Quebecers should not have to pay to use the province’s ferries, according to the Liberal Party, which will make this service free if it comes to power next October.
Passing through the Magdalen Islands on Saturday morning, Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said that Quebec residents should not pay to use the ferries, since they would not have paid if there had been a road there.
“When we say we want to give power back to the regions, when we say we want to occupy our territory, we have to consider that as an essential service,” said Ms. Anglade.
“Often these crossings exist because there are no roads in these places, so they play a vital role in people’s lives. So we thought that Quebec residents shouldn’t have to pay for that. »
Some crossings from the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) are offered free of charge, but most of them are not.
For a passenger vehicle, it costs $9.15 for a Québec–Lévis crossing, while prices can go up to $72.75 for longer crossings, such as Matane–Baie-Comeau–Godbout.
According to PLQ estimates, its proposal would cost about $20 million, an amount that a Liberal government would be willing to devote to this measure.
But beyond free, Ms. Anglade recognizes that it will also tackle the reliability of the service. In recent years, the STQ has not always made the headlines for good reasons.
Some of its setbacks were linked to the F.-A.-Gauthier ferry, which spent many months in dry dock while repairs were being made, causing service cuts on the North Shore.
“In the Charter of the regions that we are proposing, we say that we want to review the way in which regional transport is done, explains the Liberal leader. This involves the whole question of reliability, but also of the supply available to residents. »
Even if free admission could also benefit Quebecers who live in the south of the province and who would like to visit the regions further east, Ms. Anglade reminds us that her objective is above all to make life easier for people who live in remote regions, to which ferry is actually an essential service.