Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the former federal Liberal MP and cabinet minister who made the move back to municipal politics earlier this year, will become Montreal’s next mayor, signalling a change for the metropolis after eight years under the same administration.
Martinez Ferrada’s victory comes nearly seven months to the day after becoming leader of Ensemble Montréal. She defeated candidates with lengthy resumés at the municipal level like Projet Montréal’s Luc Rabouin and Transition Montréal’s Craig Sauvé.
The 53-year-old career politician takes over from Valérie Plante after the city’s first female mayor and longtime leader of Projet Montréal did not seek a third term in office, citing the strenuous demands of public service.
That challenge – including leading Montreal through problems with housing, affordability and homelessness – now falls to Martinez Ferrada and her team at Ensemble Montréal, the party previously known as Équipe Denis Coderre before it rebranded in 2018.
Martinez Ferrada mounted a successful campaign with promises to pass a new affordable housing bylaw; help homeowners at risk of flooding; promote the growth of downtown businesses; create a fund to combat homelessness and invest in shelters; keep the city clean; better manage construction sites; and improve mobility by re-examining existing bike paths, making the metro safer, and keeping Camillien-Houde Way open to vehicles.
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Most recently the minister of tourism under Justin Trudeau – a position she resigned to run for the leadership of Ensemble Montréal in February – Martinez Ferrada consistently led in the polls in the approach to Sunday’s election. But with thousands of electors still undecided just weeks before the vote, it was unclear which way Montrealers would turn.
Ultimately they moved away from Rabouin, Plante’s replacement at Projet Montréal, and instead opted for the candidate who billed herself as the voice of change. Martinez Ferrada regularly framed Rabouin, the former Plateau—Mont-Royal borough mayor, as a continuation of the previous administration.
She argued Projet Montréal failed to address the city’s housing problems and criticized the party’s affordable housing bylaw. She blamed them for failing to provide support for homeless encampments, poor management of “ghost” construction sites, and reckless expansion of the city’s bike network.
That successful pitch sent Ensemble Montréal back to city hall after eight years.
Life of public service
It’s not the first time Martinez Ferrada has convinced voters she was the right candidate to bring about change. In 2019 she was elected MP for Hochelaga, an electoral district that had not been Liberal for three decades.
That kicked off her career at the federal level. She was first appointed parliamentary secretary for then Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino. After winning re-election in 2021, she was appointed parliamentary secretary for the minister of transport and later the minister of housing.
In 2023, she was named minister of tourism and minister responsible for the economic development agency of Canada for the regions of Quebec.
When she announced she was running for the leadership of Ensemble Montréal – she ran uncontested and was acclaimed – it marked a return to where her political endeavours began: at the municipal level in Montreal.
A political refugee from Chile who came to Montreal in the late 1980s, Martinez Ferrada was first elected to city council in Saint-Michel – as a candidate for the now defunct Union Montreal – in 2005. She held office until the 2009 election, when she was defeated as the incumbent.
The HEC Montréal graduate then served as chief of staff for Vision Montreal’s Louise Harel, the leader of the official opposition.
She then left politics briefly before returning as a senior advisor and chief of staff in the minister of Canadian heritage’s office.
