Quebec is determined to complete the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) project in the East. So the government could pay a larger share of the bill.
This is what the Minister responsible for the Metropolis, Chantal Rouleau, suggested on Wednesday when accosted in the corridors of the National Assembly. “We are in discussion,” she said.
“The Mayor [de Montréal Valérie Plante] says “I need a billion dollars”. Well, is it a billion, is it 1.5 billion? We need public transport, and it’s the REM de l’Est, ”reiterated the elected caquist. The day before, she had maintained the need to see the electric train project born, despite significant reservations expressed by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority.
However, Wednesday morning, The Press reported that the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) also takes a dim view of the network supposed to be set up in the eastern metropolitan area. “The Eastern REM will have a major impact on the structure of the bus network,” says an internal memo obtained by the Montreal daily.
On Wednesday, Ms. Rouleau was indignant at the STM’s analysis. “It comes from a drawer of the former director who has just resigned,” she said. It is a thinly veiled arrow towards the resigning general manager of the parapublic organization, Luc Tremblay. In the days following the announcement of his departure, he strongly criticized the public transit funding model in Greater Montreal.
“I don’t see why they don’t want to participate in the REM de l’Est,” she added in English.
Further details will follow.
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