The tramway project is once again in the fog in Quebec while the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government is slow to come to an agreement with the CDPQ Infra on the next steps.
Friday morning, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault spent two hours dodging questions from the opposition on the subject in the Red Room of Parliament. “I feel like I’ve been talking about the tramway for seven years,” she said with a hint of weariness at the start of a long exchange.
Pressed to say when the transitional agreement with CDPQ Infra on the tramway will be concluded and when the work would begin, she remained vague. “Things continue to move forward,” she repeated before saying that it would be “insane” to believe that she could give a start date for the construction at this stage.
Remember that in June, the government gave the green light to the first phase of the CITÉ project submitted by CDPQ Infra in Quebec, the costs of which were then estimated at $5.27 billion.
The transition committee held “several meetings”
In mid-September, the president of CDPQ Infra, Jean-Marc Arbaud said that his organization could start the project while waiting for the establishment of the new transport agency Mobilité Infra Québec (MIQ). “It has to start quickly,” he said during his appearance in the parliamentary committee.
As for the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, he demanded that an agreement between CDPQ Infra and the government be concluded before the end of September.
Minister Guilbault made no commitment in this regard but mentioned that the transition committee made up of representatives of CDPQ Infra, the ministry and the city had met several times since June.
“All summer the transition committee met,” she said. A meeting was also held on Tuesday, September 24, she reported.
The member for Québec solidaire, Étienne Grandmont had invited Minister Guilbault to a two-hour questioning solely on the subject of the tramway on Friday. “What’s causing it to block?” », he asked her.
A little earlier, the PQ MP for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, had said that it was a “moment of truth” in the tramway issue.
On several occasions, the liberal Monsef Derraji pressed her to commit to the signing of the agreement and the start date of the project.
Federal funding in doubt
If the minister remained vague on the timetable, she was more precise on the problems linked to Ottawa’s financial contribution.
Under an agreement reached in March 2023, the federal government must finance 40% of the tram project.
The federal government repeats that it “is there,” said Minister Guilbault, but “the check does not arrive.” Earlier in September, his colleague Jonatan Julien had nevertheless declared that “there was no issue for the financing” from Ottawa.
Geneviève Guilbault also deplored the fact that there has been no federal public transportation funding program since 2023.
Speaking of a “hole” in funding, she noted that the new program’s pockets were not expected to open until 2026.
The oppositions and the mayor of Quebec, for their part, fear that the Trudeau government will fall before Ottawa’s funds are disbursed. The poll-leading Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has made it clear that it has no intention of funding the project.