{"id":622997,"date":"2026-04-23T09:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622997\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:39:18","slug":"hanes-will-frechette-treat-montreal-with-the-respect-it-deserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622997\/","title":{"rendered":"Hanes: Will Fr\u00e9chette treat Montreal with the respect it deserves?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When she unveiled her cabinet Tuesday<\/a>, Quebec\u2019s new premier, Christine Fr\u00e9chette, pledged to \u201cco-operate better\u201d with cities across the province.<\/p>\n

In fact, she vowed to be more of a \u201cpartner\u201d to Ottawa, Quebec\u2019s regions, Indigenous people, small- and medium-size businesses and community groups.<\/p>\n

Her promise of a less adversarial style is surely welcome news at Montreal City Hall after nearly eight years of relations with a Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec government that often amounted to neglect and at times bordered on antagonistic.<\/p>\n

But will Fr\u00e9chette finally treat Montreal with the respect it deserves as a metropolis?<\/p>\n

That is far from assured \u2014 even as Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Fr\u00e9chette smiled for the cameras Wednesday, both sporting Habs jerseys while making history as the second woman elected to lead Montreal<\/a> and the second woman to serve as Quebec\u2019s premier sitting down for their first official meeting together.<\/p>\n

\"MontrealMontreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette show their team spirit at their first meeting at Montreal City Hall on Wednesday April 22, 2026. Fr\u00e9chette wore No. 26 to mark the election year. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s list of things it needs from the provincial government is as long as it is urgent. And Martinez Ferrada has been expressing increasing frustration that Quebec isn\u2019t giving the metropolis its due.<\/p>\n

The mayor was literally reduced to tears<\/a> a few weeks ago when two unhoused people died in less than 24 hours, despite her administration making the fight against homelessness a top priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cMontreal needs the other levels of government to be present \u2026 because otherwise we won\u2019t make it,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said, dabbing her eyes.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette (re)appointed Lionel Carmant as minister of social services this week, giving him a mandate to address rising homelessness. But with the scourge surging outside of Montreal<\/a>, from Abitibi-T\u00e9miscamingue to the Gasp\u00e9, there will be competition for his attention.<\/p>\n

Karine Boivin Roy, a former city councillor and one of only two Montreal MNAs in the CAQ caucus, was named Quebec\u2019s minister of housing. But time is short before the October election for the cabinet newcomer to make good on her mandate to cut red tape and increase the supply of affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Last week, Martinez Ferrada said she was \u201cfed up\u201d<\/a> with the provincial and federal governments\u2019 inability to come to an agreement to unlock Quebec\u2019s share of a $25-billion fund for developing public transit.<\/p>\n

The CAQ has long been stingy with money to cover operations<\/a> and maintenance of existing transit infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reading between the lines, securing Quebec\u2019s fair share of these and other federal funds is Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s intent when stating she wants to \u201cbetter partner\u201d with Ottawa. She put more conciliatory members of her cabinet in key roles for this purpose, making Jean Boulet the minister of Canadian relations and Benoit Charette the minister of transport.<\/p>\n

But getting more money from the federal government to expand public transit should be a bare minimum for Fr\u00e9chette, who is now leading a government that in two mandates hasn\u2019t got any new projects off the ground in Montreal that weren\u2019t already in the works. In fact, last year it quietly dropped plans for a tramway to Lachine<\/a> from its list of planned infrastructure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same story for active transport. Martinez Ferrada was forced to put plans for a new branch of the REV bike path network on hold this week, after previously saying it was on track, because the Transport Ministry hasn\u2019t left room for it<\/a> on an overpass it will reconstruct.<\/p>\n

In January, Martinez Ferrada also made a plea for the government to reverse course on immigration and grandfather the Programme de l\u2019exp\u00e9rience qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/a>e, which it abruptly replaced. The move put hopes and dreams in limbo<\/a> for many immigrants already living and working in Montreal, while leaving key economic sectors scrambling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe credibility of Quebec and Montreal is at stake,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cWe are already losing talent and minds, which Montreal and Quebec greatly need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette listened to reason, promising a more \u201chuman\u201d approach to immigration and announcing a temporary revival of the closed program. She also handed the hot-button file to a new minister, Fran\u00e7ois Bonnardel, who is less of an immigration hardliner.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

There are some hopeful signs that the new premier is more willing to listen to Montreal and take its interests into account.<\/p>\n

But it remains to be seen whether Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s government treats Montreal as North America\u2019s only French-speaking metropolis and Quebec\u2019s economic engine \u2014 or just another municipality.<\/p>\n

On that, the indicators are less positive.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s new municipal affairs minister, Samuel Poulin, is from the rural Beauce area. She has also appointed Mathieu L\u00e9vesque as a new minister of regions.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing wrong with giving outlying areas greater representation, per se, but not if it comes at the city\u2019s expense. And Montreal has routinely been shortchanged by the CAQ, which draws the bulk of its support from suburban, small-town and far-flung ridings.<\/p>\n

The choice of Chantal Rouleau as the minister responsible for Montreal may reflect a dearth of options \u2014 after all, she is one of only two caucus members in the city. She held this role previously without delivering much. Plus \u00e7a change \u2026<\/p>\n

The CAQ government also diminished the city\u2019s weight<\/a> within the Communaut\u00e9 m\u00e9tropolitaine de Montr\u00e9al last year. It was a blow to the city\u2019s influence on an important regional decision-making body.<\/p>\n

After almost eight years, symptoms of the government\u2019s disregard toward Montreal are etched in the landscape, in crumbling schools, decaying hospitals, potholed off-ramps and congested highways.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette may be saying reassuring things about better co-operation and treating Montreal as a partner. But she will be judged by her actions.<\/p>\n

ahanes@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tI started at The Montreal Gazette in 2000 as an intern. Since then I have covered the National Assembly and courts, worked on the assignment desk and written editorials, before debuting as city columnist in 2017.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When she unveiled her cabinet Tuesday, Quebec\u2019s new premier, Christine Fr\u00e9chette, pledged to \u201cco-operate better\u201d with cities across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,218342,295,66],"class_list":["post-622997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-coalition-avenir-quebec-caq","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622997","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=622997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}