Quebec gives Montreal $117M to help meet climate-change goals

Montreal's master plan for making the city greener and more resistant to the negative impacts of climate change got a boost Monday, with a $117-million grant from the Quebec government to help Mayor Valérie Plante realize her administration's 10-year climate action plan.

Environment Minister Benoit Charette and the minister responsible for the Montreal metropolis, Chantal Rouleau, made the announcement alongside Plante at the Centre for Sustainable Development, the province's first LEED Platinum building, on Sainte-Catherine Street in downtown Montreal.

In a news release, the city said the money will go toward installing new public charging stations for electric vehicles, converting oil and gas heating systems in municipal buildings to greener alternatives like electricity, as well as other measures to reduce the impact of extreme weather on Montrealers.

To that end, the city plans to build 23 water retention basins and 15 artificial ponds surrounded by vegetation, all part of an ecological rainwater management project on Papineau Avenue, in the Ahuntsic district.

Ponds such as the ones planned help reduce sewer backups: the vegetation serves as a sponge, and the ponds give water a place to go during heavy rains, reducing the chance of flooding and improving water quality.

The city will also plant 94,000 trees by 2024, it said in a news release. That is a big step toward meeting the administration's commitment to plant half a million trees over the next decade.

The Plante administration's goal is for half of all vehicles in Montreal to be electric by 2030 and to have 2,000 public charging stations in the city by 2025. With this new funding, the city said it will be able to nearly attain its objective, adding 800 charging stations to the 1,000 already in existence over the next three years,

The second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after transport is the building sector, said Plante in the news release.

"We want our buildings to operate without fossil fuels," she said.

Fifteen municipal buildings that still rely on oil or gas will be converted to help the city reach its decarbonization goals, she said. They include the Atwater Market, buildings at the Botanical Gardens and the Montreal Police Service's north operations centre.

"This work will enable us to reduce our emissions by nearly 10,000 tonnes of CO2, and that is major," said the mayor —the equivalent of getting more than 3,000 vehicles off the road, in terms of gas emissions and greenhouse effects.

Charette said his government was "proud to recognize the leadership and support the efforts of cities like Montreal," in helping Quebec achieve its climate transition targets.