Between now and the end of the election campaign, the editorial team of Le Devoir will offer an analysis of the main commitments of political parties on themes that concern all Quebecers. Today: relations with municipalities.
In the 2021 municipal elections, we have witnessed the rise of the new guard, a generation of mayors and mayoress driven by a renewed sense of municipal autonomy and a marked concern for the fight against the changes climatic. This is evidenced in particular by the re-election of Valérie Plante in Montreal, the election in Quebec of Bruno Marchand, defender of the tramway, or even in Laval that of Stéphane Boyer, author of the recent essay Car-free neighborhoods (All in all).
Last week they put on a show of unity. The mayors of the ten largest cities in Quebec have asked the next government to conclude a “green pact” with an envelope of two billion dollars, so that municipalities can meet the challenges of climate change: floods, landslides , extreme heat, erosion, drinking water shortages, etc.
The chief caquist, François Legault, coldly received the requests of elected officials. Friday, during an electoral summit organized by the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), he showed greater openness. Between the initial request of the ten elected officials and the summit of the UMQ, an unexpected phenomenon occurred. Nature, in all its excesses, has taken on the task of offering a distressing concrete example of the environmental dangers described by the mayors. Torrential rains caused flooding and sewer backups in the cottages of distraught citizens in Montreal and Joliette.
Climate change happens in the backyard of municipalities. The theme simmered like background noise during the last municipal elections. Each time a new climatic calamity befalls a municipality, it gains importance in the concerns of local elected officials and citizens.
Environmental concerns will be at the forefront of upcoming negotiations between the Government of Quebec and cities to renew the historic fiscal pact concluded in 2019 by the Legault government. The agreement, worth $7 billion over five years, will expire in 2024. The cities will want to consolidate the achievements and free themselves even more from dependence on property tax revenues.
Mr. Legault has already committed to respond to an important demand of the UMQ. He promised to pass a law to perpetuate the sharing of the growth of one point of the QST with the municipalities. In the current fiscal pact, this key measure represents 660 million over five years.
The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) has the advantage of leveraging its track record. The 2019 tax pact, which responded to the long-standing demands of the UMQ, allowed the diversification of the tax base of municipalities. Added to this is the sum of $1.3 billion over five years, announced in the first mandate, for the creation of a Regions and Rurality Fund. The CAQ can affirm that it has done more than any other government to recognize the political and fiscal autonomy of municipalities.
The co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, seems animated by the same spirit. He wants to change the nature of the relationship between Quebec and the municipalities and break once and for all the dependence on property tax. He promises to increase transfers to municipalities by $300 million a year while waiting for the conclusion of the next tax pact. QS stands out for its proposed revolution in public transport, with the promise of investing 57 billion by 2030.
For her part, the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), Dominique Anglade, has shown herself open to discussing the “green pact” with the cities, without quantifying a commitment. The Liberal platform says little about its vision of municipal autonomy. Rather, it sets out concrete proposals: increase water royalties paid to municipalities by six times, eliminate property transfer duties (the “welcome tax”) with full compensation, review the sharing of mining royalties, grant ten-year property tax for buyers of heritage buildings.
At the Parti Québécois (PQ), the leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also promised to discuss the green pact with the municipalities. The sovereignist training platform is based on massive investments in public transport and infrastructure (30 billion for the 30 largest cities).
According to its own leader, Éric Duhaime, the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) has few proposals for cities. The libertarian credo led him to propose a simplification of government regulations, as well as a moratorium on the tramway in Quebec, and a pilot project for free public transport in the national capital.
Difficult to say if all of these promises appeal to local elected officials. To get out of the logic of isolated measures proposed “from above”, the municipalities will have every interest in remaining united in the coming years. Their cohesion will be decisive in their quest to obtain sustainable income from Quebec and the autonomy necessary to decide for themselves their future.