Fortier promises billions for infrastructure

"We're going to unclog the 20 and the 40," said Fortier, joking about how his commute from Ottawa in the morning to Montreal had been long and unpleasant to an audience consisting of West Island business elite and elected officials. "I can tell you it wasn't because of Ottawa," he said.

Since coming to power, Fortier said the Conservative government had done a lot more to help out small local municipalities than had been done in previous years. Since his appointment, Fortier, a senator who plans to run for MP in Vaudreuil-Soulanges in the next election, said he had revised an existing plan for infrastructure in the West Island. He pledged that about $100 billion will be invested in infrastructure for small municipalities in the next few years, for projects such as water filtration plants or new buildings.

Another point he touched upon was the West Island-Dorval-downtown train project. "One of the last versions of this project was a train that would do (just the travel) between Dorval and Montreal," explained Fortier. That project alone would have cost around $500 million.

However, he said his ministry was now working on a plan to allow the train to go further west, and thus help improve public transit in the area in general. "We're going to kill two birds with one stone," he said. Fortier later told The Chronicle the STM was fully aware of this project. "They're a part of this," he said, and would be there to ensure buses would connect with the new train in order to complement it.

Pierrefonds-Dollard Conservative candidate Pierre-Olivier Brunelle said he was very positive about the announcements made by Fortier. "I believe it's going to happen," he said about the train project. "I've already asked the question to the caucus of MPs," he said, and he has noted that studies of the project have moved ahead since then.

Brunelle also said he thinks municipalities and the government really are getting along better these days. He pointed to his own frequent visit of town halls during monthly meetings as an example.

Fortier's remarks drew a more mixed reaction from some elected officials attending the conference. Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti said he was impressed with the speech, but was not sure exactly how much federal relations to small towns had improved. "A lot is relative," he said, recalling Fortier's words. "It's a lot compared to what it was," he granted, but he said the percentage of taxes and other benefits that the federal and provincial government derive from municipal infrastructure in unjust. "Municipalities own 60 per cent of the infrastructure in Canada," he said, but they do not benefit from that number proportionately.

Dollard des Ormeaux district 7 councillor Alex Bottausci said he has noted a good dialogue between the federal government and small municipalities. "It's very difficult for me to say what it was before," he said, since he was only elected at the end of 2005.

Baie d'Urfé Mayor Maria Tutino said she credits the shift in importance accorded to municipalities to more of a general awareness, rather than a different approach due to party politics. "I think it's very positive," she said.

The event was organized by the West Island Chamber of Commerce. Director-general Andrée Bélanger said it is part of a new series of conferences that will tour each municipality and borough in the West Island.