Valérie Plante says she hasn’t lost faith in REM de l’Est

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Mayor Valérie Plante said Wednesday she still backs the REM de l’Est despite a scathing report by Greater Montreal’s regional transit planning body.

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“We want this project, this investment,” she said during the city’s weekly executive committee meeting. “The progress of transportation in Montreal and in the east end depends on it.”

But Plante demanded a seat at the table to help plan the $10-billion driverless train project, as well as additional provincial funding to integrate the aerial rail into the urban landscape, at an estimated cost of at least $1 billion.

She also called on the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain to submit its report to the city.

“I made the request that this report be presented to us in due form,” she said, “in order to be able to evaluate and consider it, or in any case to see what it is really all about and look at it in depth. in the interest of transparency and openness.”

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The ARTM report, whose conclusions were made public Tuesday, charges the proposed light-rail link from downtown to the east end would not cause many drivers to switch to public transit and would siphon off riders from the métro’s Green Line and the Mascouche train line.

Junior transport minister Chantal Rouleau rejected the report out of hand, saying the rail link, piloted by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is not just about public transit, but also about economic development.

On Tuesday, Premier François Legault said the ball was in Plante’s court on whether the project would go ahead.

Plante said Wednesday she had not lost faith in the proposed 32-kilometre, 23-station link.

“We believe enormously in this project,” she said.

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It is “essential and important,” not only for mass transit, but also as “an incredible, incomparable tool …in terms of economic development, in terms of residential development,” she said.

“For our administration, the development of the east end of Montreal is fundamental.”

Plante did not address the ARTM’s finding that the REM de l’Est would be redundant and unlikely to replace car travel, since only 12 per cent of projected riders commute downtown on a daily basis.

Instead, she focused on the need to integrate the elevated train into the east-end landscape, where citizens’ groups opposing the project have warned it will disfigure their neighbourhoods.

“We’ve invested $500 million in urban development because for us, the key to the success of this project is that it be an integrated transportation project that crosses different neighborhoods and living environments,” Plante said.

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Work to integrate the project will cost at least $1 billion, said Plante, who called on the Quebec government to commit to the necessary funding.

She said this was not necessary for the original REM project, which will cross the West Island and Brossard, because it is on the periphery of those territories and uses existing railway routes.

Plante noted that the city has also called for an expert report on integrating the REM de l’Est, which is expected soon.

“We absolutely need to hear what these experts propose,” she said.

“I often say the CDPQ are the experts on the train, but our expertise at the city is urban integration: it’s the streets and public spaces, and currently the REM Version 2.0 crosses the city from one side to the other, so it’s important. ”

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