The mayoral candidate Bruno Marchand wants to “open the books” of Quebec City and draw inspiration from New York to propel it “among the most transparent cities in North America and why not in the world.”
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In a second election announcement in as many weeks, Wednesday, the strong and proud leader of Quebec made a commitment to make all of Quebec City’s financial data public and accessible, if he wins the election. in November.
He also wants the municipal administration to share frequent follow-ups on the progression of costs and deadlines for road, real estate and other major works under its responsibility.
The City of Quebec is already making public a number of financial information on the contracts it awards and the work.
Like in New York
Mr. Marchand believes for his part that these data could be communicated in a more proactive manner and with more clarity to give “predictability” to citizens “and that they themselves be capable of questioning, investigating, raising questions and that we have to answer them. “
“This information needs to be provided continuously and regularly, not just quarterly or annually,” he said.
The former president of Centraide Quebec gave as an example a New York City portal where graphs and tables inform the citizens of the metropolis about the types of municipal spending that are experiencing the greatest growth, spending by department and major contracts awarded.
He would like “that we can say one day and quickly, in the coming years, that Quebec will be among the most transparent cities in North America and why not in the world”, on the assumption that “our data is your data. “.
“It’s not fair to say: yes, the information exists on our website, go ahead. It’s not sufficient. Even if it is true, for us it is not enough, it is not the city of which we dream ”, he added.
Terms to be specified
According to him, the “modalities” of this commitment are yet to be specified. He mentioned the creation of a website, or even a mobile application that would allow using geolocation to find out about traffic obstructions in his neighborhood.
In the field, Mr. Marchand also suggested that posters near the construction sites could inform residents in advance of the work being carried out and of its duration, cost and expected result.
According to him, “there are not many elected officials who propose that because they say to themselves that after that, it will complicate my life once elected (sic). We, it is a commitment which is firm and from which we will not deviate. ”
Third link
On the sidelines of this press briefing, Bruno Marchand was invited to respond to a survey commissioned by the Coalition Avenir Québec which revealed that 60% of respondents in the region are in favor of the Québec-Lévis tunnel project.
Because of the “gray areas” that persist and concerns related in particular to going out to the Saint-Roch district, “I do not see how a mayor or a mayoress of Quebec [pourrait] currently say no all-round, or yes all-round [à ce projet]”, did he declare.
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