Green fund and debt of the metro to Laval: Quebec request audits

Archival Photo Simon Clark
“We want to ensure that every dollar we invest in the green Fund goes to the reduction of GHG emissions”, has hammered the minister of the Environment, Isabelle Melançon.

Charles Lecavalier

Monday, 19 February 2018 16:27

UPDATE
Monday, February 19, 2018 16:30

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The minister Isabelle Melançon will be asked a number of checks on the use of the green Fund by the ministry of Transport, which uses millions of combating climate change, to repay old debts.

• READ ALSO : the money in The green Fund… to pay for the metro to Laval, opened in 2007

“I have a goal, and I want to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 20% by 2020. We want to ensure that every dollar we invest in the green Fund goes to the reduction of GHG emissions”, has hammered the minister of the Environment on Monday.

Our parliamentary Bureau revealed that tens of millions of dollars from the green Fund are used to repay the debts of the old projects of the extension of the metro to Laval and the Train.

In 2015-2016, the ministry of Transportation (MTQ) has disbursed$ 110 Million for the metro to Laval, though launched under the Landry government and put into service in 2007. At the time of the inauguration of the metro, the green Fund was only beginning to be created. The MTQ has also paid$ 114 Million for the Train, announced in 2007 and delivered in 2014. A good portion of those amounts are funded by the green Fund, according to a document presented to elected officials and obtained by our parliamentary Bureau.

Ms. Melançon said that she “is still waiting for answers” and that it has requested of accounts to the president of the board of management of the Fund. “I want to know if the committee of management has been made aware. I’m waiting to talk with the president”, she said. In a written communication with the Journal, the Committee has, however, indicated that he supported the decision of the MTQ.

The “bad liberal”

The opposition parties complained that this case “once again” the proof of the poor management of the green fund by the liberal government.

“This is not acceptable. It becomes a hidden tax to pay for projects in the past,” laments the deputy pq Sylvain Gaudreault. “We have not created the green Fund for that.”

Rather than leave it to the MTQ, the choice of projects funded in a logic of “silo”, Mr. Gaudreault offers a ministry of the Environment, climate and energy, which chapeauterait all the money in the fund.

At the CAQ, it is estimated that the money which comes mostly from motorists should be used to fund new public transport services, as well as to build a mass of charging stations for electric vehicles. “This is supposed to be future projects, to reduce GHG emissions”, said the mp caquiste Mathieu Lemay.

“It is shocking to learn that it uses the green Fund to pay off the debts of the ministry of Transport, but is this really surprising from the liberals? The green Fund is a catch-all since the beginning,” said his side the co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire Manon Massé.