Municipal affairs minister Martin Coiteux sat down Tuesday with mayor-elect Valerie Plante, where they mostly went over Plante's plans for public transit in the city.
While Plante brought up her proposal for a new crosstown metro line (the 'pink line'), Coiteux told her the province is committed to projects already underway, including the new light-rail network and the extension of the metro's blue line to Anjou.
"We have also reserved some money for some of those priorities already. Blue Line will be probably the next one because it is really a priority for us and for Montreal as well," said Coiteux.
Plante appeared to agree with Coiteux's assessment, but suggests Montreal needs to dream bigger.
"I will continue to support those projects, because they are important," Plante said. "We will serve the needs of a lot of Montrealers. What I want to make sure, though, is that it doesn't stop there."
Meanwhile, Plante addressed the issue of the future of the Formula E race. The city is committed to holding the race for two more years, and while Plante had promised to take it off the streets of the Gay Village and move it to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, there's a major issue with moving it there — as part of the city's commitment to Formula One, part of the track is under construction, and will be for much of next year as well.
"My conviction or my will is to make sure that we will honour the contract of the Formula E, there are two editions left. That said, I don't have all the documents of what needs to be done, for example the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve," said Plante.
Meanwhile, Plante also said she was satisfied with what Quebec has already done in helping alleviate the suffering caused by last spring's floods , thought Coiteux suggests the sheer numbers of those affected stretched the government's resources.
The tone of the meeting was positive, and the two politicians stated they expect to see much more of each other going forward.