CTV News anchor Mutsumi Takahashi spoke to the five main candidates for Montreal’s next mayor. Ensemble Montréal is led by former federal Liberal cabinet minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Mutsumi Takahashi: “You say Montreal is in decline, and you say Montrealers are tired of everything in Montreal. Do you really think Montrealers are tired of everything in Montreal? Is it as bad as that?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “Well, yes... That’s what I’m hearing. They’re tired of the fact that it’s difficult to get around, that the city is not as clean as they thought before, and that they don’t feel as safe as they were before. So yes, there is a lot of frustration right now among the citizens, and I think the city needs to do better.” Mutsumi Takahashi: “Anything good you can say about Montreal, then?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “Oh my God, yes. Montreal is the biggest city in Quebec. It is the metropolis of Canada, and I think we have so much going on and I think we can do so much better in terms of artificial intelligence, our festivals. We have so many good things that we can look forward to in the city. And of course, we can rely on ourselves, on these great things that we have, but do so much better because we have what it takes to be a great metropolis and give our citizens a neighbourhood where they’re proud to live in.” Mutsumi Takahashi: “The issue of linguistic rights is very important to the English community in Montreal. What is your commitment to them under your administration? Will they always be guaranteed essential services in English?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “Well, absolutely. We have to remember that we’re a francophone city. It is protected under our Charter of Montreal. It’s the first article of the charter, and it’s one thing that gives us the competitiveness as a city because we’re this big francophone city. But, we have a community, an anglophone community, that built this city, that was an important community that we need to respect, that we need to valorize, and we need to see and make sure that they can contribute to the city. I’m going to always be an ally for the English community, and I think we have to do so much better in terms of the relationship we have with the English community in Montreal. Mutsumi Takahashi: “What do you think Montreal’s biggest problem is right now, and how would you fix it?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “Housing, homelessness, security, cleanness. If we don’t do that, we have to make sure that we give Montreal the capacity to have ambition, and, to do that, we need to tackle the basic services of a city and also make sure that Montreal citizens who are sleeping in the street right now, get the services that they need, get the housing that they need, and we have to make sure that we’re not losing anybody to outside of Montreal. We have to keep our families here in Montreal. We’re losing a lot of people to the suburbs, and we have to make sure that we’re keeping them here. And I’m making sure that every citizen sleeping on the street has a roof over his [or her] head.” Mutsumi Takahashi: “If there is one single, most important thing your party is offering that the other parties are not offering that would improve the lives of Montrealers, what is it?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “I can give to citizens the change that they’re looking for. I am convinced that we have a plan to tackle housing, tackle homelessness, tackle security and safety, tackle the things that need to be cleaned in the city, and tackle the fact that Montreal has a fiscal frame [that is] very difficult. We need to take courageous decisions, and I’ve said that we have to reduce the bureaucracy, have to reduce the number of people that are working in the city and make sure that we’re giving the services to the boroughs to citizens, and that’s what I’m offering citizens of Montreal.” Mutsumi Takahashi: “You know that there are always so many promises made during election campaigns. What assurances do we have that you’re going to keep your promises?” Soraya Martinez Ferrada: “What I will give to citizens is the engagement and the promise that I’m going to do different things to make sure that we’re tackling the issues in a different manner because what we’ve been doing in the past eight years in this administration has not worked. So we need to do different. Do I have a magic wand? I don’t, but what I have is a commitment to serve the Montrealers. I resigned as a minister in the federal government to come back to the home and town that I love, which is Montreal, and to serve Montreal in a different way, to make sure that we’re taking on the issues that are important to them.”
