Longueuil, Laval mayors refuse to accept blame for tax increases

Mayors are annoyed with the provincial government over cuts in transfer payments (CTV Montreal/Jason Clarke)

Mayors throughout Quebec are accusing the provincial government attempting to browbeat them into keeping quiet about the real reason for tax increases.

The Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) says Municipal Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau wants to punish cities and towns if they don't cut taxes.

Last month, the Quebec government reached an agreement with the UMQ to cut $300 million in spending. Municipalities were supposed to trim their budgets by 1.2 per cent to absorb the cut.

But Laval and Longueuil recently announced tax increases of 3.2 and 3.9 per cent -- passing on the government cut to residents.

The mayors of both cities say the hikes are necessary because of a reduction in transfer payments from the provincial government.

This week Moreau said that was nonsense, and that there was no reason for the two suburban Montreal cities to raise taxes when each had a sizable surplus.

"In the case of Laval it’s the biggest surplus in Quebec at $117 million and at the same time they are increasing expenses while we as a government are restraining expenses,” said Moreau from Quebec City Wednesday.

For their part the mayors of Longueuil and Laval said the surpluses are being saved for future development and large-scale infrastructure work.

Longueuil Mayor Caroline St-Hilaire said Longueuil has already dipped into its surplus for the past two years, and going in a third time would be irresponsible.

"I will not give it, not today, not tomorrow, to intimidation," she said.

Laval Mayor Marc Demers said the minister is threatening to punish his city because he's speaking about the cost of off-loading provincial tax cuts.

"Usually in laws you cannot do undemocratically what you can do directly, so if they want to go there it's their problem," said Demers.

He added the surpluses Moreau is urging the cities to use are supposed to be used for the benefit of local residents.

"That money belongs to the citizens of Laval and I'm not comfortable with the fact that I'm going to use that money to solve the problem that the Government of Quebec has," he said.

Moreau said he will cut millions if dollars in transfers to Longueuil and Laval if the two cities don't back down on planned tax hikes, or he would send direct payments to residents of the two cities to offset the tax hike.

Political analysts scoffed at that decision.

"For Longueuil it would be a cheque for $23 [for each citizen]. How much would it cost just to issue those cheques," said Jean Lapierre.

Don Macpherson said for a government that had promised to respect the autonomy of municipalities, Moreau was acting in bad faith.

"He is saying he will cut the transfers if they continue to blame the provincial government downloading cuts to municipalities," said Macpherson.

"It's quite obvious that's what he's doing and I think he's in a weak reason politically."

"The two mayors of Longueuil and Laval just happen to be pequistes," said Macpherson.