HELSINKI | On a mission to the Nordic countries to be inspired by their avant-garde practices on transport, the environment and homelessness, Mayor Bruno Marchand returns with a head full of ambition, but he must also return with his feet on the ground.
Québec is really lagging behind in the development of its public transportation system: it is the worst in Canada for cities with a population of 500,000 or more. That means the capital doesn’t even have the base.
In the Scandinavian countries, sustainable transport and carbon neutrality goals are an integral part of projects and policies, at every stage and in every service. The mayor therefore wants to advance the 2050 goal of making Quebec a carbon neutral city (having a neutral impact on the climate) by about 20 years.
“I think the image that these cities are sending back to us is to tell us that we can move even faster,” he said in reviewing the mission on Thursday.
In the Nordic countries and in Europe in general, all parties, whether left or right, support the green turn, the development of public transport and infrastructure that encourages walking or cycling. In short, it’s a different world.
“Here, the development of public and sustainable transport is a matter of course, it’s not a revolution like at home,” sums up Christian Savard, Managing Director of Vivre en ville, who took part in the mission organized by the city.
Don’t forget America
Getting down to earth doesn’t mean Bruno Marchand has to bow to those who resist progress. Far from there.
His ambition to bring Quebec into the modern world, especially in terms of transportation, is very commendable and timely.
His predecessor had recognized the interest in developing public transport and made the necessary efforts to start the tram. This is an important step. But it took too long and the subject did not make him feverish.
For his part, Bruno Marchand is making this green revolution a well-received and well-received warhorse.
However, the mayor will also have to adapt his ambitions to the Quebec and North American models, and he does not claim to import the Copenhagen or Helsinki models, but rather to be inspired by them.
Still, it would be beneficial to plan some missions to the United States or elsewhere in Canada, where several provinces can witness their progress on public transportation, homelessness, and others. I’m thinking of Calgary in particular.
Businessmen have felt less connected to economic missions since the arrival of Bruno Marchand.
elephant in space
Coming back to sustainable transport, the mayor knows we’re starting from afar, but he also says he senses citizens’ appetites. This is true for many people, but seeing the commentaries under the chronicles, the articles and the publications about the mission, their vision frightens some, often wrongly and sometimes rightly.
Therefore, if he wants the strong support necessary to bring Quebec into modernity, Bruno Marchand must clearly state his vision and ensure the support of a large number of citizens. Because if he succeeds, no one will want to go back, on the contrary, the appetite increases.
The other elephant in the room – and it’s gigantic – is that nothing will happen if the Quebec government, which funds the programs, continues to be their big talker but their little doer, as we in good Quebecers say. The federal government must also go along with this, especially when it comes to public transport.
If you consider that Prime Minister Legault spoke of the third link as a green project and his Minister for the Environment as a sustainable development project, you understand that we have a very long way to go.
Despite everything, given the global problems, the mayor does not see how we as a city could act differently. “If we don’t take the change by the hand, it will grab our throats,” he said, quoting Churchill.
fight against homelessness
Then Bruno Marchand demonstrated that he was able to impose his resolve on the Quebec government. For example, in the Girard budget, he could get $15 million over two years to develop bike corridors, sidewalks, and better snow removal while cities had shots for these types of projects.
On the other hand, the budget falls far short of the cities’ expectations for social housing and tackling homelessness. We are far from the ambitious vision of Finland, which has reduced the number of homeless people on its territory by two-thirds since the 1970s.
However, it is not the cities that fund the programs and are responsible for allocating health and intervention budgets. It is the Government of Quebec and the CIUSSS that must work to ensure that the Mayor of Quebec’s ambitious vision becomes a reality.
In this sense, the mission will have had the merit of drawing attention to promising solutions. Synergies still need to be created to make these solutions a reality. As I wrote last week, Mayor Marchand will need all his courage to fight these battles, but there is a lot of potential.
Similar problems for the port of Helsinki
Photo Karine Gagnon
Port of Helsinki CEO Ville Haapassari spoke to Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand. Olga Farman, Vice Chair of the Port of Quebec Board of Directors, presented the organization’s vision.
Although the Port of Helsinki is very different from the Port of Québec in that passenger traffic has been multiplied by 70 and a half times the tonnage, it still faced the same problems of being good neighbors with the population and the environment.
In 2008, after 20 years of reflection on the issue, the Port of Helsinki shifted its bulk transport from the city center to the east, following the global trend of ports relocating to peri-urban areas, stated Ville Haapasaari, CEO of the Port of Helsinki yesterday .
In the city center we have concentrated passenger traffic, which reaches around 12 million a year, and freight traffic. We are working on building a tunnel that will allow trucks to travel underground instead of above the surface in residential areas where citizens have complained.
As part of this move, the port initiated town meetings to discuss noise, air quality, the environment and land users. Initiatives that have also been running for the past two years in the Port of Quebec, where a major conversion has taken place.
Also challenges
In Quebec, where the land at the port is owned by the federal government rather than the city, unlike Helsinki, there are no plans to relocate bulk cargo out of the city center and citizens are very concerned about air quality. “If we can’t do that in a closed circuit (bulk transport), we’ll have to find other solutions,” admits the mayor.
The port is facing challenges, but is also committed to improving the port-citizen relationship and has been showing this for two years.
We have to ensure “that the citizens also benefit from a port”, that not only goods are transported there.
The mayor rightly points out that it is to our advantage to develop our port economically. It’s about figuring out what’s acceptable to citizens.
Bruno Marchand leaves Finland on Friday after 10 days of meetings and presentations on various topics in Copenhagen, Denmark, Malmö, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland.
