Mayor Gerald Tremblay came out swinging Tuesday in the wake of the massive concrete collapse on the Ville-Marie Expressway, calling on the provincial and federal governments to show political "courage" and find new revenue streams for infrastructure investment.
He repeated on several occasions that as a society, we have reached a "crossroads" in Canada when it comes to maintaining and refurbishing the infrastructure in major urban areas across the country.
"Unfortunately it takes incidents like the one we had at the Viger Tunnel or at de la Concorde, but we can't wait any longer," Tremblay said Tuesday afternoon. "When we add up all of these recent incidents, and especially the insecurity they create, the governments no longer have a choice. That's why I'm saying we're at a crossroads."
Tremblay said he requested that Montreal have the right to charge a five-cent excise tax on gasoline and that the provincial government put a Quebec-wide system of pay tolls in place – with both new revenue sources being used exclusively to fund mass transit and infrastructure renewal.
"When we're talking about courage, Montreal made some difficult decisions," Tremblay said. "When we increased the rates at parking meters, when we imposed a $20 million tax on parking lots, when we asked residents of the Island of Montreal to pay a $45 fee for their car registration, it was a clear sign that we, as municipal elected officials, were ready to assume our responsibilities.
"But even with these efforts, even with the efforts of both levels of government to invest billions of dollars, it's not enough."
Tremblay also added himself to the growing chorus calling on Transport Minister Sam Hamad to authorize the release of all inspection reports on all major infrastructure – such as the Mercier Bridge, the Turcot Interchange and the Lafontaine Tunnel.
Transport Quebec finally bowed to public pressure and released a 2008 inspection report on the Viger Tunnel on Monday afternoon, one showing that SNC Lavalin considered the tunnel to be in a "critical" state when it came to the safety of users.
Tremblay said even the city had not seen the report until it was released Monday.
Hamad had said that the population would not be able to understand the technical nature of the reports unless they were engineers, an excuse that Tremblay does not accept.
"I think the citizens are responsible enough to analyze the situation," Tremblay said. "It's irresponsible not to release them, because the citizens have a right to be informed."
Hamad and other representatives of Transport Quebec have been talking repeatedly about the $4 billion in infrastructure investment planned for this year, but even though it sounds like a large amount, Tremblay says it represents a drop in the bucket of what's actually needed.
He said that across Canada, the infrastructure investment deficit currently sits at around $120 billion.
"It takes a crisis to speed up the decision-making process, we see it today," he said. "So when they say they are investing $4 billion in infrastructure over the next year, it is totally insufficient."
