More taxing power, less influence for Montreal

Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay is calling on opposition parties to vote down a new bill that gives the city more taxation powers but takes away its influence at the municipal agglomeration council.

Bill 22, tabled at the national assembly Thursday, grants Montreal the right to impose levies and taxes on everything from movie tickets to parking lots and restaurants.

It also dictates changes to the makeup and functioning of the agglomeration council, which oversees municipal services shared by Montreal and some 15 reconstituted suburbs that broke away from the mega city last year.

Tremblay says the Liberal government is bowing to minoritysuburbs at the expense of the majority. "I am shocked and outraged by the way the Quebec government has once again decided to treat Montrealers," he said on Thursday.

"The government has caved in to the pressure exerted by 200,000 people who turned their backs on Montreal at the expense of 1.6 million people who expressed their confidence in our city."

The agglomerations have been a constant source of irritation for reconstituted suburbs ever since they came into existence last year after munipalities demerged from Quebec's mega cities such as Montreal and Longueuil.

Suburbs complain they have no power over decisions made at the agglomeration level because they sit as a minority at the council.

Under Bill 22, that will change, said Westmount Mayor Karin Marks. "We believe the government has finally heard and realized that this isn't working."

The municipal legislation will afford municipalities more say in how their money is spent, and will include measures to review which services are shared by suburbs and the city.

Tremblay said he's not convinced this will save anyone money. "The tax burden of Montrealers will increase, and the tax burden of the reconstituted cities will decrease. That's not fair."

The mayor said he hasn't made any decisions yet about what kinds of services could be taxed under the new law.

"One thing is certain: We can no longer accelerate the development of the metropolis of Quebec when 80 per cent of our revenues are based on the property tax system."

The bill will be subject to legislative hearings in the fall, and will go to vote in December.