![\"Ensemble](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762145948_296_default.jpg\")
Ensemble Montr\u00e9al supporters hold a Soraya Martinez Ferrada campaign poster at the TOHU, the party’s headquarters for the evening. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada)Rabouin to resign from Projet Montr\u00e9al<\/p>\nSoraya Martinez Ferrada, leader of Ensemble Montr\u00e9al, will become Montreal\u2019s next mayor, CBC News has projected.<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada, who is of Chilean descent, makes history as the first racialized person to be elected mayor of Montreal.<\/p>\n
Following her win Sunday night, Martinez Ferrada leaned into her slogan “Listen and Act” \u2014 a nod to criticism against Projet Montr\u00e9al that it failed to consult with residents.<\/p>\n
The mayor-elect said she repeatedly heard during the campaign that Montrealers don’t feel heard. <\/p>\n
“We are here tonight because thousands of Montrealers believe in a better city \u2014 a city that truly belongs to everyone,” Martinez Ferrada said onstage at the TOHU, a performing arts venue located in Montreal\u2019s east end, where she used to work. <\/p>\n
She thanked Plante for breaking a glass ceiling in the city, before acknowledging that Montrealers have sent a “powerful message” by electing a racialized woman. <\/p>\n
MP to municipal politics<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada moved to Montreal as a political refugee in 1980, fleeing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet when she was only eight years old.<\/p>\n
The former MP is the second woman to become mayor of the city, after outgoing mayor Val\u00e9rie Plante. She resigned from Justin Trudeau\u2019s Liberal government in February, shortly after which she announced her run for the leadership of Ensemble Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe desire to serve the city that welcomed the young refugee from Chile, to serve the city that gave me my start in politics, is one that is too important for me to ignore,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said in her resignation letter addressed to Trudeau.<\/p>\n
The last time a leader of Ensemble Montr\u00e9al was elected mayor was in 2013, when Denis Coderre, another former Liberal MP, was at the helm of the party.<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada campaigned on a platform that prioritized accessibility to housing and a promise to end homelessness by the end of a first term.<\/p>\n
As of 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday, \u00c9lections Montr\u00e9al estimated voter turnout to be at 27 per cent. Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n
About 38 per cent of eligible voters in Montreal cast a ballot in the last election in 2021 \u2014 four percentage points less than the number recorded in 2017.<\/p>\n
Ensemble Montr\u00e9al supporters hold a Soraya Martinez Ferrada campaign poster at the TOHU, the party’s headquarters for the evening. (Ivanoh Demers\/Radio-Canada)Rabouin to resign from Projet Montr\u00e9al<\/p>\n
Martinez Ferrada\u2019s win signals her party\u2019s success at mobilizing Montrealers seeking change from Projet Montr\u00e9al after two terms under Plante.<\/p>\n
Following his loss, Projet Montr\u00e9al Leader Luc Rabouin took to the stage at the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des arts technologiques on St-Laurent Boulevard to deliver his concession speech for the mayorship, calling it a “tough night for us.”<\/p>\n
He said in the following days he would step down from the helm of Projet Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n
“Tonight, thousands of citizens voted to build a fairer, more beautiful, greener city with Projet Montr\u00e9al. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to win, and I take full responsibility for this defeat,” Rabouin said. <\/p>\n
“I gave it everything I had, but it wasn’t enough.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Soraya Martinez Ferrada, leader of Ensemble Montr\u00e9al, will become Montreal\u2019s next mayor, CBC News has projected. Martinez Ferrada,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-258119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}