Montreal budget: Is the water-tax increase really necessary?

At city hall Tuesday, everyone agreed Montreal must spend massively to upgrade sewers and water mains to make up for years of neglect.
But other questions were up for debate. What does “massively” mean? Was an increase in the water tax really necessary? And where will those extra tax dollars actually go?
The scene: council chamber, where the Finance committee was studying an operating budget tabled last week by Mayor Valérie Plante that breaks a tax election promise, in large