I have taken public transport every week for over 40 years.
I know the importance of service frequency for users and its effects on ridership.
I also know the importance of public transport for the fluidity of all modes of transport, and therefore for the economy and society, particularly the less fortunate.
Above all, I know that public transport is one of the central solutions to our major problems of global warming.
I know all this, but I cannot support the revolt of the opposition and friends of public transport against the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault.
And at the same time, I welcome the call for solidarity solutions launched by the mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer1.
Let me explain.
By declaring that the management of public transport is not her responsibility, Minister Guilbault appears insensitive to the impacts of the enormous network deficits. For the greater Montreal region, the gap would increase from 561 million in 2025 to 700 million in 2028.
In reality, the CAQ government wants to send the message to cities and transport companies that they too will have to bear the brunt of difficult decisions, especially since the government will already have a lot to make, with its big deficit of 11 billion. Forget the simple check from Quebec.
In his open letter, the mayor of Laval identifies two solutions to get out of the impasse: increasing motorist taxes and reopening conventions. This statement is courageous, since reopening collective agreements, even if a major crisis justifies it, is heresy in the public sector in Quebec.
The CAQ government does not want to bear these heavy responsibilities. The Caquists are allergic to taxes. Motorists are already being hit by the rise in the price of gasoline, an increase which will necessarily continue with the mechanics of the carbon market.
Above all, the CAQ government does not want to be held responsible for a reopening of collective agreements, which is struggling to get out of its negotiations with its own employees, such as nurses, in particular.
Transport companies, it should be remembered, have sometimes granted irresponsible salary increases to their employees, despite the collapse in ridership.
At the Société de transport de Laval, for example, the 2022-2026 agreement provides that salary increases in line with inflation, which reached 6.8% in 2022 and 3.9% in 2023. Which organization can survive by offering such increases in the midst of an income crisis?
Bus drivers already earn a very good living, especially in the Montreal region. An STM driver received an average salary of $83,140 in 2022, an amount which rises to $112,130 if we include the value of social benefits, notably the generous pension plan.
In Laval and Longueuil, these average salaries will be around $85,000 in 2022, $106,000 with social benefits.2. And what about the remuneration of senior executives of these companies, which had absolutely not suffered from the collapse of the network in 2022?3 ?
As for municipal employees other than those in public transport, their remuneration was 36% more generous than that of the Quebec government in 2023 for comparable positions.4. There are many millions to be recovered there.
At the same time, the mayor of Laval is right. The cuts will not be enough to get through this, in particular because the fixed costs of transport companies are too high.
However, the intervention of the Quebec government is practically essential to reduce costs beyond traditional cuts, in addition to increasing ridership.
This is the case for some of the solutions proposed by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority (ARTM).
The ARTM has identified around ten options which could reduce the public transport bill by around 125 million per year, explains the mayor in his letter. Among them is the pooling of certain services (security, technologies, etc.), but also the grouping of certain transport organizations.
However, these proposals would require legislative changes from the Quebec government.
The reopening of certain collective agreements would also require support from Quebec. Historically, cities have had very little negotiating power with municipal unions. Unlike businesses, they cannot threaten union members with a lockout.
Transport companies, for their part, lost an important battle last summer in a judgment by the Administrative Labor Court. According to this judgment, there is no obligation to maintain essential services in public transport during a strike.
This decision further weakens the employer’s bargaining power5. And without intervention from Quebec – as was the case for municipal pension plans – the game seems lost in advance.
In short, cities certainly have a difficult job to do – and not just to raise the tax on registration – but they necessarily need Quebec to get by.
This is what made the mayor of Laval say: “We will need a captain who has the power to change things. Because to implement solutions that will reduce expenses or increase revenues, it will be necessary to modify laws, open conventions, reform institutions, use government land, etc. “.
Ultimately, everyone will have to contribute: municipalities, transport companies, employees, motorists, the government of Quebec (possibly with the green fund)… and perhaps users, if they do not become more numerous again. .
For the good of all, the various stakeholders have an interest in drawing up a common game plan to achieve this… and as quickly as possible.
1. Read the letter from the mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer
2. Read the column “Public transportation: deficits and bus driver pay”
3. Read the column “Public transport bosses: a big paycheck intact, despite the crisis”
4. The study by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec (ISQ) dates from six months ago. Even if this gap of 36% has narrowed with the recent increase granted to the Common Front of Government of Quebec Employees, it remains significant.
5. Consult the summary of the judgment