The mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand is doing what the CAQ government did not have the courage to do by increasing the registration tax by at least $10 to finance public transport, considers Québec solidaire.
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“It’s exactly that. The Quebec government, for the moment, is withdrawing from funding public transportation. […] There, what we see is a disengagement,” commented the solidarity spokesperson for transport, Etienne Grandmont, on Wednesday.
By passing a law last year that allows cities to increase the tax on registration, the CAQ government “transferred the burden of financing [du transport collectif] towards the municipalities, recalled the member for Taschereau.
Even if Quebec has invited cities not to increase the tax burden on taxpayers, “municipalities have no choice but to go towards that,” notes Mr. Grandmont.
“What we preferred to do in government was to put the heat on the side of the municipalities,” regrets the supportive elected official.
For the mayor of Quebec and those of other municipalities, behind the increase in the registration tax to finance public transportation, there is first and foremost “a desire to maintain adequate services for the population,” argued Mr. Grandmont.
“So, indeed, I think that the city of Quebec and then all the cities which will make the leap towards this tool are showing much more courage than the government of Quebec itself,” believes Mr. Grandmont.
