Mr Prime Minister, in twenty years of career and several dozen opinion pieces, I have very rarely used the form of the open letter to advance my ideas. Too personal, too solemn. But, this time, I wanted to challenge you. Probably because your presence in public space has crossed my adult life and also because the moment seems, precisely, solemn to me for a project on which I have been working since the beginning of my career: providing Quebec with a network of tram.
We know the context. With the pandemic and its inflationary consequences, the call for proposals to build the tram infrastructure could not be concluded. Faced with this situation, the City of Quebec is proposing to become the project manager in a hybrid approach with the private sector which, for its part, seems incapable of taking on the whole task on its own at reasonable costs, but will certainly embark on a configuration less risky.
This is an approach that deserves to be more than considered to keep this project already well underway on track. Because, despite this big bump in the road, the project must move forward. I humbly submit my analysis to you.
Many transport and urban planning specialists have analyzed Quebec, its urban geography, the movement profiles of its population, and we always come to similar conclusions. There remains good growth potential for public transport, but the backbone of the network is at saturation, it is creaking and it is not efficient. With the sustained development of the capital, the need will increase over time.
You said it yourself, Quebec needs a heavy mode of transport; and the mode best suited to its population, its density and its geography is the tramway. The metro is too expensive for what is needed; improving the bus will not solve anything and will also be expensive in the long term in terms of operating costs. The data is hard-headed, we will always come back to the tram.
To be frank, I too find that 8.4 billion is expensive, very expensive. The Europeans, who have been running trams again for almost 30 years, are getting there for much less. But it is precisely our inexperience that is costly. You have to use external expertise, import certain parts, etc.
So that it costs us less in the future, we must immediately plan the next phases for Quebec and new projects elsewhere. This expertise will become a niche of excellence for Quebec that can be exported throughout North America.
Some might advise you to take a break and wait to see the context of the next few months. This path is risky and expensive. We would waste nearly 500 million of preparatory work already carried out. We would abandon the valuable expertise developed by the project office, which has been in place for four years and which knows the route and its challenges from every angle. Ultimately, Quebec risks losing federal money to the benefit of Ontario and British Columbia. Ultimately, postponing risks costing us even more.
Five years ago, you became Premier of Quebec with the intention of increasing our level of wealth, personal and collective. Your environmental platform was not very fleshed out, but your ambition to launch major public transport projects was a great strength. Developing our assets, protecting the environment and supporting the economy through optimized mobility, this is a social project that met all expectations!
Circumstances have ensured that the only project to remain on track is that of the extension of the blue line, an old Montreal project that has been promised many times. Succeeding in the tramway in the capital is your opportunity to truly initiate the development of public transportation in Quebec.
Certainly the project is not particularly popular at the moment, but abandoning it would have a devastating effect on our confidence and the confidence of all partners in delivering major projects. We are all hungry for success in these troubled times; the Quebec tramway, precisely because it arouses a certain controversy, can become the symbol of our ability to move forward despite adversity. I am convinced that once completed, it will be an exceptional legacy.
Mr. Prime Minister, the best time to build a tramway in Quebec was twenty years ago. The second best time is now. And this decision is in your hands.