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Montreal’s new mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, and Quebec Premier François Legault met for the first time on Friday and shared their priorities at a news conference.

Martinez Ferrada told reporters that their “good conversation” focused on homelessness and the preservation of the French language.

“I share with the premier the challenge posed by the decline of the French language,” she said.

In his speech, Legault once again targeted immigration, suggesting that temporary migrants were responsible for this situation, the housing crisis and homelessness.

“What we are asking the federal government to do is to reduce a significant portion of the 200,000 [temporary migrants] we have had over the past two years in order to halt and reverse the decline of French,” said Legault.

The premier and his Coalition Avenir Québec government have faced backlash for controversial comments about immigrants and asylum seekers, with some critics arguing that they’ve been repeatedly used as scapegoats for various issues in Quebec.

Martinez Ferrada also stated that both her and Legault would like for Montreal to become the headquarters of a future defence, security and resilience bank — an international organization that is currently being established and would evaluate and monitor defence investments made by different governments around the world.

“We have an extremely beautiful opportunity to position Montreal, Quebec and Canada within this multilateral institution that will emerge from NATO,” said Martinez Ferrada.

The new mayor of Montreal also re-emphasized her commitment to tackling homelessness.

“Montreal will take responsibility. We, too, will tackle this issue,” she said, adding that she wanted to triple the city’s budget for homelessness and invest in emergency services.

Martinez Ferrada mentioned that she asked the government to speed up the granting of certain powers that facilitate decisions and efficiency in the fight against this issue.

New mayor’s priorities for Montreal

During her electoral campaign, Martinez Ferrada criticized her predecessor, Valérie Plante, for what she considered a failure to develop good relations with the provincial and federal governments.

On Friday morning, Martinez Ferrada’s team issued a news release announcing a freeze on external hiring for white-collar and professional jobs — including positions in engineering, science, architecture and law — and a freeze on internal and external appointments to management positions. 

The freeze on external hiring does not apply to boroughs or to police, firefighters, school crossing guards and blue-collar workers.

“The city’s workforce has grown considerably in recent years, while services to the public have slowed down,” Martinez Ferrada said in a statement.

Martinez Ferrada takes office with a number of major challenges ahead, including a cash-strapped public transit system, along with a housing crisis and a rise in homelessness.