After a “courteous” meeting, Minister Geneviève Guilbault and the mayors of large cities agreed to resolve the issue of deficits of public transport companies before the summer.
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“Elected officials agreed on the need to resolve the issue of 2025 deficits by the summer,” said the office of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, at the end of a meeting which took place on Monday and which took place in a “courteous” tone.
The minister had summoned the mayors and leaders of transport companies to a meeting by videoconference. The mayors of Quebec, Montreal, Lévis, Laval, Longueuil, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay and Gatineau were present.
“Crying needs”
The Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ) recognized the importance of dialogue with the minister, but its president Martin Damphousse recalled that “the needs for public transport are acute throughout Quebec. What about the vision of the Quebec government for municipalities across Quebec in terms of public transportation?
According to The Press, the minister would grant $200 million to cover the economic deficits of transportation companies in greater Montreal. The firm neither denied nor confirmed, but according to our information, no amount was involved on Monday. Each transport company must now present its own deficit figures. A next meeting will take place with Montreal on May 24. Other cities, including Quebec and Lévis, will also have their turn, on an unspecified date.
Significant deficits in Montreal
Mayors are putting pressure on the government to obtain more funding, particularly in the Montreal region, where the operating deficit amounts to more than $550 million, after the pandemic.
Last week, the mayors of the metropolis threatened to increase municipal taxes or registration taxes.
On the Quebec and Lévis side, neither Bruno Marchand nor Gilles Lehouillier reacted following this meeting. “We will leave it to the minister to present to us what she wants to present to us, her vision. We will comment and provide our thoughts, and tomorrow I will be able to tell you more,” said Mr. Marchand.
The mayor returned to the tough exchanges of the previous week, where he had accused the minister of lacking vision and was told by the Prime Minister that mayors tend to “beg”. He and the minister do not avoid meeting in person, he said. “We were in the same room last week and you didn’t see a mushroom cloud?”
National meeting Friday
Funding will be at the heart of the discussions of the mayors who will meet Friday in Drummondville, during a national meeting on the future of public transportation, an event organized by the UMQ.
–With the collaboration of Marc-André Gagnon, of the Parliamentary Office, and Taïeb Moalla
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