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MONTREAL — Montreal can develop the ambition to become one of the world’s great metropolises, Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said Thursday as she was formally sworn in during a ceremony at city hall.
Martinez Ferrada, who arrived in Canada as a child refugee from Chile in 1980, takes over from outgoing mayor Valérie Plante, who did not seek a third term.
On Thursday, she entered city hall’s main hall to the sound of bagpipes, led by a police and firefighter honour guard.
Later, a cheer went up in the room as she was sworn in to officially become mayor of Montreal, and she was joined onstage by family members as she signed the city’s official book.
Montrealers, she said, “gave us a mandate to rebuild confidence, improve essential services, give back to Montreal the ambition of being a great metropolis – a city that compares to the best and not only to its neighbours,” she said. “This mandate, I accept it with humility.”
She has said her No. 1 priority is homelessness, and on Thursday urged the other elected officials to join her in a “war effort” to tackle the problem.
Martinez Ferrada led centrist party Ensemble Montréal to victory in the Nov. 2 election, bringing an end to eight years in power for left-leaning Projet Montréal.
The former federal Liberal minister positioned herself as the candidate of change and the best person to tackle issues of homelessness and rising home prices.
She also promised to listen to Montrealers who have felt unheard, including those who questioned decisions to bring in new bike lanes and car-free streets.
In her speech Thursday, she said the city was facing “immense challenges,” including homelessness, housing, safety, cleanliness, the economic vitality of downtown, the environment and public finances.
She reiterated her promise not to dismantle the tent encampments that have popped up around the city, and instead to work to find places for people to go.
She said she is also hoping to obtain more resources from the provincial government to tackle homelessness.
On Friday, she is expected to speak with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is in town for the opening of a new phase of a light rail project.
Martinez Ferrada becomes the second woman to lead Montreal, after Plante, and has described herself as the first mayor from a diverse background.
After arriving in Canada as a Spanish-speaking political refugee, Martinez Ferrada learned French in immigrant welcome classes. Later, as a young mother and student, she used food banks to support her family, which, according to the biography on her party’s website, helped inspire her to gravitate toward public service.
She served a term as a municipal city councillor beginning in 2005, before becoming a political staffer and working in the culture sector. In 2019, she made the jump to federal politics with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party, becoming an MP and, eventually, a cabinet minister.
On Thursday, she became emotional after delivering part of her speech in Spanish. “This city belongs to all of us,” she said as she switched back to French. “In this city, we can all contribute.”
The city said in a news release that 55 women and 48 men were elected to represent the city on Nov. 2. It’s the first time that women outnumber men as borough mayors, it added.
The two main parties have contested the results of a handful close races, and some of those recounts are still ongoing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press
