The related cities of Montreal are unanimous: the new Plante-Ollivier administration may mark a new era in terms of collaboration. Beyond cost sharing, these 15 municipalities are demanding to be heard “upstream” of executive decisions, in order to be truly included in the discussions.
“If we already had a say before decisions were made, in short, if we were able to sit down for real before the executive made a decision and we heard our opinions, our fears, would already be a good step forward ”, explains to Press the president of the Association of Suburban Municipalities (AMB), Beny Masella.
He asserts that by “really” listening to the linked cities, the central city could “adapt” certain decisions to the benefit of all. “Having representatives on the board of directors of the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, for example, would be necessary for us to have real representation,” argues the one who is also mayor of Montreal West.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, PRESS ARCHIVES
Dominique Ollivier is the new president of the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
“A new administration, it can open the door a little, but we wait to see what it will give with the president of the executive committee, Dominique Ollivier”, continues Mr. Masella, who hopes that this new mandate will mark a new opening to “Survey the related cities”.
The reality is that decisions are made at the executive committee and then they are sent to the municipal council, to end with the agglomeration. It is only the third channel. We therefore have no power to change things.
Beny Masella, President of the Association of Suburban Municipalities
In the office of Mayor Valérie Plante, we refrain from failing to listen to linked cities. “During our first mandate, we have always listened to the demands and needs of related cities, and this is what we will continue to do in our current mandate. Files and budgets are also always presented upstream. If the related cities want more information sharing, our administration will be happy to sit down with them, ”said press secretary Marikym Gaudreault.
She recalls that the related cities also participate “fully in the governance of the agglomeration via the agglomeration council, the board of directors of the CMM, the board of directors of the STM and the committees of the municipal council” .
The quota debate
For several years now, the AMB has denounced the closure of successive Montreal administrations to review the sharing of the costs of services, also called “quotas”. This is one of the reasons why, almost systematically, the linked cities oppose the budget of the central city.
Much of the advocacy is based on the fact that the citizens of the linked towns pay a higher sum than the rest of the inhabitants of the island.
At present, these demerged cities in fact assume more than 17% of the costs of urban services, while they represent only 12% of the population. The City of Montreal pays 83% of the costs even though it represents 88% of the population.
In Quebec City, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, set up a “working committee” last year to negotiate an agreement on cost-sharing in the areas of public safety, public transport, waste and waste. potable water. But a year later, “nothing has changed,” laments Beny Masella. “We really had hope that things will move, but there has been no progress,” he lambasted.
“It’s always the same closure. We are already hearing that in the next budget, there will be a big increase in quotas. They can say that it is because of the pandemic, but the reality is that the governance of the agglomeration does not work ”, insists Mr. Masella.
Last week, the National Assembly also tabled Private Bill 200, which postpones the initial deadline of December 31, 2021 for the harmonization of the tax structure between Montreal and the territories of the former cities until December 31. 2024. In this regard, the City indicates that “the harmonization of the water tax” will have to be done “in such a way as to limit as much as possible the financial impact on small traders”, saying it is “relieved to see that this bill will be studied quickly ”.