Fréchette meets Montreal mayor amid fallout over baby in homeless camp

MONTREAL — Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette changed her schedule to meet Montreal’s mayor on Friday, as the discovery of a one-year-old child at a homeless encampment continued to send waves through the provincial election campaign.

Fréchette announced a list of promises aimed at municipalities ahead of the meeting with Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada, including the creation of a $250-million emergency fund for homelessness.

The Coalition Avenir Québec leader said that the Sept. 11 discovery of a young child in the Montreal’s Notre-Dame St. encampment was heartbreaking to her as a mother. “We can’t accept that, that’s not Quebec,” Fréchette said.

Montreal police have said an investigation is underway after officers located a woman and the child at the encampment in the city’s east end. They said the child’s health and safety were not at risk.

Martinez Ferrada described the infant’s presence in the camp as a wake-up call and has said she’ll take action if the province won’t.

Late Friday, Fréchette told reporters after the meeting at Montreal City Hall that she promised to work with the mayor on issues such as transitional housing and mental health if her party forms government after Oct. 5. She also called for better co-ordination between different levels of government as well as community organizations and the private sector in order to address homelessness.

When asked if she’d reassured the mayor, she said “I think so.” Martinez Ferrada did not address reporters.

The news of the infant in the camp also prompted Fréchette’s opponents to criticize her government’s record and to weigh in on how to address homelessness. All five leaders spoke Friday in Quebec City at a meeting organized by Quebec’s union of municipalities, where they pitched their plans to reduce the number of people who are unhoused and addressed other issues facing cities, such as infrastructure and public transit funding.

Liberal Leader Charles Milliard said he would invest an additional $60 million per year in an effort to reduce homelessness to zero.

Both Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois have said they would name a homelessness superminister if elected, with PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promising to take on the role himself.

St-Pierre Plamondon said Friday that a government led by him would invest $1 billion in the fight against homelessness, with a focus on social and supportive housing and homelessness prevention.

“When we look at what countries that have succeeded have done, they gave a vision, they mobilized all the actors, they based their social intervention on housing,” he said.

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal had proposed the superminister post back in August. She said the minister would have significant power and a large budget, and would work closely with herself as premier.

Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime has proposed hiring 100 more doctors to work in the community, as well as more social workers and more stable funding for community organizations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2026.

— With files from Thomas Laberge and Patrice Bergeron in Quebec City