Valuable allies in politics, expert opinions often save time at the right time. On the other hand, they have the unfortunate fault of not always delivering the expected verdict. François Legault must therefore regret having himself ordered the latest rebuff served by CDPQ Infra to its third road link project. These external reports, however, have the other cynical advantage of being able to be easily — and instantly — ignored.
To the exhaustive analysis of 1,000 documents and 90 hours of consultation, summarized in the 140-page CDPQ Infra report presented on Wednesday, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) prefers its stubborn clientelism, in order to retain its caucus within its caucus. elected officials from the Quebec region and their constituents in its electoral area. For a Prime Minister who joked about wanting to find his compass, François Legault seems to prefer to keep his weather vane.
Because the contortionist exercise was at Olympic level on Thursday, the Prime Minister and his Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, finding a way to justify the relaunch of the project by brandishing a new argument – that of economic security – which had until now been dismissed. The third link, promised by the CAQ since 2018 before being abandoned last year then resurrected the day after a bitter defeat during the partial in Jean-Talon, will therefore move forward.
A contradiction all the more jarring as the Minister of Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, strives to convince Quebecers (and some of his colleagues, obviously) of the urgency of decarbonizing Quebec. While he talks about the necessary decline in Quebec’s automobile fleet, his government is rushing into the spread of solo cars. And this, although CDPQ Infra emphasizes that the transport sector is responsible for approximately 70% of greenhouse gas emissions in the Quebec region, compared to 43% nationally.
The Legault government is fortunately – in part – behind the ambitious structuring transport network proposed for Quebec and its suburbs, starting with the construction of a tramway to which the rapid bus service recommended by the CDPQ will perhaps be added, but for which the Prime Minister first wants to consult the concerned mayors of Quebec and Lévis. Hopefully he convinces them to approve it. His procrastination has already caused the tram project to waste six years, which has finally resulted in a version very similar to its first.
It is to be hoped that this Integrated Express Transport Circuit (CITE) is not once again plunged into uncertainty by the dogmatism of conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who hastened to warn that he would not invest “not a cent of federal money” on a tram to Quebec if he is elected Prime Minister of Canada next year, as the polls currently predict. A disconcerting fight for sustainable mobility, from a leader who must nevertheless get rid of this label of reactionary to the environmental cause and who also claims to respect more the areas of jurisdiction and the decisions of Quebec.
To justify the promised construction of a motorway bridge, François Legault dismisses the 13 pages of the CDPQ Infra report detailing that a third road link “cannot be justified from the point of view of mobility”. The reduction in vehicle flow on the existing bridges would be marginal, the saving in travel time too (on average 5 minutes), and motorists using the new bridge would in turn encounter congestion on the roads when arriving in Quebec. roads already saturated.
No matter, the CDPQ Infra also cites, in five short paragraphs, the concerns of “several stakeholders” (representatives of industry, public transport, but also elected officials) regarding “economic security and transport of goods » in the event that the Pierre-Laporte bridge finds itself closed for work or an emergency.
A “risk” which had not been taken into account when mentioned by Minister François Bonnardel, when he was in Transport, but which is suddenly today judged to be “important”. And to which the CAQ refuses to see alternative solutions, such as lowering the deck of the Quebec bridge, as suggested by a study released by the federal government, in order to also allow truck transport there.
Nothing works. François Legault prefers a third and new bridge east of the city centers of Quebec and Lévis, which he hopes will be popular with these voters, even if it has not earned the favor of the CDPQ Infra, which rejected this corridor like the five others studied in its report.
Less would be needed to cement the cynicism of residents of Quebec, its suburbs, and of all Quebecers. But Mr. Legault, for his part, congratulates himself on having had the “humility” to admit that he is turning a blind eye.