Prime Minister François Legault defended his decision on Wednesday to resurrect the Quebec-Lévis tunnel project in an effort to win back the hearts of voters who imposed a crushing defeat on him in a riding in the region at the start of the week.
Mr. Legault affirmed that nothing should be excluded before initiating a consultation of the population on the subject of the third link.
“We make no mistake when we listen to the population,” he declared, heading towards the Blue Room. You don’t have to be dogmatic. There was a message on Monday that was clear. They may have found that the change was made too quickly, so we will consult. »
Elected officials from the Quebec region were delighted on Wednesday to see that Mr. Legault put the project back on the table, after backing down on the highway tunnel to transform it, in May, into a public transport project.
The Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Lévis, Bernard Drainville, affirmed that he always believed in the relevance of the project.
“I always believed in a new link,” he said before a meeting of deputies. Now, I don’t want us to make empty promises. We’re going to listen to people and we’re going to see what they have to offer us. »
Mr. Drainville, who had tears in his eyes at the time of the about-face on the highway project, insisted on the importance of keeping all hypotheses on the table.
“From the moment we say: ‘We will listen to you,’ we really have to listen to them,” he said. So everything is on the table, necessarily. We cannot say: “We will listen to you, but only on certain ideas and we will not listen to you on others.” »
No taboo
Member of Parliament for the constituency of Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, also on the south shore of Quebec, Minister of International Relations Martine Biron affirmed that the Prime Minister’s intentions are welcomed positively.
“I spoke in particular with the president of the Greater Lévis Chamber of Commerce. “She’s excited about that idea,” she said.
According to Ms. Biron, the idea of listening to the population on the third link project was already discussed Monday evening in the electoral premises where the CAQ suffered the shock of defeat, during the partial election in Jean-Talon, in Quebec.
“I am happy that the Prime Minister has opened this door and that there is no taboo subject,” she said.
Member of Parliament for Bellechasse, east of Lévis, Stéphanie Lachance affirmed that her constituents need to be heard on the importance of the third link for traveling by car.
“People, of course, have to travel by car, so for them, it’s a need to be heard and listened to,” she said.
The president of the Caucus caucus, Mario Laframboise, for his part explained that the discontent was palpable, during the door-to-door in Jean-Talon, concerning the broken promise on the highway tunnel project.
Further details will follow.