(Quebec) After attacking the “city lobby”, François Legault asserts that for mayors, it is “easier to beg in Quebec” than to “clean up their expenses”. The Prime Minister defended his minister Geneviève Guilbault, criticized from all sides.
“I think we are doing our part, the cities must also do their part. On the other hand, I understand that the mayors would like to have more money from the Quebec government. But, I’m not falling behind here, I’ve been in politics long enough to know, mayors, it’s always easier to beg in Quebec than (…) to clean up their expenses,” said unchecked Mr. Legault, Thursday.
The latter answered questions from journalists on the sidelines of an announcement on the creation of the National Museum of the History of Quebec, which will replace the abandoned concept of Blue Spaces. The Prime Minister had not spoken to the media in almost two weeks.
The controversial statements of Geneviève Guilbault, who affirmed Wednesday, during the study of the appropriations of her ministry, that the management of collective transport and transport companies “is not a mission” of the State, have eclipsed the government announcement. Mayor Bruno Marchand, who was there, had just declared that he no longer trusted the minister because “there is no vision for sustainable mobility”.
“Transport, for her, is about developing roads (…) With that, we come back to Time for a peace », said the mayor of Quebec, in reference to this Quebec series set in the interwar period.
“We had the opportunity to see each other in private earlier,” said Mr. Legault. “I have complete confidence in Geneviève Guilbault. Now, what I say to Mayor Marchand is: let’s look forward. Let’s look ahead, in two months, not in two years, we will have a report from the Caisse de dépôt and its experts,” he continued, referring to the mandate to analyze a structuring transport project at Quebec.
Valérie Plante also reacted strongly to the comments of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
We learned this week that the mayors of Greater Montreal have threatened Quebec to impose up to $228 in tax per car throughout the metropolitan territory starting next year to bail out public transportation. Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer wrote in an open letter that “the boat is sinking,” adding that “no one seems able to answer the call.”
“I am not at all surprised to see the mayors of Montreal and Quebec asking us for more money,” repeated Mr. Legault, recalling that we must “make the difference” between infrastructure and management of the operations of the transport companies. The Prime Minister once again gave the example of municipal employees who earn 30% more than their provincial counterparts.
The “city lobby”
François Legault had to defend his minister during the question period, a little earlier Thursday. “What the Deputy Prime Minister said is that it is not the role of the Ministry of Transport or the Government of Quebec (to) manage the daily operations of the (Société de transport de Montréal ) and the (Société de transport de Laval),” he said, followed by Québec solidaire and the Parti québécois.
Going on the attack, François Legault accused Québec solidaire of being “the lobby of the cities” who are asking the government to once again absorb part of the deficit of public transport companies.
The shortfall for transportation companies in Greater Montreal is estimated at more than half a billion dollars for 2025. Quebec has injected more than 2 billion to help carriers since the pandemic. Minister Geneviève Guilbault is due to meet the municipalities soon.
In the press scrum, the minister qualified her statements somewhat. “Perhaps my words were poorly expressed or confusing. But, I want to be very, very clear: I maintain that the government should not interfere in the management of transport companies,” she explained. She nevertheless admits that “supporting public transport is a mission of the State”.
In the House, she recalled that the management of operations is the responsibility of “the managers of the transport companies, who have boards of directors which, ultimately, are headed by the municipalities”.
“Despite everything, we pay a large part of their deficit. Does he find it normal that the deficits of transport companies are systematically passed on to the government? And that we should systematically pay them without asking for accountability? It doesn’t make sense,” added the minister in response to questions from MP Étienne Grandmont.
They said
The Prime Minister says that we misunderstood and that the minister just wanted to say: it is not my job to micromanage. It’s funny, because (…) the minister did exactly that, in the tramway file, micromanaged the project. She even wanted to micromanage the René-Lévesque-Cartier corner; there should not be shared streets. Wasn’t that micromanagement?
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire
According to (the minister), the Quebec state does not have the mission of managing public transportation. So that explains it there. After six years, the CAQ does not have to manage public transportation in its mind, so much so that it has not started to fulfill a single one of its promises. In fact, this government has sabotaged more projects than it has completed.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois
The minister is more interested in roads than in public transportation. And so, when those in the field tell us that we are not being listened to and that there is no dialogue with Quebec, yesterday you had the clear demonstration that a minister of a CAQ government, for her , sustainable mobility, that didn’t interest him.
Monsef Derraji, member of the Liberal Party of Quebec
With Tommy Chouinard, The Press
reference: www.lapresse.ca