2023-12-05 10:00:00
The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, will table an amendment to this effect during the study of Bill 39 in the coming days, Le Soleil has learned.
We thus wish to allow municipal elected officials to choose for themselves whether or not to impose an additional tax on local motorists to finance public transport, whose shortfalls in revenue are greater and greater each year.
For the moment, only the Metropolitan Community of Montreal has the power to impose an additional contribution on motorists, levied by the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), from the annual renewal of vehicle registration.
Quebec now wants to allow all cities managing a transport company to do so, just like regional county municipalities (MRC), by adopting a municipal by-law.
The Legault government sees it as a new tool to allow mayors to independently finance their ambitions in public transport.
But by granting this power to cities, Quebec also avoids the political price of new contributions to finance public transport, passing on to municipal elected officials the odiousness of proposing them.
From one end of Quebec to the other, the registration of personal vehicles is already accompanied by an annual contribution of $30 to finance public transportation.
In Montreal, this amount has been increased by $45 for several years. The same will apply from January 1 for all drivers in the greater metropolitan area.
A tool awaited by cities
The appetite for such a measure has been felt in Quebec city halls for a long time. Faced with increasingly expensive public transportation, a growing number of mayors are looking for new levers to finance their transportation companies.
In Quebec, the president of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale recently confirmed having asked the Legault government to authorize a new contribution for motorists in the capital. The mayor of Lévis, who is also looking for new financing levers, said he was “in solidarity” with the approach.
Sherbrooke and Gatineau have made the same request to the Ministry of Transport in recent years, Le Soleil has been able to confirm.
The Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ) and the Fédération québécoise des municipalities (FMQ) have also been asking for such power for a long time.
The president of the Association for Urban Transport of Quebec (ATUQ) and president of the Société de transport de Sherbrooke, Marc Denault, welcomes the new powers that Quebec wants to grant to cities.
He emphasizes that the universal contribution of $30 per year for public transportation has not been changed since the 1990s. “Everyone agrees that it is clearly insufficient,” he insists.
The Sherbrooke elected official believes that many municipal councils will take advantage of the additional taxation tool that the minister will propose.
“It’s a great opportunity for stable and long-term income for public transport. […] I don’t see why some would decide to do without it,” notes Mr. Denault, while emphasizing that municipal elected officials will have to go regarding it sparingly. “No one wants to carry the monkey of a new tax. It will have to be adjusted according to the level of service.”
The representative of Quebec transport companies, however, insists. This is not a magic solution that will resolve the structural issues of public transit financing. “It’s just a tool in a toolbox,” concludes Marc Denault.
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