The mayor of Quebec will have a close eye on the Quebec budget, presented tomorrow, and hopes to find answers to his requests, particularly on social housing.
• Read also: Third link against tramway: “I am not for sale”, launches Bruno Marchand
“I can’t wait to see. The minister made no promises to us. The requests we have made are really important and urgent, ”launched Bruno Marchand on Monday.
His administration had requested 250 new social housing units and 250 affordable housing units per year for five years.
The majority of cities in Quebec, including the capital, have made it a priority, he recalled. “It’s been a very long time since we issued new building permits related to social housing. However, the needs increase from year to year.
He also asked for a helping hand from the government in sustainable development and infrastructure. “Reasonable” requests, according to him.
“Our demands were clear, they were presented, and the explanations of why were made.”
In addition to social housing, the Marchand administration is asking for $140 million, among other things, for the sustainability of municipal infrastructures, the preservation of heritage and the decontamination of urban land.
Air quality
The leader of the opposition, Claude Villeneuve, has also said that he hopes that the demands of the City have been heard with regard to social housing.
For his part, he insisted on a request made by his team, Quebec first, namely the addition of air quality sampling stations in the lower town.
“The Ministry of the Environment is chronically underfunded in Quebec and if we want to have a Ministry of the Environment that is capable of ensuring the quality of our atmosphere and that is capable of evaluating projects so that authorizations come out, he must be able to do his checks [de la qualité de l’air]. We hope that tomorrow there will be announcements on this.”
tram
For his part, the leader of the second opposition, Éric Ralph Mercier, reiterated his wishes for the budget, in particular that the government reveal “the real costs of the tramway” and that it provide additional assistance to public transport companies in order to enable them to absorb the losses caused by the pandemic.
He also wants the construction of the overpass at the intersection of the Robert-Bourassa highway and Lebourgneuf boulevard.