PM Carney and Montreal Mayor Plante talk housing, U.S. tariffs in first meeting

Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Montreal on Wednesday for a series of economic-related meetings.

Carney took time to sit down with Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante in the early afternoon and talked housing, public transportation, the tariff war with the U.S., and more.

He was set to meet with Quebec Premier François Legault in the evening.

The City of Montreal literally rolled out the red carpet for Carney. Outside, he was greeted by Plante – as well as supporters and protesters.

“It was an honour to receive the Prime Minister Carney for the first time here in Montreal,” said Plante at a press conference afterwards. “Not only am I the first mayor to get a one-on-one with the the Prime Minister, I think it shows his interest in my leadership, the work I’ve been doing – but also the City of Montreal.”

Carney signed the city’s golden book before having a closed-door meeting with the mayor.

“We’ve had a great exchange on many topics and it was a really easy conversation. Our priorities are quite aligned,” explained Plante. “I will say my priority has always been – for one of my priorities – [has] always been housing and it is one for Mr. Carney and his team.”

The mayor said they bounced ideas off each other and talked about a few projects that are on the go – which she added that Montreal would love to have support on.

“We also talked about the economy, how the tariff war is affecting our economy, but also local economy of Montreal.”

The meeting comes as the federal government announced funding of over half a billion dollars for infrastructure in Quebec – nearly $84 million of which will be allocated to Montreal.

“To have this money attached to infrastructure is actually very important meaningful for us […] but there’s also other projects that I wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about – but he was quite aware of all the things that we’ve been planning to make our city grow – but in a very intelligent human scale way – and I did feel like that was an approach that he believes in.”

Plante says she feels the team at the federal level understands the needs of cities like Montreal and she looks forward to possibly meeting Carney again before the end of her term in November.

Carney was not available to answer questions from reporters. 

Between the two meetings with Plante and Legault, Carney was to participate in a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence and innovation, in addition to meeting with business leaders.

On Monday, Carney met with his Ontario counterpart, Doug Ford, in Ottawa. The conversation focused primarily on the U.S. tariffs.

Both leaders focused on Canada’s global competitiveness, rather than concluding a trade agreement with the United States.

–With files from The Canadian Press