The day after the formal submission of an offer that she calls “final” for the financing of collective transport, the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, launches performance audits on each of the ten transport companies in order to make a “real diagnosis ” longer term.
“I think we are due for a review, because public transportation is developing more and more. […] And if it’s them who speak, if it’s the government which speaks, it can seem like a kind of never-ending negotiation where each wants to ask the other for more money,” explained M.me Guilbault Friday, in a press scrum in Quebec.
It wants to launch “quickly” 11 performance audits, including one audit per transport company and another for the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), which reports to the government.
Nothing is set in stone, but everything indicates that this mandate will be the responsibility of an independent external firm. “I want it to go quickly, I don’t want it to take two years,” said Mme Guilbault.
In government, this is not the first time that we have expressed the desire to have a better view of the finances of public transport companies. A vast project was even launched in 2019 on this issue. Apart from a report filed in 2022, there have been no significant developments.
During his speech, Mr.me Guilbault also reiterated his doubts on Friday about the appropriateness of certain expenses in the public transport sector. She believes that certain questions arise “when we see that we are increasing executive salaries during the pandemic, while there is no longer anyone in public transport”.
“The reality is we can’t just put endless money into these deficits. We need to examine ourselves, restructure financing and find ways to save at source. My bet is that there are other ways to be more efficient […] than closing the metro after 11 a.m.,” continued the caquiste.
A “final” offer
Thursday, Mme Guilbault had officially made a new offer to cities and transport companies, increasing as expected. In Greater Montreal, the government would increase its contribution from 150 to 238 million for 2024. A scenario where the government would grant more than 200 million next year had already been mentioned by The Press.
The minister estimates that she will absorb 70% of the deficit of transport companies in Greater Montreal next year. In fact, it now puts the deficit at 337.9 million, much less than the 532 million cited by cities in the Montreal region.
Until now, Quebec was talking about a deficit of around 410 million for Greater Montreal in 2024, taking into account revenues linked to the registration tax as well as “optimization measures” which would save 14 million. However, a recent “update” of the ARTM budgetary framework, made on October 31, would have made it possible to review projected revenues and expenditures.
On the city side, we analyzed the government proposal on Friday. “At this time, expectations remain the same. The minister has submitted an offer. But obviously, I will not make this decision alone,” declared Mayor Valérie Plante, who was to meet the 82 mayors of Greater Montreal in the afternoon. “It will be up to them to decide,” assured Mme Plant.
In a press release, the CMM invited the minister “to base ourselves on the real figures of the anticipated deficit”. The agreement “must be established on the basis of the actual deficit,” continued the municipalities, stressing that “an urgent settlement is expected in the context of the municipal budgets to be presented in the coming weeks.”
“What the government describes as a structural deficit is not the result of poor management on the part of public transport companies […]but rather an erosion of government contributions,” lamented the president of the Urban Transport Association (ATUQ), Marc Denault.
The two parties still do not agree on the calculation of the deficit, since a disagreement remains regarding the use of the new tax on registration in Greater Montreal: the municipalities want to use it to develop the network, so that the government wants it to be used to reduce the deficit.
“This is our final offer, because we have a budget update which will be presented next Tuesday,” the minister still suggested.
Service update
As for the anticipated cuts in the service, “these fears also remain the same,” according to Mayor Valérie Plante. “It would be horrible, it would be the last thing to do,” she nevertheless qualified, reiterating that an analysis will be carried out in this chapter.
In recent days, the cities of Greater Montreal had argued that aid of less than 300 million for 2024 would lead to numerous service cuts in the metro, which would have to close after 11 p.m., as well as withdrawals of buses from the roads and driver layoffs.
The TRANSIT Alliance, which campaigns for better funding for public transport, said on Friday that it feared that M’s offerme Guilbault “is not sufficient to ensure maintenance of the service offering for 2024. To avoid failure, the year 2024 must be the last without significant growth in the service offering for users,” concluded the coordinator of the Alliance, Samuel Pagé-Plouffe.
The tram and the federal government
Friday, Mme Guilbault took advantage of his public outing to denounce the fact that with the new price of the Quebec tramway, increased from 3.3 billion to 8.4 billion, the federal contribution is only 14%, since it remains 1.2 billion. “I hear the federal government saying that we are there. First, what does that mean? And secondly, at what appointment? ”, she wondered aloud. “There is no more federal funding. The next infrastructure package is planned for 2026. […] 14% is very little,” she said, hoping to see Ottawa’s aid increase in the coming months.
With Tommy Chouinard, The Press