Quebec will finance the lion’s share of the purchase of $ 5 billion in electric buses, but it is not certain that these will be Quebec buses.
Prime Minister François Legault made the announcement Wednesday as part of COP26, the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference taking place in Scotland.
The Prime Minister specified that the government of Quebec will provide $ 3.65 billion in this contract while the rest of the envelope will come from the federal government and transport companies.
See also: Three challenges of COP26
At a press conference at an Edinburgh hotel, Legault added that some $ 2.4 billion will be used to purchase vehicles and $ 2.6 billion will be spent on adapting garages at the nine companies. of public transport in Quebec.
The Quebec government has already started discussions with Quebec builders like Novabus and Lion Électrique, but a foreign manufacturer could very well win the contract, which Mr. Legault has not ruled out.
However, he signaled that the government would ensure that as many of these vehicles as possible are designed and assembled in Quebec.
With this contract, Quebec will supply half of the entire electric bus order book in North America.
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