Montreal mayor feels Quebec budget will lead to cuts in public transit services
Some are criticizing the CAQ's 2024 budget over the lack of support for public transit.
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said it's a big mistake and could lead to cuts in services.
"Right now, I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to leave it at that," said Plante. "There's no way. We're going to fight."
The mayor is not the only one disappointed.
The budget will cut $400 million in provincial aid for public transportation and does not include any new investment for future projects.
Public transit agencies have been calling for more financing to help with fewer riders and less revenue since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The Montreal regional transportation authority (ARTM) said in a statement: "For us, the impasse remains regarding sharing the shortfall of $561 million from public transit for the year 2025. Faced with this situation, we may have to recommend difficult choices."
Plante worries that service cuts may result.
"Cutting services to me would be such a failure for our society," she said. "We need to create more option, not less, more services, more frequency at a good price."
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante speaks during a press conference for Montreal International to discuss last year's investments and results in Montreal, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Christinne Muschi, The Canadian Press)
Alliance TRANSIT, which advocates for collective transportation, said the government is moving backward.
"We're continuing to invest and prioritize the road system above the public transit, whereas we're facing a growing population," said Francis Garnier of the Alliance. "We're facing a growing, much faster amount of cars across the province, and we need public transit to answer that."
The mayor said she can't see how the government will meet its emissions targets or its urban planning objectives if it doesn't invest in the future.
"There's articles about cities that want to create more density, build more, be higher, of course, and that's in Montreal," she said. "But if you talk to mayors also in the suburbs, I'll say we want to have more density, but what about the public transit options?"
Plante is calling on Finance Minister Éric Girard to meet with the province's cities as soon as possible.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.