Everyone is happy. Mayor Valérie Plante could not contain her joy, François Legault internally congratulated himself on removing this thorn from his side a few months before the elections when Montreal ridings are in the crosshairs of the Coalition avenir Québec, the bureaucrats of the Regional Authority of transport métropolitain (ARTM), the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and the City of Montreal resumed their prerogatives and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) emerged from what had become a quagmire for it. Even the Minister Delegate for Transport and responsible for the Metropolis, Chantal Rouleau, the REM enthusiast from the East, seemed to be doing well against bad luck.
This is not to mention the experts interviewed by the media who were unanimous in welcoming this return to normality in terms of planning and carrying out major public transit projects.
The Eastern REM will no longer be the same and will therefore be done without CDPQ Infra. The prospect of an air train lacerating downtown Montreal had become intolerable. But that was not all: the Caisse’s business model and performance objectives were seriously problematic.
Let us be clear: these performance objectives are perfectly legitimate. The money entrusted to the Caisse is not that of the government. The institution is the trustee of its depositors, whose assets it must grow while promoting Québec’s economic development, of course, but not to the detriment of its performance.
But CDPQ Infra’s business model for the REM de l’Est was based on the confiscation of part of the ridership of other modes of public transport, such as the green and blue lines of the metro, the train de l’Est and the SRB Pie-IX. Integration into the existing transmission network served to fuel the Caisse’s pecuniary interests.
The new configuration sketched out at the press conference on Monday eliminates this phagocyting. The new REM de l’Est — is this how it will be officially called? — will serve the east and northeast of the island and will be connected to the Assomptio station, on the green line. We talked about a second phase of the project involving an extension to Laval and Lanaudière. We will see in time as in time.
Now that the municipal administration is closely involved in carrying out the project, as are the STM and the ARTM, which is becoming the prime contractor with the Ministère des Transports, a real overall vision can be developed and optimal integration can be considered. We are not starting from scratch since some of the studies carried out by CDPQ Infra or on its behalf may be used.
It is therefore desirable that the construction of the REM de l’Est, given its intertwining in a complex urban fabric, should fall to the State, whose responsibility is to ensure the social acceptability of the infrastructure and make the necessary trade-offs. But the bureaucracy overseeing major public transit projects in Montreal has not always been very efficient—to say the least. If the State was seduced by the Caisse’s siren song, it was because it promised a turnkey project for which it guaranteed the cost and schedule. It is up to the ARTM and other public bodies to show that they can meet the conditions necessary to provide the same guarantees.