The increase in the tax on CMM registration is not a “Guilbault tax”, says Quebec

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press For now, Minister Geneviève Guilbault is maintaining her offer of some $200 million to cities for public transit. On Friday, she repeated that she is “already extremely generous.”

The tax increase of nearly $100 that will be imposed next year in the greater Montreal area is not a “Guilbault tax,” defends Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault. “It has nothing to do with the government,” she said on Friday.

Accosted before question period at the National Assembly, the elected CAQ member refused to take responsibility for the choices made Thursday by the elected officials of the Metropolitan Community of Montreal (CMM). They adopted a resolution at a special meeting to increase the tax on car registration: it will go from $59 to $150 on January 1.

“It is a decision of the municipalities, it is a power which rests exclusively with the municipalities. […] So, they exercised their municipal power,” noted Ms. Guilbault on Friday, before specifying that “there is no notion of letting [the municipalities bear] the odium” of their decision.< /p>

When adopting this significant tax increase on Thursday, the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, said she was not doing it cheerfully. In a context of deficits among public transport operators, this is, however, a “responsible way” of financing them, she added. “We know to what extent this is not an easy context for citizens. And we know that in certain corners of the CMM, there are very few transport options. »

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The Regional Metropolitan Transport Authority, which governs all transport organizations in the greater Montreal region, anticipates deficits of $561 million for 2025. During a meeting with the region's mayors, earlier in May, Minister Guilbault said she wanted to resolve this problem by the summer.

The offer on the table from Quebec: absorb a good part of the deficits economic conditions linked in particular to the pandemic. That equates to about $200 million.

Guilbault calls herself “already extremely generous”

< p>At a press conference Friday morning, Solidarity MP Alexandre Leduc accused Ms. Guilbault of having forced the hands of the municipalities in this matter. “There should be better funding for public transport from Ms. Guilbault. It’s a bit like the Guilbault tax, which is proposed to us by the cities,” he explained to journalists.

Asked about this, the minister reiterated that “it does not concern the government”. “The proof is that they took a vote yesterday at the CMM. The vote passed,” she observed.

For the moment, Minister Guilbault is maintaining her offer of some 200 million to the cities. The CMM says it is ready to lower its tax increase, but only if Quebec improves this offer. The elected CAQ member repeated on Friday that she was “already extremely generous”. The mayors “are aware that the government cannot absorb a deficit of 560 million just for Greater Montreal,” she said.