(Montreal) The mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand believes that François Legault was “too quick on the trigger” by flatly refusing the establishment of a “green pact” in order to meet needs estimated at 2 billion for the adaptation of municipalities to climate change. The mayoress of Longueuil Catherine Fournier also believes that “Mother Nature” called the chief caquist to order with the torrential rains that hit the Montreal region.
Posted at 12:04 p.m.
Updated at 1:01 p.m.
“I would have liked and I still want more openness,” lamented the mayor of Quebec, on the sidelines of the electoral summit of the Union of Quebec municipalities (UMQ) which is being held Friday in Montreal. Bruno Marchand reacted to the declaration of the leader of the Coalition avenir Québec who refused a few days ago to create a “green pact” at the request of large cities to help them deal with climate change.
“If we asked for it, it’s because it’s a need, there’s an emergency,” he added in a press scrum. “You can’t say no to that. We can say, and I hope so on the part of the Prime Minister and the party leaders, to take the time to examine it, to see what we can do to support a municipality, because we are the ones who are front row seats to the effects of climate change on citizens,” he said.
Cities are asking for funds to carry out projects to prepare for natural disasters linked to climate change, rather than always reacting in disaster. A few hours after this exit, François Legault quickly closed the door to the request of the big cities, citing the “ability to pay of Quebecers”, while he is already striving to reduce the tax burden in this period of inflation.
Bruno Marchand does not hesitate to say it: François Legault was “too quickly on the trigger” when the demand from the cities required at the very least a reflection. Three days ago, Valérie Plante, Bruno Marchand, Catherine Fournier and Stéphane Boyer, from Montreal, Quebec, Longueuil and Laval, met with other elected officials to launch an appeal to all political parties.
After the refusal, the deluge
PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Catherine Fournier
The mayoress of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, also regretted the rapid refusal of François Legault. She reminded him that a few hours after the exit of the outgoing Prime Minister, the equivalent of a month of rain fell on the city of Longueuil.
“I believe Mother Nature immediately responded to her. Ill advanced too quickly and I dare to believe that he will perhaps walk with the events that occurred in the following hours, “launched Mme Fournier.
“I dare to believe that with Tuesday’s event, his position may change. I hope as soon as possible. […] We are very determined to make the message understood, and we feel that the citizens are behind us. There is cohesion. There is a change of course in the municipal world,” she added.
Mme Fournier recognizes that there are already funds available, particularly for greening. But updating and upgrading infrastructure requires much larger sums. And that’s not counting the cost of extreme weather events. “Even though we have improved our infrastructure, there has been so much rain in a short time that there is a limit to what we will be able to do. It comes with a huge bill for a city,” she explained.
She points out that municipalities are responsible for 58% of public infrastructure, but only 8% of the tax base. “There is a fiscal imbalance between the government and the cities. This is why we are calling for the green pact without compensation, ”she said.
Mayor Marchand hailed the efforts of CAQ troops to want to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the CAQ wants to reduce them by 37.5% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. — but feels that this is a completely different issue. “What we’re talking about here, we’re not reducing GHGs, we’re adapting to climate change, including building a sewer network that is capable of supporting the loads of new weather,” he said. he explains.
The leaders of all political parties will parade before the members of the UMQ on Friday.