Montreal’s Mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, made a significant announcement on Friday regarding a freeze on external hiring of professional employees, fulfilling one of her campaign pledges. The City revealed in a press release that there would also be a freeze on appointments to management positions in city hall. However, it was clarified that this freeze would not impact recruitment at the borough level, nor would it affect the hiring of essential workers such as police officers, firefighters, and other blue-collar employees.
Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Mayor Martinez Ferrada emphasized the need for the city to lead by example in managing its finances and organizational structure. She noted that despite a considerable growth in the City’s workforce in recent years, services to the public had faced delays and challenges.
The announcement follows the inaugural meeting of the executive committee on Thursday, where Mayor Martinez Ferrada introduced her plans. Claude Pinard, the committee’s president, underscored that the freeze on hiring was a strategic move to ensure responsible and efficient financial management.
Pinard highlighted that these measures were aimed at maintaining the city’s flexibility to address the priorities of the population effectively. He also mentioned that the freeze would allow for the confirmation and implementation of a workforce optimization plan.
As part of her campaign promises, Mayor Martinez Ferrada had committed to reducing the number of personnel at city hall by 1,000 by the end of her term.
