While the election campaign is well underway, we, mayors of Quebec, are impatiently awaiting to know the identity of the next person who will occupy the position of Minister of Transport of Quebec.
Posted yesterday at 1:00 p.m.
In fact, in order to make our municipalities safer and more lively places, the collaboration of the new person in charge of the department will be essential and we thought of making known our expectations regarding the management of numbered roads to this person, who is currently a candidate for the general election.
Difficult to intervene to secure the roads
For several years, municipalities across Quebec have denounced the inaction of the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MTQ) in securing the roads under its management in the heart of our towns and villages. These roads cross our living environments and directly affect the quality of life and the safety of our fellow citizens. We are moreover several mayors and mayors to have launched a cry from the heart1 a few months ago to sound the alarm about this situation which affects all regions of Quebec.
Municipalities are trying to do their part to fight climate change, but they cannot do it alone.
It is impossible for us to promote active mobility when our main streets constitute barriers, where the speed of traffic is too high, when the automobile reigns supreme, when no infrastructure welcomes pedestrians and encourages crossing safe.
We hope that the next person at the head of the Ministère des Transports will contribute to the creation of a safer and more lively Quebec.
With the pandemic, our fellow citizens have discovered or rediscovered active mobility. The Québec of tomorrow takes into account the needs of all road users. It is a society that no longer accepts that the dead are part of the “rules of the game”. It is a future where our main roads are no longer considered as highways, but rather as friendly, welcoming and safe living environments, where we find local businesses, schools, hospitals, residences for people elderly, parks, etc. In short, our towns and villages are lively places, frequented by everyone who moves around safely.
For us, the Ministère des Transports of tomorrow would have an action plan, as well as the necessary human and financial resources, to respond to requests from municipalities aimed at securing the roads of the higher network located within urban perimeters. The Department would decentralize the management of certain roads under its responsibility, accompanied by the necessary financial support, through agreements with municipalities that have the financial and human capacity to do so.
It would also implement the Vision Zero approach, which aims for zero deaths and serious injuries on the roads, an approach that has been proven internationally and in North America. Several municipalities in Canada and Quebec have adopted it, as has the Sûreté du Québec. It would be a ministry rooted in the 21ste century, which would act proactively to promote sustainable mobility, thus contributing to improving the safety and health of the population, while making it possible to achieve its environmental targets.
But above all, it is a department that would listen and work in partnership with the municipalities, local governments that are at the forefront of the concerns of the people of Quebec.
Future Minister of Transport, we hope that you will share our vision and look forward to collaborating with you, for the benefit of the citizens of Quebec!
* Co-signatories: Serge Bergeron, Mayor of Roberval; Marie Boivin and Roxane Ouellet, respectively mayoress and municipal councilor of Orford; André Champagne, Mayor of Saint-Thomas; Lucie Dagenais, Mayor of Frelighsburg; Paul Germain, Mayor of Prévost; Guillaume Lamoureux, Mayor of La Pêche