It’s customary when a new cabinet minister is named for the stakeholders affected by their portfolio to congratulate the fresh appointee and express how much they’re looking forward to working together.

After the naming of Geneviève Guilbault as Quebec’s new municipal affairs minister in a cabinet shuffle Wednesday, perhaps mayors and councillors from Montreal to Mirabel can be spared this pretence.

At the very least, it would be disingenuous. But really, there’s no point.

For the municipal world, Montreal in particular, knows all too well what it’s getting in Guilbault after her train wreck of a tenure as transport minister. Forget her lack of vigilance in the SAAQclic fiasco; she has already burned many bridges with her blatant disregard for the importance of public transit — a major and urgent priority for municipalities.

This, after all, is a minister who once sniffed that taxpayers in the rest of Quebec shouldn’t have to subsidize mass transit in Montreal.

Due to structural issues, public transit in Greater Montreal has been facing a $2.5-billion shortfall over five years. Guilbault and the Coalition Avenir Québec government have refused to fully backstop deficits that grow worse each year. Instead of ensuring stable and adequate operational funding, Guilbault ordered performance audits on transit agencies.

Rather than fix the recurrent problem, she chose divisive wedge politics that completely ignore the fact half........

© Montreal Gazette