The Conservative Party of Quebec proposes free public transit that already exists in Quebec City, in order to increase ridership and accessibility. At the same time, he organized a demonstration against the tramway project.
According to Éric Duhaime, taxpayers’ money will be poorly invested in a project like the tramway and which has no social accessibility for the moment.
Part of the money should instead be used to make public transit free. He also made it an electoral promise during a press scrum on Wednesday afternoon. If he is elected on October 3, a pilot project will be set up in Quebec, he said. In 2018, the left-wing formation Québec solidaire made the same promise.
The leader of the PCQ believes that the free service will make it possible to analyze and see the true portrait of the demand for public transport in the region.
“We are going to detail it when we are going to present our electoral platform (…) We know that it is about a third that is paid for by users, so that gives us an idea of magnitude,” he said. . “The other advantage of being free is that it speeds up the process, it goes much faster because you can enter through both doors. We will be able to speed up the quality of service and provide economic relief to people.”
However, the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) has estimated for several years that the current network is already saturated.
This project could make it possible to better measure the offer and see what would be the best way to improve fluidity in Quebec, calculates the conservative leader.
Demonstration against the tramway
Moreover, Éric Duhaime and the Conservatives are organizing a demonstration against the tramway in front of the National Assembly in Quebec City on June 9 in front of the National Assembly. He is asking for a freeze on the project and a moratorium on this issue in Quebec.
Mr. Duhaime also invites the Minister of the CAQ, Éric Caire, to come and demonstrate with him. The latter has already claimed to be against the tramway.
“I would like him to run, it’s a non-partisan event (…) The one who was the most critical was probably Minister Éric Caire. I remember hearing him say on the radio: tram no-way,” he said.
Mr. Duhaime denies wanting to do municipal politics on the national scene. Last fall, the municipal formation Quebec 21 had campaigned against the tramway, even arguing that it was a referendum election on the subject. Finally, the former head of training bit the dust, finishing 3rd with 24% of the routes and having only three councilors elected.
Éric Duhaime rather considers that it is the current mayor Bruno Marchand who did not campaign for this tramway project.
“Today, the tram project that is before us is that of Mrs. [Marie-Josée] Savard who lost the election,” said Mr. Duhaime.
