Montreal mayor gives herself an 8 out of 10 on her first 100 days in office

Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada made 10 key promises to Montrealers she said she’d achieve in her first 100 days in office.

Well, today she hit that first 100-day milestone, and how did she do? She told reporters this week, she gives herself an eight out of 10.

“On the 10 actions, we moved on all of them. Did we move as much as we wanted? Maybe not,” she said. “We have done a lot in 100 days!”

Martinez Ferrada, who stepped down from her post as a federal cabinet minister to run for mayor, won the November election during a trying time for the city as, among other issues, it is faced with a housing crisis, a financially strapped public transit system and growing complaints about traffic.

But these issues aren’t new, having also been a priority for Valérie Plante when she was elected eight years ago.

Fast forward to the 2025 election campaign, and Martinez Ferrada ran with the slogan “Listen and Act” — a clear jab at Plante’s reputation among her critics for pushing ahead with controversial projects, such as cycling network expansions, with little public consultation. 

One of Martinez Ferrada’s first promises, back in August, was to conduct an audit of the city’s cycling network, focusing on four in particular, and eliminate any found to be dangerous.

That project was recently announced, with her administration saying the city will assess four bike paths it considers particularly problematic in order to identify safety issues and propose solutions.

She said the city is also replacing its crash-triggered review process with proactive monitoring to identify bike path safety risks before collisions occur. Martinez Ferrada said, while the goal is to eventually assess the entire cycling network, the process will take time.

She also promised, within 100 days of taking office, to conduct an inventory of construction sites to improve traffic flow, reform the city’s approach to affordable housing and boost funding to help deal with homelessness.

And like she told reporters this week, the city hasn’t been ignoring any of these promises.

Just like the mayor before her, Martinez Ferrada has promised to cut down on orange construction cones. In mid-February, she announced her own effort to improve construction site co-ordination and to use artificial intelligence tools to help reduce the impact of roadwork on Montrealers.

When it comes to housing, in late January, Martinez Ferrada followed through with repealing the Règlement pour une métropole mixte (also known as the 20-20-20 bylaw).

Instead of forcing developers to build social housing, she is shifting toward financial incentives. The mayor said she would establish a working group composed of representatives from the private and non-profit sectors.