Montreal mayor has car towed hours after calling pothole situation ‘catastrophic’

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez-Ferrada on hitting a pothole in her own car on the same day she called the problem 'catastrophic.'

It seems Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada is the latest person to fall victim to the city’s potholes - just hours after calling the situation “catastrophic” and the worst year since 2018.

READ MORE: Montreal’s potholes are here early: Here’s what to know

“When I told you I understood, did you believe me?” she joked in a video posted to social media around 10 p.m. on Monday.

In the video, Martinez Ferrada talks to the camera, explaining that her car hit “two potholes on Notre-Dame Street,” leaving her with two flat tires.

“She talked about potholes, and then her car hit a pothole,” the towing operator jokes.

“I know that the roads don’t make any sense,” she adds, promising solutions to come.

‘I know what’s happening in the streets of Montreal’

In an interview with CTV News, Martinez Ferrada said she actually had to replace all four tires.

“I was actually saying to my husband to slow down because there’s potholes we don’t see and bang! We plowed into one,” she said.

The mayor said she didn’t record it to make light of the situation, but to show Montrealers she understands what’s happening on the streets.

“I live with it every day. I go through the city, I drive a car, I come from the east part of Montreal. I understand what we have as a city, the challenges that we have,” she said.

“I don’t find it funny. The situation – the person that actually towed us – he was funny, so I was laughing at him, not at the situation, but I do understand what Montrealers are going through," she said.

Martinez Ferrada confirmed her insurance is paying for it and she won’t ask taxpayers to foot the bill, though she said residents are welcome to file a claim.

‘Catastrophic’ situation

The mayor’s flat tires come on the same day the City of Montreal released data showing that there have been 4,200 resident reports to 311 since Jan. 1 for potholes - an unprecedented number equal to a third of total reports in 2025 and half of those in 2023.

“We have an issue with equipment. We have an issue with capacity because the numbers that you see are humongous,” said Martinez Ferrada. “Right now, we’re trying to do the urgent ones that we know that we have right now.”

• READ MORE: Potholes in Montreal are ‘catastrophic,’ says mayor

She explains that municipal workers are doing their best, but much of the damage this year is due to extreme cold weather and volatile temperatures.

The city says it is prioritizing the most dangerous sections of road, and is promising a strategy in the spring to address the issue more broadly.