The Plante administration sharply criticized the provincial budget on Tuesday, accusing Quebec of “ignoring the housing crisis.”
The president of the executive committee of Valérie Plante, Dominique Ollivier, had moved to Quebec to hear the Minister of Finance Eric Girard. She came out of the blue living room disappointed.
“You get very little – if anything – on those two counts,” Ms. Ollivier said in a phone interview. “We are frankly disappointed. I don’t think it’s too much to say. »
Montreal had put forward two priorities in Quebec City’s pre-budget consultations: housing funding and public transit.
Dominique Ollivier estimates that the funding announced by Quebec will make it possible to build barely 600 social housing units in Montreal. “Meanwhile, [they give] nine billion in tax cuts for individuals, that’s 50,000 homes. We could have solved the whole housing crisis” with this sum, he said.
“Clearly, the government has chosen to ignore the housing crisis that is raging everywhere in Quebec, but that we are living in a harder, more tangible way in Montreal,” she added. He “completely ignores” it.
As for public transit, Quebec “barely gives it enough oxygen […] to get to the end of the year”. However, “we will continue our discussions with the government to win these two priorities for Montrealers.”
In a press release, the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) also expressed its disappointment.
“The budget does not provide any concrete measures to address inflation,” said UMQ President and Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté. Today, municipalities are under more pressure than ever, as they face a significant increase in their responsibilities, while having to provide highly essential services to their citizens. All this with a considerable increase in costs in several sectors. By reducing the amounts provided for in the QIP for municipal infrastructure, we are clearly going in the wrong direction. »
Mr. Côté indicated that he would now turn to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to plead the cause of the municipal world.