The federal government “welcomes positively” the new version of the third linkwhich excludes cars from the future tunnel linking Quebec City to Lévis.
“I positively welcome the decision of the government of Quebec to abandon the project of highway tunnels between Quebec and Lévis”, expressed the federal liberal minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, Thursday morning, by way of declaration.
According to him, “this will reassure many of my fellow citizens of downtown Quebec who [lui] clearly expressed their fear of seeing a new highway hurt their already fragile living environment from an environmental and social point of view”.
“We respect the wish of the Government of Quebec to take the necessary time before submitting a possible request for funding to the Canadian government and will closely monitor the next steps,” added Mr. Duclos, referring to the new project presented Thursday by the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault.
On the side of the Conservative Party of Canada, it was judged that “the abandonment of the third link project for motorists [est] the direct impact of Justin Trudeau’s non-commitment”.
“We respect the decision of Quebec, but unlike the Trudeau government, which concerted its efforts with the anti-cars, a Conservative government would have participated in the aspect of vehicle traffic rather than opposing it as they did. said Pierre Paul-Hus, Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg–Haute-Saint-Charles.
Other reactions
In Lévis, the opposition of Repensons Lévis, which has two municipal councillors, insisted that “Lévis deserves its fair share, particularly with regard to the maintenance of the two existing bridges for better circulation of motorists, as well as funding for a better public transit system.
According to its leader, Elhadji Mamadou Diarra, “we must stop making public transport and sustainable mobility arguments of abusive partisanship […] The third link presented by the government is the beginning of a solution, but it is not the end of mobility between the two shores”.
The No to the Third Link coalition hailed “a responsible decision by the Government of Quebec and a promising ambition for public transit”.
- Listen to the provincial and federal political chronicle with Antoine Robitaille at the microphone of Benoit Dutrizac via QUB-radio:
Alexandre Turgeon, Director General of the Regional Council for the Environment of the Capitale-Nationale, said that “this is excellent news and it is a great proof of courage on the part of the Minister [Geneviève Guilbault] than to recognize that the motorway tunnel project is not justifiable”.
The general manager of Vivre en Ville, Christian Savard, welcomed “the responsible and pragmatic decision to end the motorway project, and the inspiring decision to study a link dedicated to public transport. The ambition to structure urban development around an ambitious sustainable mobility project is exciting, especially since the opportunity is great to interconnect the project with the future tramway,” he said.
Pierre Lefrançois, mayor of L’Ange-Gardien and prefect of the MRC de La Côte-de-Beaupré, spoke of a “great disappointment”.
“We are not happy at all with the news this morning. We don’t understand the alternate route. We are disappointed and we still think we needed a third link to the east. We are going to make our necessary representations with the people concerned, ”he dropped Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Metropolitan Community of Quebec (CMQ).