It was a busy Wednesday morning for Montreal’s new mayor, who announced new initiatives for transparency, transportation, and a meeting with former American vice-president Joe Biden.

At her first executive council meeting Valerie Plante announced a new directive aimed at increasing transparency in city hall.

Previously records had been kept on any person who visited an elected city hall official except for those who visited the mayor. Plante issued a directive changing that.

"We will bring transparency back at City Hall so everybody that comes and wants to meet with the mayoress will have to register and that will be made public," said Plante.

The executive committee also discussed Montreal's animal control bylaw and said it will rapidly make changes to strike the sections banning specific breeds, including pit bulls.

"Any type of dogs, it doesn't have to be a pit bull or not a pit bull. It's how do we make sure that everybody is secure and that owners take their responsibilities seriously," said Plante.

The SPCA was pleased with that announcement -- but the issue may be moot, since the provincial government is still moving ahead with its plan to ban pit bull type dogs throughout Quebec.

Another of Plante's major campaign promises was to ease gridlock in Montreal’s traffic-congested streets.

The first step will be a Christmas bonus for police: the city is demanding more officers spent time directing traffic, even though that work is only done on overtime.

"We decided to right away put more police officers to support more fluidity but we need to come up with a better solution," said Plante.

The mayor said her housing team is going to analyze Wednesday's announcement by the federal government and figure out how that will work with her desire to create more affordable housing.

"Housing is a big issue not only for Montreal but Toronto and Vancouver as well. Everyone wants to make sure we keep economic and social mixity within our big cities," said Plante.

She also announced a meeting with former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden, where she hopes to ask him many questions.

"When I heard that he asked to meet me, I was very happy about that. I want to talk about his campaign, his experience. I mean he's been at the White House, this is quite impressive," said Plante.

That meeting between Biden and Plante will take place in Montreal on Nov. 29.