The mayors of greater Montreal and the Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault are once again at loggerheads on the public transport issue. At the heart of the fight: possible tax increases for which no one wants to bear the brunt.
Elected officials are considering in particular increasing municipal taxes or the registration tax to replenish the coffers, reveals a letter sent to the minister which Radio-Canada reported on Monday.
Montreal and its neighbors are also considering increasing public transit fares, cutting services or even postponing the commissioning of the next stages of the REM.
The shortfall totals $561 million, a deficit that cities want the government to fill.
Minister Guilbault replies that she is willing to meet with the mayors to discuss it. According to our information, this would be done within two or three weeks, after the tabling of his bill on the transport agency.
Ms. Guilbault also emphasizes that municipalities have tools to raise funds and “that they have complete latitude to use these powers as they wish.”
In December, the Legault government gave cities the power to increase the tax on car registration in their territory. However, shortly after, Prime Minister Legault urged elected officials not to use this tool too much.
Leadership and partisanship
On Monday, the liberal opposition criticized the minister for her lack of leadership on the issue. “Week after week, the CAQ continues to demonstrate its total disinterest and its lack of leadership in matters of public transportation,” argued Nelligan MP Monsef Derraji.
On the side of the Vivre en ville organization, which campaigns for the addition of services, we deplore the fact that this question is hostage to a political game.
“I find it deplorable,” argues its director Christian Savard. “We find ourselves in a standoff between a government which has thrown the ball into the cities’ court to complete the financing, and cities which do not want to be the one and only responsible for the increase in a tax because it’s never popular. »