Housing vacancy rate of barely 1%, explosion of the itinerant population almost everywhere in the city, structural deficit of several millions at the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO), floods, tornadoes, droughts and heatwaves… Gatineau is doing its best in the face of these crises, but its hands are tied.
It’s the same elsewhere in Quebec: cities, which are often the custodians of projects and solutions carried out by the community, have limited room for maneuver to carry them out without the resources. Remember that cities only have 10% of the tax base, but hold around 80% of the infrastructure.
However, Prime Minister Legault was sharp on Thursday: “Mayors, it’s always easier to beg in Quebec.” This explains that.
The Prime Minister defended remarks made a little earlier by the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault: public transport is not a responsibility of the State.
In other words, we have just put our finger on the problem. If Quebec is so far from its targets in housing, mobility, health and social services or the environment, it is because it thinks that these are not its responsibilities. It continues to shovel problems into the hands of municipalities, without giving them the tools to manage the solutions. Get it sorted!
All over the world, cities (like Gatineau) are assuming more and more responsibilities for issues that, in the past, were the sole responsibility of national governments, like the government of Quebec. The province, more than ever, needs cities to achieve its own objectives, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing poverty and homelessness, and reviving the economic hearts of our cities. Instead of being partners, they are entitled to second-class treatment.
While cities are on the front lines and managing crises as front-line responders, Mr. Legault seems to ignore their role in the face of the major challenges we are experiencing, collectively.
Quebec’s mayors are ready to build more just, dynamic and sustainable communities, but they do not perform magic. It’s like asking them to do open-heart operations with disposable utensils: it doesn’t work! And the problems that Quebec ignores are only growing.
When will we give cities the means to be part of the solution? I know what we would be capable of in Gatineau, and I want to fight for it.