2023-11-06 02:40:57
While they “favourably” welcome the Legault government’s improved offer to finance public transportation, the mayors of Greater Montreal nevertheless judge that it remains “largely insufficient” to maintain and relaunch services, which places them before “choices painful “.
Published at 9:40 p.m.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister of Quebec on Sunday and that The Press has obtained, the executive committee of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM) is demanding to meet with him in order to resolve the impasse.
Because if the cities say they are satisfied with Quebec’s commitment to finance 70% of the deficit of their transport companies in 2024, an element of the improved offer presented last Thursday by the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, a disagreement persists regarding when calculating the shortfall.
According to the Legault government, the vehicle registration tax (TIV), a measure adopted by the CMM and whose revenues will generate 122 million in 2024, must be used to absorb the deficit which would then amount to 461.3 million. Its offer improved last Thursday from 150 to 238 million would thus cover 70% of the remaining amount.
However, cities would prefer to see TIV revenues used to develop public transport, which the CMM presents as a “question of equity between the different sectors of Greater Montreal for the revival of public transport, especially in the northern suburbs. and South”.
“Consequently, income from TIV should not be used in the calculation of MTMD [ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable] regarding the deficit,” argues the CMM in its letter to the Prime Minister.
“Painful choice”
While time is running out, with municipalities finalizing their budgets for the next year, the CMM is therefore asking the government for an additional effort of 128 million compared to its last offer so that it reaches 346 million in 2024, or 75% of the budget. residual deficit estimated at 461.3 million.
In recent days, the cities of Greater Montreal have argued that aid of less than 300 million for 2024 would lead to numerous service cuts in the metro, which should close following 11 p.m., as well as withdrawals of buses from the roads and driver layoffs.
“For the year 2024, the latest government proposal submitted to us might force us to make painful choices,” reiterates the CMM executive committee in its Sunday letter.
In October, Minister Geneviève Guilbault’s first offer proposed to absorb only 20% of the deficits of Greater Montreal’s transport companies, with aid of 502.8 million over five years, including 149.5 million in the first year.
With Maxime Bergeron and Henri Ouellette-Vézina, The Press
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