Nine years after making the promise, Justin Trudeau was finally able to announce that the future of the Quebec Bridge is secure. The Quebec region has been waiting for this for decades.
“I would have liked to have been here in 2019 to announce that we are acquiring the Quebec Bridge,” agreed Mr. Trudeau on Wednesday during a press conference on the terrace of the Quebec Aquarium, which offers a breathtaking view of the century-old structure.
“It took as long as it took. »
The federal government acquired the old bridge for the symbolic sum of $1 from Canadian National (CN). In exchange, the company has committed to investing $350 million over 50 years to maintain the infrastructure over which its trains pass.
Including this amount and funds from the Quebec government, Ottawa plans to invest $1 billion over the next twenty-five years on the structure. Half will go to painting.
The fate of the Quebec Bridge has been on hold for around thirty years. After acquiring it in 1993, Canadian National refused to assume the costs of painting and maintenance required on the structure.
CN stingy with comments
The company even took the matter to court, which concluded that it had no obligation to do so.
Discreet, the CN representative present at Wednesday’s announcement did not speak alongside the politicians. Questioned by journalists after the speeches, he did not want to give details on what had unblocked the negotiations after all this time.
“It’s part of the negotiations,” repeated the vice-president of transportation for the Eastern Canada region at Canadian National, Martin Guimond.
CN has often been the subject of strong criticism in this matter. In 2014, the mayor of Quebec at the time, Régis Labeaume, even tried to go through Microsoft president Bill Gates to urge the company to act.
Mr. Gates was then the company’s largest shareholder. The release caused a lot of talk, but did not produce results.
It was the following year, in 2015, that Justin Trudeau committed to resolving the matter in 2016.
New possibilities for public transport
Three years later, he entrusted negotiations with CN to businessman Yvon Charest, the former boss of the insurance giant Industrial Alliance.
Very involved in major issues affecting the capital, Mr. Charest notably negotiated the agreement with Quebecor on the amphitheater for the city. Today he is spokesperson for J’ai ma passe, a coalition of supporters of the tram project.
The settlement of the Quebec Bridge file also opens the door to “new options” in terms of public transport, Minister Jean-Yves Duclos declared on Wednesday.
Politicians have remained unclear in this regard, but taking charge of the bridge is certainly a game-changer.
Québec solidaire had proposed in 2022 to run a rapid bus service line (SRB) on this route to connect the two banks. The Coalition Avenir Québec, for its part, had often used the decrepit state of the old bridge as a pretext to justify the third link.
More than 33,000 vehicles, including cars and trains, pass over the bridge every day. Maintenance work is due to begin in four months.