Geneviève Guilbault warmly welcomes the idea of a new tax on registration, to finance public transit in Quebec, but since “money cannot be invented”, she agrees, “all avenues” deserve be explored.
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“We discuss it. The mayor of Quebec had already vaguely mentioned the thing to me when I had met him on all the transport files, ”said the Minister of Transport on Monday.
Ms. Guilbault reacted to our article on the fact that the Communauté métropolitaine de Québec (CMQ) is studying the possibility of imitating Montreal and approaching the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) to levy an additional tax in the region of Quebec as well as in Lévis, on the same registration.
“I am not saying that I am for or against a new tax. Of course, I’m not keen on the idea of new taxes either. We are in full inflation, ”she first dropped.
“But at the same time you have to be lucid, serene and intelligent in this reflection. Gasoline tax will go down. We’re going to have 1.6 million light electric vehicles on the roads in 2030, so that’s less money coming from the purchase of gasoline. It’s part of a much broader discussion that I’m having with elected officials on public transit funding, so I want to take the time to do things right with the people concerned. »
Nothing decided, assures Marchand
Questioned in turn, the mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand also argued that the reflection on the financing of public transport was much broader. Many scenarios – such as the registration tax – will indeed be studied for 2024 and subsequent years, in collaboration with the Quebec government, but nothing has been decided yet, he assured.
“Will these taxes be part of the measures we are going to put in place? Today, do not bet on it. We haven’t gotten there. It is not because we are studying it that we are going to put it in place, ”insisted the one who also chairs the CMQ. His right arm, Pierre-Luc Lachance, had however mentioned in an interview a possible establishment “in the medium term”, before 2025.
In the Vision on sustainable mobility on the horizon of 2041, unveiled last Friday, the CMQ nevertheless wrote black on white that it intends to draw inspiration from the experience of the metropolis “in terms of eco-taxation, in particular taxation at benefit of public transport. »
Opposition reaction
According to the elected representatives of Équipe Priorité Québec, Patrick Paquet and Stevens Mélançon, there is no longer any doubt that the mayor is waging a war on the automobile. They also accuse him of hiding his true intentions from the population.
Without commenting on the substance, the Leader of the Opposition, Claude Villeneuve, believes that this idea of an additional tax for motorists – to finance public transit – comes at a very bad time and sends a “terrible message ” To the population. “That’s not how we’re going to sell the tramway and increase support for the project, especially on the outskirts. »
The head of Transition Québec Jackie Smith and the organization Accès Transports Viables encouraged the CMQ to go ahead with an additional tax on registration and to use all the levers that the law places at its disposal.
– With the collaboration of Marc-André Gagnon