(Quebec) Régis Labeaume’s tramway project remains on track in Quebec. The new mayor of the capital is maintaining the pace and will inject nearly 300 million in 2022, even if he expressed reservations and said he wanted at all costs to avoid “the errors of Ottawa”.
Bruno Marchand presented on Tuesday a first budget in the continuity, with a tax increase of 2.2% in line with inflation and a decrease in the debt of ten million.
The City will continue in 2022 the installation of the tram. It intends to spend 284 million to prepare the streets to accommodate the rails. Since the announcement of the project in 2018, 226 million had been spent.
This means that by the end of next year, half a billion will have been injected into this important public transport project valued at 3.3 billion. The City presents it as the most important investment in its history.
But even if millions are raining, the new mayor does not hide his concerns about the failures of the Ottawa light rail, marked since its launch in 2019 by irregularities.
“Currently the situation in Ottawa is not good. There is a commission of inquiry which has been triggered, ”launched the mayor on Monday evening during the city council. “We are obliged to learn from what is already known and from what the commission of inquiry will teach us. ”
We promise not to repeat Ottawa’s mistakes. And if we are not sure that we are not able to repeat them, we will not shoot ourselves into the wall with this project.
Bruno Marchand
“We are going to take the right actions, we will have to correct the situation. It is out of the question that we repeat what others have done, we must learn from others, ”continues Bruno Marchand, who was committed in the election campaign to carry out the project launched in 2018 by Régis Labeaume.
But he did not fail to criticize the outgoing administration on its way of communicating with the population, or even the some 600 trees threatened on the route of the tram.
Bruno Marchand promised to take stock with the population during the second week of January. “The administration will take stock of the tram and what is next,” said the mayor.
A surprise in the budget
Although conservative, the Marchand administration’s first budget contained a little surprise. The owners of buildings that accommodate restaurants, hotels or retail businesses will be entitled to a property tax credit.
This “pandemic” measure will affect nearly 1,200 owners. The credit will represent 10% of the taxes of the eligible owners. The sum will be a minimum of $ 100 and a maximum of $ 5,000 per building.
However, the City has not put any mechanism in place to ensure that owners pass these credits on to their commercial tenants.