“There must be an equivalent in Laval and on Montreal’s south shore,” he followed during a press scrum held with Mayor Stéphane Boyer, from the communications room of Laval City Hall, on May 17.

From the start, Legault had indicated that the extension of the orange line, and the development of a structuring mode of public transport on Saint-Martin’s axis were among Boyer’s priority requests during their first official tête-à-tête.

“It’s time for Laval to connect its neighbourhoods together, making it easier to travel on the territory, Mayor Boyer explained while indicating his clear preference for the deployment of an integrated east-west transport network in the neighbourhoods, instead of an extension of the REM in the right-of-way of Highway 440.

Legault agrees there’s a need to improve public transport options on the north-south and east-west axes, specifying that Quebec and Laval “were looking at different scenarios”.

“What’s important for me is that citizens have access to a variety of low-carbon transport modes,” Boyer said, recalling that 70 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Laval are from the transport sector. “After, if it goes by a tram, a BRT (bus rapid transit) or metro, I think the studies will be able to guide us on the choice of technology. But, above all, it’s the citizens’s mobility that’s important.”

That being said, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the axis of boulevards Notre-Dame/De la Concorde – in the pipeline since 2018 – remains a priority for its administration, Laval’s Mayor ensures.

As for the implementation of new reserved bus lanes, carpooling and electric cars on Highway 15 (North), the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, will make the announcement in Laval in the upcoming weeks.

“It’s progressing, and we want the work to start this year,” Legault said in an interview with the Courrier Laval.

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article Public Transport: François Legault Wants to Treat Laval Fairly est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.

“It’s a pleasure to work with him,” Legault said from the start of an interview with the Courrier Laval  last May.

While touring the regions, he was received at Laval’s City Hall by Boyer. It was a first official meeting, where the two men discussed on what they considered to be the priority files on the agenda of the municipal administration.

“On big issues, we get along perfectly; we’re at the same place,” Legault said, who “continues to work hand in hand” with the mayor of the third largest city in Quebec.

A feeling shared by Boyer, who said via press release that he had “great ambitions for Laval, and [is] happy to see the Prime Minister share [his] vision”.

“We’ll continue our great collaboration to work on important files for Laval residents, such as the development of structuring transportation, the fight against climate change, and accessibility to affordable housing,” Boyer said in the press release.

As for the expectations in order to stop the housing crisis, the Prime Minister said “there are more than a billion available since two years, but we can’t manage to build those housing”, which is a sign that Quebec, municipalities and the Société d’habitation du Québec need “to work better together”.

Environment

Marc Demers’s successor has committed to investing $100 million over four years for the acquisition, protection and enhancement of natural environments.

“We want to present a global plan to reduce GHGs [greenhouse gases], and I’d like the Government of Quebec to finance part of the plan like it did for Montreal,” Boyer declares while referring to the $117 million envelope paid earlier this spring to the Plante administration to enable it to execute its Climate Plan.

The Laval strategy would target, in part, the preservation of biodiversity and natural environments through acquisition and the continued electrification of the municipal vehicle fleet.

“The government has just issued a call for tenders in order to purchase 88 electric buses in Laval,” the Prime Minister didn’t fail to remind, for whom the environmental protection also involves public transport and the electrification of bus fleets.

Fight Against Gun Violence

In terms of public security, Boyer reiterated his full collaboration to Legault for the implementation of programs and new initiatives aimed at preventing violence in Laval.

“Everything we can do, we will,” he said, while pointing out at the twenty arrests and a series of searches that have taken place in Laval those past months. “We’ve doubled the size of the investigation team affected to organized crime and firearms [trafficking].

Thirteen new resources have been hired since last summer through allocated budgets from the two levels of government.

Culture

Although the case of the Grande bibliothèque and Centre de création artistique professionnelle hasn’t been discussed during the meeting, Legault confirms that the project is clearly registered in the Plan québécois des infrastructures (PQI).

In July 2020, during a virtual forum organized by Laval’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minister of Finance, Éric Girard, mentioned the government’s interest in investing in this infrastructure project estimated at around $100 million.

“In April, we submitted the functional and technical plan; we’re asking the government to invest a considerable part in this cultural infrastructure project, involving 15 Laval organizations,” Boyer said.

Considering that Laval has always suffered from chronic underfunding compared to the province’s other regions, it could very well ask Quebec to pay half of the bill.

translated by Alec Brideau

L’article A Good First Meeting between François Legault and Stéphane Boyer est apparu en premier sur Courrier Laval news.