It is difficult to say what is most disturbing: discovering that the government’s flagship project could have been launched without the fundamental elements having been studied or the decision having been taken in a very small committee, without the ministers directly affected were not even consulted.
The Coalition avenir Québec held an emergency caucus of its deputies from the Québec region yesterday morning. Unusual caucus, because the anger of the deputies did not subside, any more than that of their constituents.
Imagine the frustration of ministers who learn that the project has been abandoned, when the decision has been made and no time has been taken to consult them. The final decision was made in a small committee, in the Prime Minister’s office, between him, his omnipresent chief of staff and the sole Minister of Transport.
Imagine that of the deputies who spent an election campaign promoting and promising this project to learn at the same time as the population that the government has changed its mind.
Especially since it is strange to see Mr. Legault say, in a press briefing on Tuesday, that things changed when he received new traffic data on April 5. Data by nature transient.
Are we really to believe that the decision whether or not to build an infrastructure that should last several decades changes overnight because the government has received a new study?
There is, in this way of proceeding, the sign of a real problem of governance. First, because when you come to such a conclusion in small groups, you are more likely to make mistakes. Although we can understand that we want to avoid leaks, there are a lot more virtues in having a more open process and in hearing more points of view.
For MPs who campaigned defending the third link, this means a major credibility gap with their constituents who will inevitably wonder what their representatives are for.
Having more MPs involved in the decision also means that we will not then have to deal with absurd ideas, such as that of “compensating” the region of Quebec for the broken promise.
If only because it tends to prove that voters can be bought off by campaign promises. And that, if good governance means that we have to change our minds – and at 10 billion dollars for a tunnel, that is justified! – it will absolutely be necessary to compensate them with other projects.
This is an attitude that is all the more deplorable since, when we look coldly at the file, Prime Minister Legault made the right decision.
And it is part of his job to say no, even to electoral promises, when they are no longer justified. Voters are then free to judge him, but he is elected to decide. When we talk about compensation, we find ourselves saying that the Prime Minister should have his hands tied.
This does not mean that the government has managed the whole file well. There may have been 8000 pages of studies, but we realize that there are still many elements missing.
Nothing about the construction methods or the type of tunnel envisaged. No seismic studies in an area where earthquakes are minor but relatively frequent. In short, many elements are missing that could still have had an impact on costs.
In fact, we now see that there were never any real Third Link plans. The most advanced file has always been that of public relations. For the press conferences, there were beautiful images and beautiful graphics. Except they weren’t made by engineers but by communications consultants.
And it’s starting to become a signature of this government. Ideas that make for beautiful images, most often launched during an election campaign and which are then a lot more difficult to translate into reality.
Thus, we have had recent news of the Maisons des elders, a promise of the 2018 election campaign, which is beginning to see the light of day despite significant delays.
– we had promised 2,600 places by 2022, but only six buildings have been delivered. Two are empty and the other four have fewer residents than expected.
Obviously, recruiting staff is difficult due to the shortage of manpower, which makes it even more difficult to put the seniors’ homes into operation. But this shortage was predictable.
In the CAQ’s election brochures, the sketches were very pretty. Beautiful buildings with individual, air-conditioned rooms, surrounded by gardens. But, like the third link, it was primarily a public relations exercise.