The mayor of Montreal deplored on Tuesday the constant increase in the number of cars in the metropolitan region, while pleading for an improvement in the public transport offer, “the key” according to her to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the still very polluting transport sector.
“When we know that the main emitting sector is the transport sector and that the number of cars is increasing faster than the population in the metropolitan region, we need guidance” from the government of Quebec, but also from the City, “to improve public transportation,” she pleaded during a press briefing at the opening of the Montreal Climate Summit.
“The directions from the government are there, but we need to go further. Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon himself said that the number of cars must be reduced. We therefore need the will of the Quebec government to take specific actions,” added the mayor. The Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, has already mentioned the need to significantly reduce the number of cars on the roads of the province, if Quebec wishes to reach the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Currently, the road transport sector alone represents 32% of Quebec’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to 2021 data.
And since 1990, the sector’s total energy consumption has increased by 41%, in a context where the fleet of personal vehicles has increased by 57%, “an increase more than twice that of the province’s population growth.” , specifies the most recent edition of the State of Energy in Quebec. According to the most recent data available, there are approximately 4.8 million gasoline-powered passenger cars and light trucks on Quebec’s roads.
In Montreal alone, the transportation sector represents 47.2% of the most recent assessment, that of 2022, which reached 11.2 million tonnes of GHGs. Emissions are also on the rise, in the context of emerging from the pandemic. And there are approximately two million vehicles in the metropolitan region, including nearly a million in Montreal alone.
According to Mme Plante, it is therefore more urgent than ever to achieve collaboration between the City, transport companies and the Legault government to increase the supply of public transport, a sector which is crumbling more than ever under the weight of deficits. “We must stop seeing public transport as an expense, but rather see it as an investment,” she repeated in the morning, in front of participants at the Montreal Climate Summit.
The Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM), which oversees all transport organizations in the greater Montreal region, anticipates a deficit of 561 million for 2025 and an even higher shortfall for the following years. Quebec says it is ready to extend $200 million.
“Basic” offer
However, Mayor Valérie Plante met on Monday with the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, to discuss this thorny financial issue. “The minister has shown her interest in finding short-term solutions”, but it is also crucial to see the long term, argued Ms.me Plant. “If we want more people, if we want to reduce the number of solo drivers, if we want to densify in an intelligent way and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, public transport is the key,” he said. -she insists.
For the moment, Geneviève Guilbault says she wants to resolve the contentious question of financing for the year 2025 before the summer.
The mayor of Montreal also wants to be reassuring: there is no question of reducing services. “The transport offer is fundamental. I will always do everything not to touch the transport offer. We need more supply, not less,” she argued to journalists.
The Minister of the Environment of Quebec, Benoit Charette, for his part maintained on Tuesday that the CAQ government is already very involved in financing public transport. “The contribution of the Government of Quebec has never been as high as under the current government. So, the government is there,” he said, recalling in particular commitments of a billion dollars coming from carbon market revenues.
Should we only tackle deficits, or should we also improve supply? “We must first find a way to stem the deficits. The Quebec government cannot be there only to erase deficits. We must find the causes and correct the problems,” he said, saying he is hopeful that “interesting solutions” will arise from the performance audits of transport companies ordered by the Legault government.
The Transit Alliance, which brings together around sixty environmental organizations, however, calls on the government to see beyond the question of the performance of transport companies. “We are in favor of audits of transport companies, but perhaps we should also do them for motorways? Frankly, let’s stop talking about deficits, let’s also think about the benefits in terms of reducing congestion, savings for households, health and the environment, and let’s adopt the solutions that are within our reach to finance an essential service. insists Florence Junca-Adenot, transport expert and professor at UQAM.