André Desrosiers, the mayor of Escoumins, repeats it in every tone. He used song three weeks ago to renew his appeal to the public authorities. “The North Shore needs a first link,” he intones in his composition titled Tous unis pour un pont. Because if Quebec will have its third link for reasons of “economic security”, other regions say they are all the more vulnerable to the hazards of transport.
The approximately 100,000 residents of the North Shore can only leave their region by boat, via ferries leaving from Tadoussac. Otherwise, there is a bridge in Chicoutimi, accessible after a three-hour detour. “Because we don’t have a bridge, everything related to transportation is always more expensive,” summarizes the mayor in an interview. When a truck is taken to a dock and waits there, it costs money. The driver is paid the same. It’s becoming a problem. »
Waiting times, just for the ferry ride, sometimes exceed an hour, although the distance between the two banks is less than two kilometers. A strike by navigation officers and engineering officers planned for Friday and Saturday will once again complicate travel, which illustrates, according to the mayor, how economic security can never be achieved for the North Shore.
The Île d’Orléans will benefit from a $2.7 billion bridge for its 7,000 inhabitants, recalls André Desrosiers, who partly blames the lack of a similar bridge for the demographic decline of his own region. .
Feasibility studies for a bridge spanning the Saguenay River have been published numerous times — notably in 1973, 1986, 1999, 2009, 2015 — without this infrastructure ever seeing the light of day. Two new studies are due to be published in the fall to reaffirm the impact that this bridge would have on the north-coastal, Charlevoix and Quebec economies in general.
For Mayor Desrosiers, as for many other elected officials on the North Shore, the absence of a first road link causes economic risks which slow down the growth of his isolated corner of the country. “When we invest in tourism, for example, we invest in a vacuum, because the ferry harms us. »
The Magdalen Islands in search of a third link… Internet
“Economic security” is also a concern in the Magdalen Islands. When a storm cut the two cables connecting the archipelago to the rest of Quebec a few years ago, the approximately 13,000 Madelinots found themselves without Internet and telephone communication. No banks or businesses could operate. Add to this the risk that the freight boat will not arrive, and the vulnerability of the archipelago no longer needs to be demonstrated.
“A boat that gets stuck in ice in the winter and has to dock in Nova Scotia and we can no longer find milk on the shelves. These are basic products that we no longer have in grocery stores, illustrates the mayor of the Islands, Antonin Valiquette. No transportation and no effective communication link, our economy will fall. It’s that simple. »
In Tadoussac, if the ferry is no longer there, the population is disconnected. Or you would have to go through Saguenay and travel hundreds of kilometers more.
However, this is not their first storm and they have been able to develop their resilience through the ages. First there is the plane for critical products. A satellite connection has been installed. Then, the idea of a third cable connecting the region to the rest of Quebec, which would provide the redundancy necessary for this “economic security”, has been simmering since the last crisis. This project for a third Internet link has, however, been put aside for the moment. “We can’t wait until things no longer work to do something,” said the mayor.
Safety, an issue almost everywhere
What do we mean when we talk about “economic security”? “In the field of transportation, it is to ensure that goods and food can circulate,” explains Leandro C. Coelho, professor at Laval University and holder of the Canada Research Chair in integrated logistics.
“We have seen several examples of problems in recent years when important infrastructure can no longer be used. Strikes prevented the operation of railways or ports. There were problems with the Suez Canal… With COVID-19, when ports were no longer functioning, we had a whole supply crisis, like the toilet paper crisis. »
In Quebec, the distribution system is essentially road-based, since goods do not travel much by train or boat between cities. Regions that depend on a ferry for supplies are therefore more vulnerable than others.
“In Tadoussac, if the ferry is no longer there, the population is disconnected. Or you would have to go through Saguenay and travel hundreds of kilometers more. It’s the same situation we would have if we had to go through Trois-Rivières [pour relier Québec et Lévis] », Reports Mr. Coelho.
Such waste of time and detours would lead to increases in the price of goods, underlines the researcher, who believes that a third link to Quebec “checks the box of economic security”.