Nearly 60 years ago, Mayor Jean Drapeau inaugurated the Montreal metro. An ambitious, long-term project, the first thoughts of which began in the last century. Remember that this project gained worldwide fame thanks to its choice of materials and its distinct design. At the beginning, there were only around twenty stations, but, quickly, other stations emerged from the ground at a speed that still exceeds us today, when I compare to the extension of the blue line. Even though the significant costs must have caused a lot of ink to flow at the time, our governments and our municipalities took their responsibilities.
A long time ago, our society decided that public transportation would be financed primarily by the public and managed by paramunicipal or governmental organizations. These are societal choices that we have made, such as having a universal daycare system or a public health system.
Today, we find ourselves facing difficult decisions because the finances of the State and those of the municipalities are fragile, because the pockets of citizens and businesses are overstretched and because we need more than ever to decarbonize. The solution is not simple, but it cannot be a withdrawal of State responsibility.
Financing public transport is a collective responsibility, just like the construction and repair of road infrastructure.
Let’s stop throwing the ball around on financing and get back to basics, the beneficiary pays principle. The solutions we find to maintain an attractive, extensive and efficient public transport offer will benefit everyone. Both motorists and public transport users, governments and municipalities benefit from a developed and efficient public transport system.
One of the solutions will certainly be to be more productive and more efficient within our transport companies and to review our operating methods to achieve this. This will therefore also mean reviewing certain acquired knowledge.
Public transportation is the cornerstone of land use planning that supports quality of life, economic development and helps reduce greenhouse gases. If the government aspires to carbon neutrality by 2050, our choices must be consistent. We must be ambitious, strengthen and develop mobility throughout Quebec.
I invite governments, social groups and businesses to think about it together and get creative.
The funding and performance of our public transit systems should not divide us. On the contrary, they should bring us together with the common goal of making Quebec an example because, while demonstrating efficiency, we will also have demonstrated ambition in the deployment of our public transport offer.