Carney visits Montreal to talk housing, tariffs with Plante — in French

Montreal Gazette

17 hours ago

In his first meeting with the head of a Canadian metropolis since he took office in March, Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante Wednesday.
After posing for pictures on a red carpet rolled out on the steps of Montreal's ornate city hall, the two engaged in a 30-minute closed-door meeting to discuss housing, public transit and combatting tariffs. The conversation took place entirely in French with the fluently bilingual Plante.
The mayor said she took it as a positive sign for both Montreal and Quebec that Canada's new leader chose her city for his first visit, and that he opted to converse in the official language of the province.
'I'm very honoured that (his first meeting with a mayor) took place in Montreal,' Plante said in a news conference after the meeting. Carney, who was travelling to Quebec City in the afternoon to meet Premier François Legault, did not speak with journalists. 'What came out essentially is that the priorities of the federal government are largely the same as those I have always defended as mayor, with the question of housing being extremely important.'
During the meeting, the federal government issued a statement pledging $84 million to go toward Montreal's infrastructure needs, be it for housing, public transit, sewage or other maintenance. Plante said she appreciated that Carney left the question of how the money will be spent up to Montreal, as the city has numerous developments in the works.
Plante said Carney expressed support and interest in Montreal's plans to increase the percentage of its housing stock that is social, affordable or off-market housing to 20 per cent, from its current seven per cent. Roughly four per cent of Canada's total housing stock is composed of affordable housing.
Plante said her main priority for the federal government was infrastructure support for large-scale housing developments planned for the Montreal area. They include the Bridge-Bonaventure project bordering the St. Lawrence River in the Sud-Ouest borough, where Plante has pledged 13,500 housing units in tall residential towers, with 40 per cent composed of affordable or social housing units. Another is the Namur-Hippodrome redevelopment project, where the city plans to build 20,000 housing units on the 75-hectare former site of the Blue Bonnets racetrack.
The latter site will require an estimated $1.4 billion in urban infrastructure, such as water pipes, sewers, roads and sidewalks, before housing development can begin.
Carney arrived just after 1 p.m., pulling to the front of city hall in a cortege of black fortified SUVs. Plante was at the bottom of the stairs to greet him.
Dozens of spectators gathered across the street to get a glimpse of the prime minister and mayor. Among them were a handful of protesters demonstrating against the war in Gaza, one bearing a Palestinian flag.
In addition to his visit with the mayor, Carney was in Montreal for a series of economic meetings, including a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence and innovation and to meet with business leaders.
On Monday, Carney met with Ontario Premier Doug Ford in Ottawa to talk about tariffs imposed by the United States.
The two leaders emphasized Canada's global competitiveness rather than the conclusion of a trade agreement with the U.S.
Plante noted Wednesday's meeting with Carney marked the first time a head of state had visited Montreal's city hall since the completion last year of renovations that took five years and cost $211 million. It was fitting Canada's leader was the first, she said.
She described the meeting of the two as very amicable, and said she hoped to meet with him again before her tenure as mayor ends in November.
'He was very nice,' Plante said. 'It was really easy to talk to him. He knew about the projects in Montreal, so I felt like he was conscious and aware, and he wanted to do the meeting in French, which I do appreciate.
'If I get the chance to meet him again before I leave, I would be very happy.
'I would go for a beer with him, you know. He's nice like that.'
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 4:30 PM.