Passing through Quebec this month, François Legault said he wanted to make Quebec the next major metropolis in the province. He laid out his promises for the city, which boil down to a few infrastructure projects, probably the only thing that matters for a government strongly entrenched on the right. The identical reconstruction of the Champlain Market (except that it would be intended for tourists, who are now almost the only “residents” of the Old Port) going hand in hand with a new river shuttle, the usefulness. Of course, the tramway and the third link are part of the promises, as faithful as the sun that rises every morning.
For his part, Mayor Marchand had requested clear support of $75 million for the Innovitam zone (high-tech zone in the Maizerets district) and the Chaudière innovation zone. Under the guise of sustainable health and green capitalism, Innovitam continues to move forward without consulting the residents of a neighborhood and a city that will undoubtedly be greatly transformed by its installation, and probably not for the better. The organization in technological innovation promises citizen consultations whose content we do not yet know, but to note the deep opacity, one could rather believe that it is the PowerPoint of a fait accompli that will be presented to the inhabitants.
Construction of luxury condominium apartments for skilled workers in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the city, gentrification, “continuous monitoring” (these are the words of the project) of a neighborhood where many immigrant families live. This program of complete dispossession is contested by several groups in Quebec, including the Table citoyenne littoral Est, Repac, the grouping of women’s groups in the Capitale-Nationale and L’asile contre la ZILE.
Neither white nor black
In Quebec, most often, we are for the tram and against the third link, or the reverse. It will be said that Legault promises the tramway to have the third link accepted or, on the contrary, that if Quebec is going to have its tramway, the third link is the infrastructure that the people of the South Shore deserve. But doesn’t their presence in the same list of promises precisely reveal their complementarity?
Finally, there are two transport infrastructure projects aimed at accelerating the movement of goods and people. They aim to make certain sectors more attractive, more “connected” and, in this, they are tools for real estate speculation, either by creating new neighborhoods in the suburbs, or by increasing land values in the city. At each end of these two transport axes (tramway and 3e link): Innovitam, the Chauveau innovation zone, the planned innovation zones in Lévis.
They must allow people in the region to travel more easily, and possibly from further away, to their place of work, study and consumption. As residents of central Quebec City worry about being poisoned by Port activities, economic growth, more traffic, and higher rents are being imposed on them. While many deplore the disappearance of plant cover in the city, large portions of woodland have already been devastated to make way for transportation infrastructure, particularly in the Chaudière sector. While the younger generations are on the streets to fight against climate change, neighborhoods are being reindustrialized with polluting high technologies: under the guise of “green” development, this industry actually pollutes 1.5 times more than air transport!
We are sold the tramway as a solution to the quantity of cars in circulation, but we know that new infrastructures do not replace old ones, they add up and increase both overall circulation and sprawl. In this sense, the urban planning debate between urban sprawl and densification makes no sense: the two dynamics contribute to the overall plan for the “metropolisation” of the City. Just look at Montreal to see that this opposition does not hold water. The city is spreading, and towers of several dozen floors are erected in the central districts to satisfy the rich.
Dream differently
Transport infrastructure, far from providing solutions to the problems of housing insecurity, greatly aggravates them. In Vancouver, for example, tenant associations are challenging new public transit lines on Broadway because they are contributing to increased evictions, gentrification, and drastically rising rent costs. Quebec metropolis, it really makes you dream!
François Legault offers infrastructures to Quebec as the Roman Empire offered the aqueduct to the peoples it conquered. Except the aqueduct was significantly more useful. The fact remains that his infrastructure promises are mainly intended to make people believe in the glory of his government. There is talk of reinvesting in major projects to revive growth after the shock of the pandemic. At a time of climatic upheavals, are the priorities well placed?
We have also heard a lot, in recent years, that it is this very growth that is responsible for the pandemic, and those that will undoubtedly strike in the future. If the desire to reduce the number of cars is serious, why not dismantle sections of motorways? The proposal brought by the Table citoyenne du littoral Est to transform Dufferin-Montmorency into an urban boulevard, by promoting the well-being of the community rather than growth, seems to be going in the right direction. The gestures aimed at reclaiming the land dedicated to the Innovitam Innovation Zone also, against the great alliance of industry and transport.