Valérie Plante persists and signs: CDPQ Infra must “say clearly and publicly” whether its administration can be “around the table” in discussions surrounding the Eastern REM. The mayor insists that she will not “give the keys to the city” to the company.
Posted at 2:37 p.m.
“CDPQ Infra must tell us clearly and publicly whether or not it wants to have the City of Montreal around the table. Everyone says it: the City, the population, the government. I invite them to be very clear, ”she said in a press scrum on Friday afternoon.
Mme Plante made these remarks on the sidelines of an announcement on the extension of the blue line, whose first calls for qualification – including those for the tunnel boring machine – should begin in the coming weeks. “We can clearly see that when the City is around the table, things move forward, so that we arrive at the best possible project,” she said.
“According to the latest information we have, CDPQ Infra wants to take the time to have the best possible project and create support. And that, for me, is good news,” added the mayor, however, in a more optimistic tone. “That being said, the mayor cannot give the keys to the City to CDPQ Infra. And that’s normal,” she also breathed, adding that the population first wants “the best possible public transit project” for the next few years.
Towards a mixed committee?
Alongside her, Minister Chantal Rouleau recalled that Quebec and Montreal are “working very hard” to find “the right balance of governance” between the City, the government and the Caisse de dépôt. “CDPQ Infra specializes in construction, the City in development. And the government specializes in financing, ”she quipped, causing laughter in the room. Shortly before, Minister Rouleau had invited Ms.me Plant to “draw inspiration from collaboration” in the blue line file.
According to Mme Rouleau, discussions are still underway regarding Mayor Valérie Plante’s request to create a joint committee with the Caisse, a “winning condition” for the project to receive her support, according to her.
It all happens when The Press revealed Thursday that the schedule for extending the electric train network has been postponed. The BAPE’s study and public hearings will not take place this spring. It is that the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec refuses to go further without a clear position from the City of Montreal about the new version of its 10 billion project presented last week. There will be no construction start in mid-2023 or commissioning in 2029.
In the process, the Plante administration had summoned CDPQ Infra on Thursday to redo its homework to present an “exemplary” project. In Quebec, the Legault government has more clearly supported the postponement of the BAPE study, saying however that it is convinced that the project will be carried out despite the turbulence.