Metro Line in Laval a Golden Opportunity for Quebec Government

Should the province of Quebec help foot the bill to construct an extension of the métro line through Laval?

Mayor Vaillancourt certainly thinks so. He has made a proposal to Transport Quebec requesting that the province impose a dedicated tax on Quebeckers—to raise $100 million a year—in order to extend the orange line in a loop from Côte-Vertu station to Montmorency terminus in Laval.

The proposal has some Quebeckers steaming, especially in Montréal. The Montréal Gazette wrote on December 13, 2007, “There’s no way the province or, even less, the city of Montreal should be paying for the extra costs for maintenance and operation. There are just too many other more worthy ways to spend any spare public-transit dollars that happen to be lying around.”

That might be true, especially considering the current state of roads, highways, and overpasses in Laval and Montréal. But, Quebeckers shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss Mayor Vaillancourt’s proposal. Let’s consider the numbers.

According to Service Canada’s most recent assessment, Laval has one of the fastest rates of growth in the province. Furthermore, as evidenced by its 50% commuter rate, the economies of Laval and Montréal are very closely connected. Each weekday morning, nearly 100 000 Lavallois wake up and trudge outside to start their morning commute. And if Statistics Canada is correct, only 20% of those people are taking the bus or metro to work. This means that nearly 80 000 Lavallois are driving their cars each morning on already congested and worn roads.

So why would Mayor Vaillancourt be so crazy as to propose extending the metro further into Laval when there is so much roadwork to be done? Well, if the numbers add up, in the years to come more and more Lavallois are going to be facing the gruelling morning commute into Montréal in order to help stimulate that city’s economy and the economy of Quebec. Instead of losing work hours to ridiculous commute times, traffic jams, and roadwork why not extend the metro deeper into Laval and get cars off the road while at the same time helping more Lavallois workers enter Montréal earlier, faster, and with fewer hassles. Add to this the extra metro riders who would be able to hop on from other surrounding suburbs and we might just have a recipe for a decent morning’s drive.

Mayor Vaillancourt’s proposal could save money—and make money—in the long run. It makes sense to me; let’s hope that the Quebec government thinks so too.

- Duncan Cameron