The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec, Éric Duhaime, on Monday filed two access to information requests with the Quebec Ministry of Transport urging it to make public, within seven days, all the studies produced on the third link and condition of the Pierre-Laporte Bridge.
“The ministry must stop being political, to be instrumentalized by the CAQ,” declared Mr. Duhaime during a press conference in front of the offices of the institution in Quebec. To illustrate his point, the politician even wanted to deliver a paper copy of his demands to a civil servant in person in front of the cameras.
The leader of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) however maintained on Friday that there was no study on the third link.
However, Éric Duhaime accuses the CAQ of hiding information available to the ministry and even invites civil servants to become “whistleblowers” if necessary to inform the population.
“The lies, the deceptions, the half-truths that accumulate on the part of Mr. Bonnardel [le ministre des Transports] and Mr. Legault must stop,” he said.
He says he wants to know what studies or recommendations the Legault government relied on to revise the third link project which, initially, was to be carried out to the east rather than between downtown Quebec and Lévis.
He also said he wanted to know why the government abandoned the idea of a bridge before opting for a tunnel. “They had promised a bridge. Why did they change from a bridge to a tunnel? declared Mr. Duhaime, who favors the idea of a bridge passing over Île d’Orléans.
In fact, the CAQ has never favored the scenario of a bridge. She said she was in favor of a third link, in the form of a bridge or a tunnel, before taking a position for a tunnel officially in 2019. The Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, then claimed to have based himself on a dozen different scenarios before to slice.
Asked about the possibility that studies cast doubt on the relevance of the project, the Conservative leader did not want to say if he would then question it.
As for the Pierre-Laporte bridge, the PCQ is concerned about its condition in the wake of the revelations of the program Investigation in the spring on the degradation of its lines.
Éric Caire targeted again
Mr. Duhaime also took the opportunity on Monday to target the CAQ MP for La Peltrie, Éric Caire. “Remember that there are MPs who have put their seats on the line saying they will not stand again in this election if the works [sur le troisième lien] had not been started. “.
The Conservatives also planned to campaign for a good part of Monday in La Peltrie.