Eastern REM | Plante changed his mind in 10 days, according to the president of the Caisse

(Québec) It was Mayor Valérie Plante who changed her mind in 10 days on the Caisse de dépôt’s REM de l’Est and torpedoed the project.

In a parliamentary committee on Tuesday morning, the president of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Charles Émond, thus hinted that she was delighted with the project a month ago, but that she had then rejected it. . The government does not even know yet to whom it will entrust the next project.

The big boss of the Caisse appeared the day after an important announcement by the Legault government and the City of Montreal.

Quebec had indeed entrusted the CDPQ with the light commuter train project to serve the east of Montreal, but on Monday, in a turnaround, they announced that they were withdrawing the project from their hands to develop another.

“We do not feel disavowal,” assured Charles Émond.

He said he had met Mayor Plante a month ago, to agree that the Caisse would take care of the transportation component of the project, while the City would take care of the development.

“She was delighted with this proposal, ten days later, she called the government to say that she wanted another project. The government told me that it did not think the Fund was going to board. They told us about it [le gouvernement] told me: that puts an end to the REM in the East. »

But it’s still too early to say who will be responsible for the next project, said Finance Minister Eric Girard, testifying in turn.

100 million reimbursed

Mr. Émond also confirmed that the government would reimburse 100 million spent on studies by CDPQ to plan the REM de l’Est, as reported The Press.

“We are going to repay the fact that the government made a mistake for four years” by entrusting the mandate of the REM de l’Est to the Caisse, summarized PQ MP Martin Ouellet in a parliamentary committee.