Quebec to fund majority of $5 billion electric bus purchase

MONTREAL -- Quebec will fund the lion's share of a $5 billion purchase of electric buses.

Premier François Legault made the announcement Wednesday at COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland.

Legault said the Quebec government will pay $3.65 billion of the contract, with the rest coming from the federal government and transportation companies.

At a press conference in an Edinburgh hotel, Legault added that some $2.4 billion will be used to purchase the vehicles and $2.6 billion will be spent on retrofitting the garages in Quebec's nine transit authorities.

The Quebec government says it is already in discussions with Quebec manufacturers, such as Novabus and Lion Électrique, but a foreign manufacturer could very well win the contract, Legault said.

However, he noted that the government will ensure that as many of these vehicles as possible are designed and assembled in the province.

With this contract, Quebec will have half of North America's electric bus orders.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 3, 2021.

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  An electric bus is shown at the Nova Bus production plant in St. Eustache, Que., on March 7, 2012. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Graham Hughes)