MONTREAL -- Quebec will be handing over $400 million to the province’s public transit sector to help it survive the COVID-19 pandemic, it announced on Thursday.
This amount is in addition to the $614 million devoted to public transit projects in Quebec’s 10-year infrastructure plan, which is scheduled for 2020-30.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the province's public transit companies and organizations have maintained their activities despite a sharp drop in customers,” Transport Minister François Bonnardel said in a press release on Thursday. “This emergency financial assistance is a concrete gesture that will promote a return to normal in terms of public transportation.”
According to a study by the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), municipal budgets have experienced a $1.4-billion loss due to the pandemic – $670 million of which impacts public transit.
“We therefore underline this investment, which is essential for sustainable economic recovery,” said Suzanne Roy, UMQ president and mayor of Ste-Julie, in a press release on Thursday.
The union is now calling on the federal government to continue its talks with Quebec to come up with “a long-term plan for successful recovery.”
“Today's announcement is a good first step,” said Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, the UMQ’s big cities caucus president and mayor of Gatineau. “Other challenges persist. We must find together the most complete way to support the municipalities for 2020, but also for 2021.”
Like Roy, Pedneaud-Jobin also said the federal government and the province of Quebec must “establish a long-term partnership with municipalities that will allow a successful and sustainable recovery.”
The union also wants the Quebec government to remember that issues that have arisen because of the pandemic vary significantly from region to region, and the financial aid must reflect that.
