QUEBEC CITY – François Legault accuses Justin Trudeau’s government of trying to negotiate in the public square on the Quebec Bridge file.
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“Let them keep their word,” dropped the outgoing Prime Minister, when questioned on this subject on the very first day of the election campaign.
Remember that just before the Quebec election was called, federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos and the federal government’s special negotiator, businessman Yvon Charest, affirmed that Quebec was blocking the retrocession of the Quebec bridge. Against all expectations, an agreement had just been reached with CN, said MM. Charest and Duclos, information that the rail carrier did not want to comment on or confirm.
Minister Duclos also suggested that the CAQ government was intervening in order to make it one more argument to promote its project for a 3rd highway link between Quebec and Lévis.
“I understand Mr. Duclos, the Liberal Party (of Canada), want to negotiate in the public square, to mix up the files, but that is their problem,” commented Mr. Legault.
The CAQ leader recalled that it was Justin Trudeau’s Liberals who promised, in 2015, to find a solution to repaint the Quebec Bridge.
“The federal government is committed to solving the problem, although it is keeping its promise,” repeated Mr. Legault.
Three offers rejected
The outgoing Prime Minister refused to publicly discuss the financial package proposed by Ottawa.
In August 2021, a few days before the federal elections, Le Journal had revealed that the federal government was asking Quebec to assume nearly 50% of the costs of a maintenance and repair program for the bridge, estimated at $784 million out of 25 years.
The Legault government had rejected this proposal, arguing that an investment of $ 200 million for the road deck of the bridge was already provided for in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI).
A year earlier, Ottawa proposed splitting the bill into three equal parts with CN and the Quebec government, a solution that was also rejected.
According to what the federal government’s special negotiator has said through the media, the federal government is now proposing to invest $2 for every dollar advanced by Quebec in its maintenance plan, which includes an increase in the annual rent of a few million .
“They cannot go and negotiate on our behalf and then ask us to pay when they had agreed to solve the problem,” François Legault said on Sunday.
The CAQ leader, who advocates a nationalist approach, took the opportunity to criticize the Trudeau government for interfering in Quebec’s jurisdictions.
“What I would like first of all is for the federal government not to deal with Bill 21, to give us powers in immigration, to stop meddling in health management. »