Quebec’s energy minister under fire for saying there’s ‘too many cars’ on roads

A Quebec minister is being scrutinized for questioning traffic on provincial roads, with public transit advocates and experts arguing not enough is being done by the government.

Quebec’s economy and energy minister is under fire for lamenting there are “too many cars” on the province’s roads, with public transit advocates and experts arguing the government isn’t doing enough to fix it.

Pierre Fitzgibbon pointed specifically to Montreal’s traffic-jammed streets in an interview with le Journal de Québec earlier this week.

“Look at Montreal. Montreal no longer works,” Fitzgibbon said. “On weekends, there are too many cars.”

He also deplored the number of bigger vehicles that have a larger fuel consumption, saying they are “what causes the problem in transport.” Quebec’s automobile insurance board reports the total number of vehicles registered on the Island of Montreal has only slightly increased in recent years, but the number of light trucks jumped by 13 per cent in 2021 from 2017.

Fitzgibbon urged municipalities to act — such as with the recently adopted Bill 39, which gives, under certain conditions, the power to cities to hike licence renewal fees to fund public transit.

But critics argue the Coalition Avenir Québec government is leaving people with little choice but to drive. Trajectoire Québec which advocates for better public transit, wants the province to step up.

“The ironic part is having a minister of a government saying we have to decrease the number of cars and not having the same government investing more in public transit,” said general director Sarah V. Doyon in an interview Wednesday.

The Quebec government recently tabled its budget for the upcoming year, but it doesn’t include new public transit projects. The amount of money being spent on new public transit infrastructure projects is also on the decline.