TUNIS – Those who oppose the Quebec tramway are in favor of continuing to pollute as we do now, dropped Bruno Marchand.
• Read also: No federal funds for third link in future infrastructure program
• Read also: Tramway: Opponents of the project will not have access to the deliberations of the Council of Ministers
This is at least the association made Friday morning by the mayor of Quebec, on the last day of his first mission abroad.
“64% of our GHGs (greenhouse gases) are emitted by our transportation in Quebec. So, someone who says ‘I’m against the tram’ – he has the right to say ‘I won’t take it’ – but ‘I’m against the tram’, what is that saying? That is to say: I support the fact that we continue to pollute in the same way because we have no other solutions. That’s what’s at stake,” said Mr. Marchand, passing through the Tunis City Hall, on the occasion of the meeting of the board of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF).
Taieb Moalla / Journal de Quebec
Friday, at the town hall of Tunis, the mayor Marchand is in full discussion with his counterpart in Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
A few minutes earlier, the mayor of Quebec had heard his counterpart from Paris, Anne Hidalgo, explain at length his approach to transport. In the City of Light, the municipal administration fully assumes its desire to make life more difficult for motorists and to promote active transportation, bike paths and pedestrianization.
The diesel lobby
To succeed in imposing this vision, Mayor Hidalgo explained that she had to fight against the powerful “diesel lobby”.
Taieb Moalla / Journal de Quebec
The office of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) is chaired by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (in the middle). Bruno Marchand is the vice-president of the Association.
“In Paris, we now have a decrease in car traffic of 5% each year since 2014 and a decrease in pollution of 5% each year since 2014. So the correlation is extremely important”, she slipped.
The latter welcomed the fact that it is no longer obliged to issue orders prohibiting children from playing in schoolyards on days of pollution peaks.
Huge pressure, says Marchand
Even if the Parisian context is different from that of Quebec, Bruno Marchand noted certain similarities and he agreed that “the pressure is enormous” in the file of the tramway. “There are no lobbies. But it still comes by truck every morning, ”he said, smiling on the corner.
What trucks are these exactly? “When a radio station spends all its morning, noon and evening airtime beating you up, circulating quotes I once said – for example on Antarctica…”, a- he mentioned in reference to CHOI FM which he was careful not to name.
Taieb Moalla / Journal de Quebec
At Tunis City Hall on Friday, Mayor Marchand spoke with the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and with the burgomaster (mayor) of Liège, Belgium, Willy Demeyer.
According to him, “it’s not the same forms of pressure. I am not saying that our pressures are worse than those of Paris. I wouldn’t dare to think that. I’m just saying that the pressures are enormous the same ”.
Offset program
In a related vein, the mayor also spoke one-on-one later in the day with his colleague Hidalgo. In particular, it was a question of compensation to traders during the five years of work on the tramway.
“She shared with me what they did to support traders during the work period, he rejoiced. It is certainly a concern for us. We will be able to benefit from what Paris has done. »
According to him, “it’s interesting to be able to put a proven measure (about compensation programs). Obviously, we will adapt it to our context and our culture”.