Projet Montreal’s main goal is to keep Montrealers on the island, said leader Richard Bergeron as the party officially kicked off its election campaign Tuesday.
The first party to unveil its platform, Bergeron said he wants to stop the exodus of young Montreal families by making the city more attractive to them.
For Projet Montreal, that means reducing cars traffic on the island by 50 per cent over the next 20 years by eliminating parking spots downtown, and adding tolls for bridges.
Half of the money from the tolls would go to road infrastructure; the other half would go to improve our public transit system by extending three of the four metro lines, adding more bike paths, and adding more pedestrian-only streets.
Bergeron said he hopes all of those measures will mean 50,000 more residents on the island by 2025.
He said he wants to reassure car owners that they will benefit from his plan.
“We will offer them alternatives. We will offer them better transit facilities. They will have more pleasure in walking and cycling. They will be the first to see the advantages of our policies,” said Bergeron.
Bergeron said he realizes housing on the island also has to be more affordable to retain young families, so Projet Montreal would limit property tax increases to the rate of inflation.
