The tax increase of nearly $100 that will be imposed next year in the greater Montreal region is not a “Guilbault tax,” defends the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault. “It has nothing to do with the government,” she said Friday.
Accosted before question period, at the National Assembly, the elected CAQ refused to take responsibility for the choices made Thursday by the elected officials of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM). They adopted a resolution at an extraordinary meeting to increase the tax on car registration: it will go from $59 to $150 on 1er next January.
“It is a decision of the municipalities, it is a power which rests exclusively with the municipalities. […] So, they exercised their municipal power,” noted Ms. Guilbault on Friday, before specifying that “there is no notion of letting [les municipalités porter] the odiousness” of their decision.
When adopting this significant tax increase on Thursday, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, said she was not doing it cheerfully. In a context of deficits among operators, it is however a “responsible way” of financing public transport, she added. “We know to what extent this is not an easy context for citizens. And we know that in certain corners of the CMM, there are very few transportation options. »
The Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority, which governs all transport organizations in the greater Montreal region, anticipates deficits of $561 million for 2025. During a meeting with the region’s mayors, earlier in May, Minister Guilbault said she wanted to resolve this problem by the summer.
The offer on the table from Quebec: absorb a good part of the economic deficits linked in particular to the pandemic. This equates to approximately $200 million.
Guilbault says he is “already extremely generous”
At a press conference Friday morning, Québec solidaire MP Alexandre Leduc accused Mme Guilbault for forcing the hand of the municipalities in this matter. “There should be better funding for public transport from Mme Guilbault. It’s a bit like the Guilbault tax, which is proposed to us by the cities,” he explained to journalists.
Asked about this, the minister reiterated that “it does not concern the government”. “The proof is that they took a vote yesterday at the CMM. The vote passed,” she observed.
For the moment, Minister Guilbault is maintaining her offer of some 200 million to the cities. The CMM says it is ready to lower its tax increase, but only if it increases it.
Questioned on this subject, Friday, the elected CAQ member repeated that she was “already extremely generous[se] “. ” They [les maires] are aware that the government cannot absorb a deficit of 560 million only for Greater Montreal,” she said.