The federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, participated this week in a major forum on public transportation. He was applauded by affirming that the Liberal government was committed to no longer investing a penny in improving the road network.
No new road, no new bridge, no widening of an existing road will be able to obtain a penny from the Trudeau government. He affirms that the government has analyzes in hand showing that the existing network fully meets Canada’s needs. These analyses? I don’t believe any of it. I rather think that the government is following the logic of radical environmentalists.
This ideological stubbornness in no longer even studying individual projects does nothing to serve the interests of the population. Canada, like Quebec, has a vast territory. Road access is essential. Already, our road network is a jumble of uncompleted segments, poorly served areas, four-lane highways that still have dangerous two-lane stretches.
- Listen to the Dutrizac – Dumont meeting via QUB :
Incomplete network
In Quebec alone, there are dozens of examples. The central portion of the 30 between Boucherville and Candiac should have had three lanes for 20 years, given its urban character. It’s not done yet.
Highways 50, 55, 85 are not completed and have dangerous portions. The 20 is not finished towards the east. The people of the North Shore rightly hope for a bridge to span the Saguenay River. A portion of the Lower North Shore is not connected to the rest of Quebec because the 138 does not go there. I could continue this list.
How can a government that knows this come along one day and say that the network will remain as it is? That he will no longer spend a penny to improve it?
Coming from a government that is targeting record immigration thresholds, we do not even seem to leave the door open to the idea that needs may evolve. A large part of the new needs arises from population growth. We would not be talking about a third link in Quebec if the greater Quebec region had not experienced such an economic boom with population growth.
Archive photo, AFP
Stubbornness
I would understand perfectly if the Minister of the Environment explained that his government will have a favorable bias towards public transportation projects. This would be pragmatism with an understandable orientation. But we are rather in the presence of an ideological blockage which goes so far as to take pride in not studying projects, whatever their justifications.
In certain cases, improvements to the road network aim to improve safety. Completing a four-lane highway with a median helps to avoid head-on collisions. The road network also has a key role to play in economic development, via the transport of goods. Here too, needs may change.
No! Cities and provinces, no longer present your projects to Ottawa. A road is EVIL!