Montreal Mayor's First 100 Days: Homelessness Progress Amid Winter Challenges
As Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada marks her first 100 days in office, she reflects on significant achievements in addressing homelessness while acknowledging operational challenges with winter snow removal. In an exclusive interview with The Gazette, the mayor provided insights into her administration's early priorities and lessons learned.
Homelessness Response: A Top Priority Achievement
Mayor Martinez Ferrada identified her administration's efforts to combat homelessness as her proudest accomplishment during the initial months of her term. The city has successfully opened more than 500 places in warming centers and emergency shelters this winter, a critical response to Montreal's harsh winter conditions.
"We had to make sure people wouldn't die from the cold... and that's what we did," Martinez Ferrada stated emphatically. "But did we get people out of the street? That's the next step. Now we have to be as focused on getting people into housing as we were on getting people out of the cold."
The mayor has consistently emphasized that addressing the homelessness crisis remains her top priority, with front-line workers reportedly feeling encouraged by her administration's commitment to the issue.
Snow Removal Operations: A Learning Experience
While celebrating successes with homelessness initiatives, Mayor Martinez Ferrada pointed to snow-removal operations as a significant challenge during her first winter in office. A mid-January snowfall exposed vulnerabilities in the city's response system, resulting in delayed street clearing and salting that left dozens of buses stranded behind sliding vehicles on busy downtown roads.
"I think people were expecting us to do better right away," the mayor acknowledged. "Could we have done things differently? I don't know if we could have, but maybe we could have communicated differently."
For an administration elected on promises to improve direct municipal services, the snow removal difficulties represented an early lesson in the complexities of city operations.
Campaign Promises and Public Expectations
During her fall municipal election campaign, Martinez Ferrada committed to fulfilling 10 specific promises within her first 100 days, covering issues ranging from homelessness and culture to public services. As she reaches this milestone, the mayor reports delivering on most of these commitments.
"I think we've shown this is a new administration, and that's what we wanted to do," Martinez Ferrada explained. "We turned the ship around in a new direction."
The traditional 100-day checkpoint for new mayors has provided Montrealers with an early assessment of how the Ensemble Montréal administration is performing following the election.
Facing Criticism and Making Difficult Decisions
Despite avoiding major pitfalls that sometimes plague new administrations, Martinez Ferrada's first months have not been without controversy. As she sat for her Gazette interview this week, two separate protests converged outside city hall.
Housing advocates demonstrated against changes to the city's mixed development bylaw, arguing the revisions neglect social housing needs. Simultaneously, municipal white-collar workers denounced the administration's plan to eliminate 1,000 city jobs, including 250 positions this year.
Additionally, nearly every council meeting since the election has featured concerns from cyclists worried that an audit of Montreal's bike path network might lead to lane reductions. The opposition Projet Montréal has criticized the administration's first budget for delaying long-anticipated projects while cutting funding for sports, green spaces, and citizen participation initiatives.
When questioned about these criticisms, Mayor Martinez Ferrada stood firmly by her decisions. "I chose this," she stated, referencing her transition from federal politics to municipal leadership. "We knew it was not perfect. But we wanted to show real commitments on a few things, which we did."
Personal Approach to Municipal Leadership
As Montreal's first Latina mayor, Martinez Ferrada frequently speaks about the importance of representation and celebrates her heritage in her public role. She notes that it took only days to recognize the different level of public recognition that accompanies the mayor's office compared to her previous positions as a city councillor and federal minister.
"Governments are people. They're not this intangible thing," she observed, appreciating that most residents who approach her in public use her first name, Soraya, reflecting the personal nature of municipal politics.
The mayor has embraced opportunities to show different aspects of her personality as she grows into her role. When her car recently sustained two flat tires from potholes, she posted a social media video with the tow-truck driver, expressing shared frustration with many Montrealers about road conditions.
"I think it's easier that way," Martinez Ferrada commented about her frank approach to governance. "Because I'm not looking for a way out—I'm just trying to figure out a way to fix it."
As her administration looks beyond the 100-day milestone, Mayor Martinez Ferrada emphasizes that her team will need to present Montreal's 2027 budget later this year, describing the current 2026 budget as a "transitional" document that establishes priorities while acknowledging fiscal constraints.
