The Legault government is not Montreal’s friend.
Reliance on the Quebec government gets us nowhere, and the province often makes decisions that are detrimental to the lives of Montrealers. I suspect Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada already knows this, given that she and the opposition were united in calling for some flexibility after Quebec abolished their fast-track immigration program (PEQ), and were completely rebuffed by the CAQ. Now our businesses are losing qualified workers.
This is just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg.
There’s no hope of winning a political debate with the Quebec government over policies that adversely affect our city, as they can always say they’re working in everyone else’s interest, or are protecting the rest of Quebec from Montreal.
We need leverage, and this means sources of revenue independent of other levels of government. If Montreal’s credit card really is “maxed out,” then we should reconsider the city’s tax structure. (Remember: the rich can always pay more in taxes.)
What Montrealers can no longer tolerate is a mayor who says “my hands are tied, the province won’t help us.” We need to help ourselves. And cutting spending isn’t the solution: we’re a city of nearly two million people, and we can’t keep accepting austerity budgets. ■
An excerpt from Dear Soraya pt. 2, originally published in the February 2026 issue of Cult MTL.
The Legault government is not Montreal’s friend
Read more editorials by Taylor C. Noakes.