“Arrogance”, “centralization”, “politicization”: the opposition parties fired broadsides at the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, on Tuesday, at the opening of the consultation on the new agency she wants to set up to “revolutionize the way we develop public transportation in Quebec.”
“This is a major centralization operation, which is very arrogant. I will do everything possible to convince the minister to work with the municipalities, rather than working against the municipalities,” Etienne Grandmont, the Solidarity MP for Taschereau, insisted from the outset.
He thus firmly opposed M’s visionme Guilbault. When she tabled her bill this spring to create Mobilité Infra Québec, which was supposed to reduce the costs and delays of public transportation projects, the Minister of Transport had rightly said she wanted to “take control of the destiny of public transportation” and “centralize” its long-term planning.
Since then, there have been many concerns. The Press reported Tuesday morning, for example, that the Union of Municipalities (UMQ), which is testifying before the commission, fears that Quebec will design all the major public transit projects and then pass the bill on to the cities. Meanwhile, in the public transit community, there is concern that the expertise already present in the public sector will be cannibalized.
“Today, we are introducing something completely new that will revolutionize the way we develop public transportation in Quebec,” said Minister Guilbault, opening the consultation, referring to a “new, small team of very specialized expertise.”
Risks of politicization?
Liberal ranks also remain very skeptical. “We have another CAQ bill that creates another agency. It seems to be a trend to transform ministries into agencies. I just hope that one day, we won’t change the name of the CAQ to Agence Avenir Québec,” joked Nelligan MNA Monsef Derraji.
He thus drew a direct parallel with the recent establishment of another agency, that of Santé Québec, whose “results are still awaited.” “Do we have access to a family doctor? I don’t think so. Do we wait less at the hospital? I don’t think so. These are the big speeches, but the population mainly expects results,” persisted the elected official, also fearing “centralizing” operations.
In the Parti Québécois, the member for the Magdalen Islands, Joël Arseneau, deplored the fact that the current bill risks creating even more partisanship around major projects.
He also recalled that his party had already proposed, under the reign of Pauline Marois in 2012, to create an agency “aimed at depoliticizing public transport projects”. “The agency project that we see today has nothing to do with what we had submitted. […] “The agency does not act without a mandate given to it by the government, by decree,” Mr. Arseneau lamented.
In recent months, the MP had already expressed his intention to amend the bill so that Mobilité Infra Québec would be truly independent and able to formulate apolitical opinions to the government.
Geneviève Guilbault defended herself against wanting to centralize or politicize the projects, reiterating that the government “must take leadership and control of the destiny of public transportation in Quebec.” “We cannot be eternally dependent on CDPQ Infra [qui a livré le Réseau express métropolitain]so for us it is important to equip ourselves with our own capacity,” she concluded.