(Lévis) The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) will present a project for a third Quebec-Lévis link in June, assures Bernard Drainville.
The minister responsible for the Chaudière-Appalaches region made these remarks Monday during a dinner conference organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Greater Lévis.
He said he was confident that CDPQ Infra would present such a project, affirming that in any case “that’s their mandate.”
“The commitment we have from the Caisse is that they will submit a project for an inter-bank link. That’s a given. They are going to submit a project for a link between the two banks,” he repeated.
However, the CDPQ Infra must officially look into ways to “improve mobility and fluidity in the Metropolitan Community of Quebec, particularly between the two shores”.
Could it not deliver an unfavorable report to the third link and prioritize other avenues? “Well, the need is there,” Mr. Drainville simply replied during a press scrum after his speech.
On the other hand, nothing indicates that the Caisse will recommend a highway project, he admitted. Last year, the government itself mentioned a third link reserved solely for public transport.
“No, we don’t know that, obviously. We don’t know yet, we’ll see,” conceded Bernard Drainville, who said he made “representations” to CDPQ Infra, while refusing to put pressure on it.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Bernard Drainville
The saga of the third Quebec-Lévis road link has been going on for years.
François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) has long promised to build one at all costs, before abandoning the idea, then reviving it the day after its electoral defeat in Jean-Talon.
Last fall, she transferred the file to CDPQ Infra, telling it that she had six months to find a solution.
“We never gave up”
On Monday, Mr. Drainville told Lévis business people that he and his colleague Martine Biron were “extremely disappointed” by the abandonment of the third highway link.
“Disappointed is a weak word,” he said. But “we never gave up, […] we continued to work internally to tell our government: “This cannot be done, it requires a new link”. »
The project was finally reactivated thanks to the work of deputies from the Chaudière-Appalaches region and the Capitale-Nationale, said Monday afternoon the mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier.
“Things must be brewing a little in the cabin (within the CAQ). I am convinced that what Mr. Drainville is saying today is the truth: the caucus continues to fight very hard to have this highway link,” he said.