Permanent funding for public transit promises the LPC

The Liberal Party of Canada promises to make transit funding permanent in the country, which would, for example, allow for the "pink line" project on the Montreal metro, which is dear to Mayor Valérie Plante.

Updated on October 08, 2019 at 11:14 am Posted on October 08, 2019 at 9:32 am

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

The Liberal candidates on the Island of Montreal, including outgoing minister Mélanie Joly and environmentalist Steven Guilbeault, made the announcement this morning at the Beaubien metro station, where 10,000 people pass daily, the candidate said. the riding of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie Geneviève Hinse.

"The congestion of the orange line, people in the neighborhood know something," she said, emphasizing the need to provide citizens with more options in public transportation.

"Today, we are responding for the pink line," she said.

The Liberal government has already confirmed public transit investments of some $ 30 billion over the next 10 years, said candidate Steven Guilbeault, lamenting that "long, municipalities have been abandoned by the federal government."

By making recurring and permanent investments, municipalities would be assured of stable and predictable funding, similar to what was done for Radio-Canada funding, illustrated Mélanie Joly.

The envelope, valued at $ 3 billion annually, would track the rise in construction costs over time and add to transfers from the federal Gas Tax Fund, says the Liberal Party.

The Liberals point out that this funding could be used to materialize the extension of the metropolitan express network in Laval and Montérégie; the extension of the west branch of the orange subway line; a tramway in Longueuil and a "structuring transport" in the extension of the yellow line of the metro; the implementation of a metropolitan network of reserved lanes on highways 13, 20, 25, 440 and 640 around Montréal; or a light rail system in Gatineau.

"We enthusiastically welcome any measure that will allow us to develop public transit projects, including, of course, the pink line," he said. Press
Geneviève Jutras, the spokeswoman for Mayor Plante, calling public transit a key to reducing the city's greenhouse gas emissions.

Ironically, the Liberals were making this announcement as traffic jams began to fade after a rush hour marked by the Jacques Cartier Bridge's closure for more than an hour due to the presence of activists in the organization. action group for the climate Extinction Rebellion Quebec.

Many of those stuck in traffic "would have liked to have access to concrete transit solutions," said Mélanie Joly.