(Quebec) The Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, believes that she has nothing to do with the decision of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM) to increase the tax on registration from $59 to $150, even if it is his government which gave this power to the municipalities and they are struggling to pay the deficit of their transport companies.
“It is a decision of the municipalities, it is a power which rests exclusively with the municipalities. […] This is a power that has been requested for a long time, so they exercised their municipal power. It has no link with the government,” said the minister in a press scrum at the National Assembly on Friday.
The CMM maintains that elected officials were “forced” to increase this tax. “This measure aims to make up for the shortfall to complete the financial framework estimated at 561 million, after the optimization efforts made by the transport companies,” writes the CMM in a press release.
The Montreal Metropolitan Community suggests that it could reverse its decision if the Quebec government increased its contribution for public transportation.
Relations are tense between the municipalities and Minister Guilbault regarding the deficits of transport companies.
She proposes to absorb part of the deficits to the tune of 200 million. This is not enough, according to the CMM, which points to a “decrease of 38 million compared to aid for 2024 which was already far from meeting needs”.
“Common sense”
Geneviève Guilbault maintains that her government is extremely generous when it comes to public transportation. “The government has given 2.3 billion for public transportation alone since the pandemic,” she said.
“All of Quebec’s regions cannot systematically absorb deficits of half a billion dollars for public transportation in Greater Montreal, so it’s common sense,” added the minister.
Mme Guilbault also pointed out the “complete disengagement” of the federal government. “It does not finance public transport operations and it no longer even has programs to finance public transport infrastructure,” she said.
Read Registration tax will increase to $150 starting in January 2025