Quebec to absorb 70% of public transit company deficits

The Quebec government says it will pay off 70 per cent of the deficits by public transit companies by 2024.

Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault made the announcement Friday morning in Quebec City, saying it was a "final offer" from the government, which will table its economic update next week.

The investment amounts to $265 million.

Guilbault insisted that her government believes deeply in public transit.

However, she indicated that Quebec cannot inject money "ad infinitum" into transit companies, which she says will have to make efforts towards better optimization and organization.

The government says it will conduct performance audits of all companies, as well as at the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), the transit authority for Greater Montreal.

"We can't just keep spending more and more, with higher and higher salaries, with revenues that aren't necessarily increasing at the same level as the increases in operating expenses," the minister maintained.

Quebec had originally proposed to cover 20 per cent of the residual deficit of public transit companies for the period of 2024-2028.

This proposal was deemed unacceptable by the cities and insufficient to maintain service frequency.

With the pandemic and the rise of telecommuting, transit companies' structural deficit has increased.

The cities argued that they could not finance 80 per cent of the structural deficit alone.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 3, 2023.