A new plan to amalgamate the public transport infrastructure in the Montreal region could pit the suburbs against the city.
The Quebec government is creating a new infrastructure to replace the Metropolitan Transport Agency, and with it, creating a new organization that will oversee all the public transport agencies on the South Shore all the way to St-Jerome on the North Shore.
Part of the plan will come with a new $45 annual car registration fee for South Shore and North Shore residents.
CAQ MNA Nathalie Roy, who serves for Montarville, said that's not acceptable.
“It's a new tax that was hidden in Bill 76,” she said. “Nobody saw it coming and it's going to hurt all the drivers, all the taxpayers.”
Montreal drivers will be spared – only because they have been paying that extra fee since 2011.
The CAQ argues suburbanites generally don't use as much public transport, if any, and therefore should not be required to pay extra tax for it.
The CAA has also come out against the plan.
“We don't get the same service that's available in Montreal,” pointed out CAQ MNA for Blainville, Mario Laframboise.
Advocates who support public transportation, however, have long argued that better bus and train service from the suburbs would reduce the number of cars on the road.
Transport Minister Jacques Daoust could not be reached on Sunday.
The law is currently being studied by a parliamentary commission.
