François Legault ensures that there is no question of increasing the tax burden on motorists, even if the Ministère des Transports (MTQ) is interested, in a call for tenders, in the possibility of imposing a surcharge such as the one proposed by Québec solidaire. But it is not excluded in the long term, warns François Bonnardel.
• Read also: Environment: Quebec is considering a tax that Legault ridiculed
According to the documents consulted by our Bureau of Inquiry, the MTQ wishes to study not one, but six ways of compensating for the eventual loss of revenue related to the gasoline tax by imposing, among other things, a tax on polluting vehicles.
This solution, already in place in some European countries, is reminiscent of the surcharge put forward by Québec solidaire, which François Legault demonized throughout the election campaign, calling it an “orange tax”.
Hard to swallow for QS
By reading the details of this invitation to tender in the pages of the Log“I swallowed my coffee crookedly and I fell out of my chair”, reacted the united deputy Ruba Ghazal, who sees, in this news, a demonstration of the hypocrisy of François Legault.
” [Le ministre sortant de l’Environnement] Benoit Charette told us that it was going to cause a social crisis, ”recalled Ms. Ghazal. However, some of the scenarios that the MTQ wants to study “go much further than what Québec solidaire proposes”, she observed.
“There was a lack of transparency [de la part de la CAQ]. […] Was François Legault aware [de cet appel d’offres] ? […] We were honest and we were brave with Quebecers, ”said Ms. Ghazal.
- Listen to Benoit Dutrizac’s interview with President and CEO of the Corporation of Quebec Automobile Dealers on QUB radio:
The PM hasn’t changed his mind
Invited to react, the entourage of the Prime Minister stressed that it is only a call for tenders. “It absolutely does not change our position. We promised it, we said it, we repeat it: there is no question of increasing the tax burden of Quebecers, ”insisted the press secretary of François Legault, Ewan Sauves.
“These are only scenarios looked at by the MTQ, in the long term. But we rule out from the outset to increase the tax burden of Quebecers, ”he assured, arguing that the CAQ wishes on the contrary, to put more money in the pockets of taxpayers.
The outgoing Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, does not rule out the addition of new taxes in the long term. He assures, however, that there will be none during the mandate that begins.
“In the next four years, unlike the orange tax, we do not intend to add any new tax, not at all, there, none,” he insisted, on LCN. Mr. Bonnardel finds it “normal and healthy” that the MTQ is studying new methods of financing.
“We project ourselves in 15-20 years by saying to ourselves: if we have a target of 100% green vehicles in 2035, how are we going to finance our new infrastructures? he wondered.
— With the collaboration of Gabriel Côté, QMI Agency