The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD, also known by its former acronym MTQ) is a misnomer. Four former Ministers of Transport agree with the current holder of the position, Geneviève Guilbault, who this week made a harsh diagnosis of her ministry: the expertise necessary for carrying out major public transport projects almost does not exist at MTMD.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s verdict seemed clear on state television on Monday: the construction of public transport infrastructure in Quebec “takes a long time, it’s expensive, it’s complicated”, particularly in due to the lack of institutional competence in this area.
“Unfortunately, it’s true,” underlines Sylvain Gaudreault, former transport manager in Pauline Marois’ office, between 2012 and 2014. “She’s right. There is, in the MTQ, a culture much more oriented towards road transport than towards public transport. Was this more justifiable 10 years ago? Maybe. Is this still justifiable today? I find not. »
The budgetary distribution, he deplores, has not changed much since his time at the head of the ministry. “At the time, road transport took up three quarters of the available money. Public transport was content with the last quarter. » The latest Quebec Infrastructure Plan, that of 2023-2033, narrows the disparity, but without eliminating it: $31.5 billion goes to the road network, $13.8 billion goes to the collective.
This state of affairs goes back a long way. Serge Ménard also remembers having led, 20 years ago, “a very busy ministry. These were generally projects intended for automobiles, he explains to Duty. We did not attach the same importance to public transportation as today. »
Even if the time has come for collective mobility in the name of the fight against climate change, the MTMD is slow to adapt its expertise. “It’s as if the Ministry of Transport had never made the shift towards sustainable mobility,” laments Sylvain Gaudreault. It is not enough to change your name; it must also be reflected in action. »
The liberal successor of the former PQ minister, Robert Poëti, also noted that the MTMD was poorly equipped to carry out large-scale public transport projects. “Expertise has existed for a long time when it comes to building viaducts or bridges. On the other hand, when it comes to large-scale projects like the REM or the tramway, can you name a single project that was carried out by Quebec? The answer is no. »
Another former minister does not mince his words. “The MTQ, in public transport, is a big zero,” declares this former ministry official who prefers not to give his name. Supporting evidence, according to him: the SRB on Pie-IX Boulevard, in Montreal, a saga that began in 2009, but concluded with the commissioning of the service in 2022, 13 years, four governments and nine Ministers of Transport later .
“It’s really incredible,” this former minister is still surprised about this episode. If you combine all the transportation companies in Quebec, the expertise will normally be there in bus management. As soon as you move to the major leagues, however, you no longer have anyone. »
In his eyes, the only public entity that has truly developed public transportation worthy of the name is Montreal with its metro. The achievement, however, dates back to 1966: since that time, he declares unequivocally, successive governments have never had to mobilize their Ministry of Transport to manage the collective, because it is the cities which, automatically, occupied them, aided by government funding.
Breaking the road culture
Minister Geneviève Guilbault promises to present solutions at the beginning of 2024. Already, the outlines of a transport agency are emerging, which agency has been mentioned many times by the Prime Minister and his Deputy Prime Minister.
The idea appeals to former minister Sylvain Gaudreault. Already, in 2013, he himself tried to create an agency with the aim of depoliticizing concrete in Quebec and “breaking the road culture” within the Ministry of Transport.
“Unfortunately, we still very much associate road development with political promises. Extending a road, widening a highway, creating a bypass, it pays off politically, he observes. It’s less and less, but there was a moment when the ribbon-cutting syndrome was very present and we have to get out of that. »
His agency, as he conceived it 10 years ago, would have had the mandate to implement the major directions determined by the Ministry of Transport. “The government, for example, would state the objective of reducing solo car use by a certain percentage, but it would be up to the agency to achieve it. This would concentrate expertise in the same place and would avoid playing yo-yo as with the third link, believes the former PQ minister, who evokes this promised tunnel, disowned then resurrected as “the best counter-example” of political management of a transport file.
“One good morning, the Prime Minister gets up and, because he is disappointed with the result of a by-election, he decides to relaunch the third link that he had buried a few months earlier. It’s very, very, very political,” explains Sylvain Gaudreault.
Robert Poëti, for his part, doubts that salvation comes in the form of agency. “Why should we build expertise internally? I’m making a caricature, but it’s like wanting to build the best hockey team in the world for a single season: with no budget limit, we recruit the best players, the best coaches, we build the best amphitheater… but for one year. There would be many small affairs here and there in public transport, but another project of the magnitude of the REM, in Quebec, will not happen for quite a few moons, in my opinion. »