Montreal mayor Valérie Plante and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard say they are making progress on top Montreal-centric issues such as revenue-sharing on legal pot and the blue line metro extension which they discussed during their first official meeting at city hall following Plante's election last November.
Couillard said his finance minister is already in talks with the city on the legal marijuana issue.
"Of course we want to have an agreement with Montreal on sharing the money that is available to better manage this transition, of course we will do this. I want to do it as soon as possible, I want to do it in a fair and transparent way and I don't want a micromanagement from Quebec City of this issue here in Montreal," said Couillard after their 45-minute meeting.
Public transit was also discussed and while Couillard said "there is a logic" behind Plante's pet project - the pink metro line- the premier said they want to focus first on getting the blue line extension and regional projects such as the light rail project (REM) done. Couillard said he'd like to start work on the latter before the summer.
Plante said that's understandable.
"Since the beginning, since I got elected, I've always said it's important to consider also all the needs. I'm behind the REM, I'm behind the blue line as well. The needs are big," said Plante.
They also discussed last year's spring floods that cost the city nearly $10M and affected over 400 homes and 1100 Montreal residents. Forty-three Montreal families are still living in hotels.
Minister responsible for public security and Montreal Martin Coiteux, who was also present at the meeting, said that they've given out over $100M so far to flood victims in the province and that they are working with officials to improve their disaster response plans with a report expected by the end of next month.