Laval mayor Marc Demers said on Friday he was pleased and relieved to hear news that the province’s CAQ government decided to allot $2.3 billion to municipalities across Quebec to help them cope during the upcoming second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The announced financial support will be lending us a hand for expenses we ran up helping our citizens, by postponing the payment of taxes, for example, or by developing complementary assistance programs to support our businesses which were caught up with labour and supply problems,” Demers said in a statement.
At the same time, Demers said he was greatly relieved to hear Quebec will also be furnishing $1.2 billion to the municipalities to help keep the province’s many public transit agencies afloat during a period when ridership and fare revenues have dropped drastically.
“A lack of funds would have led the Société de transport de Laval (STL) to have to make drastic budget cuts,” said Demers, adding that the STL hopes to continue with the environmentally-sustainable program it had established before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
