They are viscerally opposed to the tramway project and are asking the courts to derail it. The duty met Donald Charette and Doris Chabot, the best-known faces of Quebec deserves better, the group that is suing Quebec City with a massive war chest — and the certainty of defending ordinary people against an abuse of power.
On the street, they blend in with the Upper Town wildlife that frequents Cartier and Maguire Avenues. Graying hair, the relaxed look of chic vacationers, pleasant handshakes and easy laughter: Donald Charette and Doris Chabot both have the good nature of people for whom life has succeeded.
Yet they lead a judicial crusade that leaves no one indifferent in Quebec. Since the beginning of the summer, they have been trying to convince the courts to cancel the tramway project that the capital has been concocting for five years. The train is already running, supports the City, and each postponement further inflates the bill. Never mind: Mr. Charette and Mr.me Chabot firmly believe that the emergency brake must be activated to put an end to this “madness”.
Both have lived in the Saint-Sacrement district for several decades. “This is where my children grew up,” says Mr. Charette. For me, it’s an ideal neighborhood: there’s social diversity, trees, a sense of community. This is all that the City comes to “scrape”. »
A hijacking of democracy
The tramway, in their eyes, finds no grace. Too noisy, too expensive, too ugly, too polluting: for them, the City is preparing to swallow “at least” four billion in public funds to disfigure Quebec, cut down its hundred-year-old trees, massacre its beauty and forever damage the quality of life found there.
“What we want is for there to be a comparative study,” explains Doris Chabot, a career real estate broker whose house, an income property located on René-Lévesque Boulevard, is in the front row. of the plot. Directly affected by the expropriations, she considers “ridiculous” the amount of $43,000 that the City intends to give her to acquire a strip of her land. For her, these imposed acquisitions – and impossible to contest – are “worthy of the Middle Ages”, of a time when “the king could dispose of the land as he saw fit”.
The two, however, claim to want a public transport network worthy of the name, but curse without nuance the project advocated by Quebec. The City, they denounce, imposes it with forceps, without referendum or regard for the place of trees and humans. The approach is a misappropriation of democracy, illegality, even municipal tyranny, according to them.
“It is not true that once elected, an administration can do what it wants. Our movement is a way of giving power back to ordinary citizens,” explains Mr. Charette, a former journalist who, upon retirement, became a political columnist for a private radio station in Quebec.
A judicial crusade
For two months, Quebec deserves better and its “hard core of eight people, all volunteers”, have been trying to torpedo the project in court – and they are not alone. “We have about 2,500 donors online, and their contribution, on average, is $44,” says Ms.me Sculpin.
In total, the group claims donations amounting to $160,000, although the origin of some of these remains unclear. “It is clear that it is insufficient”, underlines the former journalist. Quebec deserves better has already suffered a first legal setback, but he assures us that victory remains within reach – as long as donations continue to flow in to finance it.
The captain leading the fight in court is the lawyer Guy Bertrand, who regrets that the population has never been able to comment on the project. It should however be remembered that the last municipal elections brought to the city council 18 elected officials who are in favor of the project, out of 22 seats.
Are the opponents of the tramway opposed to representative democracy? “Not when it is based on truth and transparency,” says Doris Chabot. Bruno Marchand, according to her, was elected thanks to false promises, by evoking during his campaign changes to the tramway that he failed to deliver once in power.
“If people had wanted the tram as it is, it’s Marie-Josée Savard [la dauphine de l’ancien maire Régis Labeaume] who would be mayor today,” says Mr. Charette. However, the majority of those elected to power on November 7 are part of the latter’s team.
“That’s the danger, assures Doris Chabot. Without contestation, elected officials can abuse their power. She will utter the word “dictatorship” a few times during the conversation, always hastening immediately to qualify her remarks.
A voice for the voiceless
They say they are waging their legal battle on behalf of the “oppressed”, those residents who will have to give up part or all of their property to make way for the tramway. “It changes lives, supports Mme Sculpin. We don’t see the stress it causes, [mais] some people no longer sleep at night. »
A citizen, in their view, should have the power to block a project single-handedly in these circumstances. “Justice is the last bulwark against the abuse of power,” she says. In all, 18 plaintiffs are involved in the lawsuit against the City. A number that seems minimal, since nearly 140,000 voters voted for mayoral candidates openly in favor of the tram in the last elections.
Their trial against the City will begin in October, after the provincial elections. Will they be a checkmate if the population of Quebec puts the caquistes back in power rather than voting in the majority for the Conservatives of Éric Duhaime, fiercely opposed to the tramway?
“We are going to go as far as we can,” swears Mr. Charette. Wherever their fight will take them, it is probably not by bus – or by tram – that the two interviewees will go there: they borrow, they confide, “quite rarely” public transport.