The Legault and Trudeau governments are once again coming to the rescue of public transit in Greater Montreal.
The amounts provided for in the 2022 Quebec budget, presented Tuesday by the Minister of Finance Eric Girardshould be sufficient to fill the deficit anticipated by the Regional Metropolitan Transport Agency (ARTM), confirmed its spokesperson Simon Charbonneau to Radio-Canada on Wednesday.
Obviously, there are terms and conditions that remain to be clarified, with the MTQ in particular, but we believe that we will be able to balance our budget. [grâce à l’aide annoncée mardi]“, he said in an interview.
The ARTM was heading for a shortfall approximately $300 millionfor 2022, according to Mr. Charbonneau. And since the Agency has been responsible since 2017 for financing public transit organizations in the metropolitan region, they were at great risk of bearing the brunt of such a deficit.
© Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada
City councilor in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and member of Projet Montréal, Éric Alan Caldwell was appointed chairman of the STM board of directors at the end of 2021.
If the fears were particularly strong at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), they are now partly allayed, according to the chairman of its board of directors, councilor Éric Alan Caldwell.
The money, it must be understood, is given to the ARTM, so we are in discussion with our partners to ensure [de maintenir] a service offer, […] but it’s going in the right direction“, he confided in an interview with Radio-Canada on Wednesday.
Nearly $400 million in fresh money
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The Legault government confirmed Tuesday $393 million in additional credit to support public transit companies in Quebec, including $196.5 million from the federal government.
These amounts are largely part of the Public Transit Emergency Assistance Program (PAUTC), set up in 2020 to cover additional costs and loss of income caused by the pandemic.
They also include, outside of this program, an amount of $100 million that Minister Girard had promised the ARTM in its economic update last November.
© Sylvain Roy Roussel/Radio-Canada
Minister Eric Girard presented the Quebec government’s 2022 budget on Tuesday.
Questioned on Wednesday, the ARTM said it was unable to predict what percentage it could receive from the additional $393 million announced on Tuesday.
His spokesperson, however, indicated that he was confident that this amount would exceed 300 million, noting in passing that ARTM ridership represented approximately 85% of all public transit trips in Quebec.
The STM, for its part, was heading for a shortfall of $43 million for 2022, which prompted its general manager Luc Tremblay to launch a real cry from the heartin January. He has since left office..
However, the service agreement entered into between the ARTM and the STM, which covers the operating and capital costs of the Montreal fleet, represents, year after year, 70% of the total remuneration paid to public transport bodies in common in the metropolitan area.
Since 2020, Quebec and Ottawa have invested nearly $1.8 billion in the PAUTC, which should theoretically end on December 31, 2022.
With information from Benoît Chapdelaine