(Quebec) The Legault government wants to extend to all cities the power to tax motorists that it gave to the metropolitan community of Montreal to finance public transportation.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Andrée Laforest must table a last-minute amendment to the bill on municipal taxation which would allow other cities, such as Quebec, Sherbrooke or Gatineau for example, to imitate the CMM. THE Sun had reported the news in the morning.
In April, his government allowed the CMM to bill residents of the suburbs of Montreal for the registration tax imposed on Montrealers for more than 10 years. The objective is to better finance public transport. Starting in 2024, the amount billed to motorists will be $59, and it will be collected by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec.
This is a change of direction for the CAQ government, which had the credo of not increasing taxes.
For example, in 2020, the former Minister of Transport François Bonnardel opposed it: “It’s no. There will be no $50 tax for suburban motorists.” In 2018, Chantal Rouleau, who was then minister responsible for the Metropolis and delegate for Transport, responded that he was “not in [l’] intention [de son gouvernement] to increase citizens’ taxes.
But this shift takes place in a context of crisis in the financing of public transport, and of a standoff between municipal elected officials and the government of Quebec to know who should pay for public transport. Minister Laforest also agrees to the request from the municipal sector.
Not enough, according to the UMQ
“It is indeed a request made by the UMQ and its members, that the government of Quebec allow municipalities that wish to implement a tax on registration […] in order to help finance public transportation,” indicates Léa Carrière, press officer for the Union of Municipalities of Quebec.
But this tax will not solve everything, warns the organization.
In a context where we have known for several years – well before the pandemic – that the financing model for public transport operations no longer works, due to stagnation of revenues and an increase in expenses, this tax represents a tool more to generate income, but it is not a panacea.
Léa Carrière, press officer for the Union of Municipalities of Quebec
The UMQ notes that in the territory of the CMM, the implementation of this tax will generate “around 125 million in new revenue for 2024”.
The cities are still asking that the Quebec government come to an agreement with them to establish a “financial framework for the years 2025 and beyond in order to ensure the predictability, stability and sustainability of public transport operations.”