find a way to bring in the opposition,” Martinez Ferrada said.

Fresh off an election where voters resoundingly demanded change, analyst Daniel Tran says Martinez Ferrada will need to cut her teeth as a problem solver if she wants to stay in the good graces of Montrealers.

“Winter is coming, we have snow right now, so how is the administration going to be agile enough to address all these issues at once for this winter?” said Tran, the director of communications at Casacom.

But before anything else, Martinez Ferrada will have to confront the biggest question of all: money.

“There’s many things that she did promise during her campaign. In order to know how far you can go, you have to see what you have first.”

The new executive committee’s first official meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

The executive committee is composed of:

• Soraya Martinez Ferrada, mayor, East Montreal development, international and intergovernmental relations, and chair of the mayors’ table
• Claude Pinard, president of the executive committee and responsible for homelessness
• Christine Black, vice-president of the executive committee and responsible for family, seniors, youth, sports, and recreation
• Aref Salem, vice- president of the executive committee and chair of the STM board of directors
• Dimitrios Beis, security and prevention
• Caroline Braun, housing and planning
• Alan DeSousa, mobility and infrastructure
• Chantal Gagnon, economic development and the green economy
• Benoit Langevin, social development and community coexistence
• Luis Miranda, cleanliness and citizen services
• Andréanne Moreau, culture, heritage, and design and the French language
• Gabrielle Rousseau-Bélanger, environment, ecological transition and green spaces
• Alexandre Teodoresco, optimization, municipal performance and innovation
• Stephanie Valenzuela, international outreach and attractiveness

Associate advisors will also participate in the work of the executive committee:

• Nancy Blanchet, associate advisor to the Table of mayors
• Josué Corvil, associate advisor for cultural services, diversity, and inclusion
• Youssef Hariri, associate advisor for sustainable development and the green economy
• Jean-François Lalonde, associate advisor to the Table of mayors
• Vana Nazarian, associate councillor for attractiveness and economic development
• Leslie Roberts, associate councillor for universities and higher education, downtown and the English-speaking community
• Maude Théroux-Séguin, associate councillor for citizen participation, gastronomy and nightlife

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada also appointed Julien Hénault-Ratelle as majority leader and Alexandre Devaux-Guizani as deputy leader, who will participate in executive committee meetings as non-voting members.