Amid ongoing debate over the place of the automobile in urban centres, the City of Montreal has announced it is following through on a plan to boost fines for parking and traffic violations.
Mayor Valerie Plante's administration, which has been praised and criticized for policies to limit cars, says fines for parking in a disability zone will double to $300, while tickets for double parking and blocking traffic will increase by $20 to $60.
The fine for a basic parking violation will be $62 including fees, compared to $30 in Toronto, $68 in Calgary and $100 in Vancouver, according to figures supplied by the City of Montreal.
The increases are expected to be approved at April's city council meeting.
A city spokesman said the measure will improve traffic flow and make roads safer by removing obstructions to visibility.
"Car drivers who commit infractions hurt traffic mobility by double-parking and blocking lanes, therefore punishing thousands of other drivers," Philippe Sabourin said in an interview.
He denied the measure is anti-car or intended solely to fill city coffers.
Plante's administration announced earlier this year it expects to collect roughly $12 million more in revenues from fines this year despite ending a widely hated ticket quota system for police officers.
The city says the parking ticket increase is the first since 2009 and brings fines in line with those doled out by other major North American cities.
But the leader of the opposition sees it differently, saying it amounts to a "disguised tax" and an example of the administration's anti-car agenda.
Lionel Perez said Plante campaigned on a promise to represent all Montrealers but has since shown her true colours.
"What we see here is a concerted effort through different public policy decisions that are clearly demonstrating their tendency to be anti-car," he said in a phone interview Friday.
On the streets of Old Montreal, some citizens who spoke to The Canadian Press said they believe the bigger fines are more about discouraging car use than increasing safety.
"It's an agenda to push the (subway)" said Jordan Duguay, who was standing at a street corner talking to a friend.
Duguay, who doesn't drive, wondered whether higher fines might not increase road rage, therefore actually making the streets more dangerous.
Chris Thomas, a driver who also uses public transit, said that while he supports minimizing car use, it's not not always realistic.
"The downfall is that sometimes you have no choice," he said as he buckled his young son into a minivan. "Once I pick up my stuff (here), I have three kids to go pick up."
Montreal, long recognized as one of North America's most cyclist-friendly cities, is no stranger to heated debates over the place of the automobile on its streets.
Plante's administration angered some drivers last month when it revealed details of a pilot project to ban through traffic from the city's scenic Mount Royal park.
More than 27,000 people signed a petition against the measure, which was prompted by the death of an 18-year-old cylist last fall.
This week, the city also approved a contract to turn part of a street into the city's first "veloroute," meaning bicycles will be able to ride down the centre of the street and have priority over cars.
The administration, Perez said, is also mulling widening sidewalks and fully eliminating parking along Ste-Catherine Street in the next few years, leading to what he calls "potentially disastrous" consequences for merchants.
Perez says he's in favour of encouraging walking and cycling but believes the city is making decisions without taking time to understand the impact they could have on citizens.
"Everybody is for increased public transit, everyone is for increased active transit," he said.
"It's a question of how you make those decisions, the evolution, the timing, and what the alternatives are."
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