Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, thank you for having us. I also thank the other witnesses for being here.
I am the mayor of the city of Gaspé, Quebec, and the president of the Union des municipalités du Québec, UMQ. I am accompanied by Samuel Roy, director of policy at the UMQ. Thank you for allowing the Union des municipalités du Québec to speak to your study.
First of all, it is important to recall that, for more than 100 years, the UMQ's mission has been to bring together municipalities from all regions of Quebec in order to mobilize municipal expertise, to support its members in exercising their jurisdictions, and to promote municipal democracy. The UMQ represents more than 85% of the population of Quebec and the territory of Quebec, as well as 95% of municipal budgets in Quebec.
In our view, the mobility of people over a territory as large as Quebec is an extremely important lever for stimulating economic vitality, but also for opening up the Quebec regions. The latter must be linked to the major centres and to each other by solid and reliable intercity transport networks, in order to ensure access to services and jobs for all.
In Quebec, a significant portion of intercity bus transportation is provided by private carriers. Since the pandemic, as previous speakers have mentioned, there has been a drop in frequency, which is associated with a drop in ridership on several bus routes. We are talking about buses linking Quebec City and Montreal, which is often the busiest route in Quebec, but also buses that link Quebec City and Havre-Saint-Pierre, on the North Shore, via Saint-Siméon, in Charlevoix, for example. There are also other links in Gaspésie and Abitibi.
With profitability no longer in the picture, operating these routes is no longer advantageous for private carriers, but it is still essential for the vitality of the regions served. It is above all the financial support of governments, particularly municipal governments, that keeps these routes active. As such, the UMQ would like to share with you two recommendations to be implemented to improve intercity bus transportation.
Our first recommendation is to modify the Rural Transit Solutions Fund and increase its budget envelope, so that it fully achieves its objectives. The union believes that the fund should allow for the financing of operating expenses and not only infrastructure expenses, a point I insist on, in order to contribute to the maintenance of intercity transport services. The needs on the ground are substantial, and increasing the amounts provided would make it possible to go even further and develop current services, in addition to consolidating those that are in place.
Our second recommendation is that the federal government and the Quebec government quickly reach permanent agreements to allow for the distribution of the funds provided by the Rural Transit Solutions Fund and the Zero Emission Transit Fund. At present, Quebec municipalities and transit operators are the only ones in Canada that do not have access to the money in these two funds. There are surely reasons for this, which we will discuss in question period. However, these amounts are necessary to meet the needs of municipalities and operators on an ongoing basis.
For example, projects covered by the August 2022 transitional agreement under the Rural Transit Solutions Fund were funded, but projects that were not included in the transitional agreement were not funded, even though the federal government had responded positively to the applications. It is therefore important that the federal government come to an agreement with the province.
With regard to the Zero Emission Transit Fund, its implementation should help accelerate things in terms of electrification. I don't need to remind you that this is essential to meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets, including those of the federal government.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that intercity transportation allows us to occupy our territory, counteracts its devitalization and prevents the isolation of rural communities. It is an important economic vector, but it is also an essential service in the regions. This is why we are asking the federal and Quebec governments to come to an agreement, so that Quebec operators and municipalities have access to additional funding to ensure the sustainability of intercity bus transportation.
I'll stop here and wait for the question period for the rest. Thank you.