Report calls for Montreal’s financial autonomy
Montreal and the Government of Quebec must develop a “modern partnership” if Montreal is to be able to compete with the world’s other megacities and broaden its economic and social development.
To do so, it should be granted a portion of Quebec’s provincial sales tax to streamline and improve day-to-day services. It must compare its level of services and costs to other major Canadian cities to lower prices and improve efficiency. It must be allowed to develop new methods of revenue generation beyond property taxes, and should have greater control over issues that are concentrated in a metropolitan milieu, like homelessness, immigration and social housing.
This was the central thesis of the working committee on Montreal’s metropolitan status, which was convened by Mayor Denis Coderre last November, and whose members issued their report Tuesday, calling for greater autonomy from Quebec and more financial means for the city to chart its own course and improve its economic development.
Montreal and Quebec begin negotiations in earnest next week to discuss the parameters of Montreal’s new metropolitan status. A parliamentary bill outlining the new agreement is expected by the winter of 2016.
“Competition among cities across the globe is ferocious, and to retain talent and create a positive quality of life, we have at some point to innovate, and to see things on a more global vision,” said Monique F. Leroux, CEO of Desjardins Group and chair of the working committee made up of 10 local experts.
“We have to look at how we can organize so we have the responsibilities, the powers to become a true metropolis in today’s world.”
Primary among its recommendations:
Finance numerous services with a permanent, annual transfer of a percentage of the Quebec Sales Tax collected on Montreal’s territory. At present, Quebec transfers $179 million annually for special responsibilities assumed by the city, but the process is time-consuming and costly, the committee found. A fixed transfer of a portion of the QST equal to $179 million and less than one per cent of the provincial total, would put the money into Montreal’s hands quickly.
Earmark another roughly $50 million of Quebec sales tax revenue to pay for costs that Montreal currently covers like specialized police services, food inspection, school buses and first responders.
Install a benchmarking system so Montreal can compare its costs for services and purchase of products with other municipalities, and then negotiate accordingly.
Grant greater control over social housing, immigration and homelessness and the finances necessary to manage them.
Grant city councillors greater power to dictate changes at the borough levels (but the committee did not suggest changes to municipal governance structures).
Coderre said the recommendations would be used during the city’s negotiations with Quebec. Opposition party Projet Montréal praised the report but said more needed to be included on transport and public transit issues on the island of Montreal as they are key to the city’s prosperity. The party called on the Coderre administration to hold open, non-partisan forums to discuss Montreal’s demands with all municipal political parties included.
“Since all Montrealers are affected by the metropolitan status of Montreal, all Montrealers should have a voice, through the intermediary of their elected officials,” Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie borough mayor François Croteau said.