Montreal mayor hosts Quebec premier in first official meeting

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada hosted Quebec Premier François Legault at Montreal City Hall on Friday for their first official meeting with an emphasis on their ambition to work together to address the challenges facing the city.

In their post-meeting press conference, the leaders said they discussed about tackling homelessness in the city and about protecting the French language in the region.

Tackling homelessness

The meeting comes just as Martinez Ferrada had signalled she’ll be pushing Quebec for stronger tools to tackle homelessness — including the power to hand contracts directly to NGOs. 

“Like Soraya, I don’t like to see that,” Legault said. “I would like that we don’t have any more tents in Montreal.”

Legault said he’d be open to granting more powers to the City.

Martinez Ferrada and Legault also expressed concerns over the City’s capacity to match the surge in population, including asylum seekers and temporary workers.

“We weren’t able to accommodate everybody because the increase was too fast,” Legault said. “Two hundred thousand people in two years, it’s too fast.”

“A lot of immigration unfortunately is in those numbers,” said Martinez Ferrada, agreeing with the premier. “And I want to make sure that the city responds to that.”

Protecting French in Montreal

The premier also focused on what he calls is the decline of the French language in Montreal, linking the issue to the rise in temporary foreign workers in the region.

“What we are asking the federal government to do is to reduce a large part of the 200,000 we have had for the past two years to stop and reverse the decline of French,” Legault said.

In a joint statement, the mayor and the premier said they also discussed their shared desire to welcome the Banque de la défense, de la sécurité et de la résilience, an international organization currently being created that will specialize in financing and coordinating projects related to defense, security, and resilience.

“The City of Montreal and Quebec play a leading role in the aerospace, defense, and cybersecurity sectors. Thanks to a highly integrated supply chain and a robust innovation system, they have unique assets to host this international institution and contribute to the economic vitality of our industries and workers,” reads the statement.

“The contribution of such an institution to the Quebec economy would also strengthen Montreal’s status as an international metropolis, already home to 68 international organizations, including six UN offices, and attract thousands of new jobs to Canada, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.”

Premier Legault was joined by Chantal Rouleau, Minister responsible for Social Solidarity and Community Action, as well as Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montreal region.

Claude Pinard, president of the City of Montreal’s executive committee, also took part in the discussions.

Strategic Meeting

The meeting between the newly elected mayor of Montreal and the premier, who is in the last year of his current term before the provincial elections could be strategic for both the leaders, according to political analyst Daniel Tran.

Tran said Martinez Ferrada stands to win brownie points from Montrealers if she secures more powers to address homelessness — while Legault can gain ground in the city ahead of next year’s election.

“We are at the pre-campaign level, so all eyes will be on provincial, so now candidates that were at the municipal will become amplifiers,” Tran said.

“If Premier Legault is able to thread the needle very well, then he can have a win that’s both on the city-level but also for the province,” he added.

But balancing the language issues won’t be simple. 

Though Martinez Ferrada, in the past has identified herself as “a child of Bill 101,” Tran said Montreal’s language demographics make for a thin political tightrope to walk.