(Quebec) The federal MP for Quebec does not mince his words in the face of the about-face announced Wednesday evening by the Legault government in the matter of public transport in Quebec, which according to him constitutes nothing less than an “attempt to sabotage the project tramway”.
“I am sad and disappointed by the about-face announced on Wednesday. It has now been more than five years since the Canadian government promised to be there and support Quebec City’s modern public transportation project,” responded the Minister of Public Services and Procurement of Canada, Jean-Yves Duclos.
In a press release sent to the media Thursday morning, Mr. Duclos recalls that Quebec is the only city of comparable size in Canada without a modern public transportation network.
“Unfortunately, due to a lack of leadership in public transportation for Quebec, our national capital is at risk of seeing the largest Canadian investment in its history slip through its fingers,” writes the Quebec MP. The attempted sabotage of the tram project is further delaying the modernization of our public transportation and will increase its costs. »
Prime Minister François Legault announced Wednesday that he refused the proposal from the mayor of Quebec. Bruno Marchand wanted to save his tram project undermined by exploding costs by doing without a consortium. Mayor Marchand claimed to be able to build the 19 km tramway for 8.4 billion.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM FRANÇOIS LEGAULT’S X ACCOUNT
François Legault met Mayor Bruno Marchand on Wednesday to tell him that he was shelving his tram project and returning to the study stage.
The government instead chose to give a mandate to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) to “come to us with the best structuring project for the City of Quebec” at a fair cost.
Mayor Marchand said he was disappointed. The City of Quebec had been working for more than five years on this 19 km route, first presented in spring 2018 by former mayor Régis Labeaume. It was then supposed to cost 3.3 billion.
The Minister of Transport of Quebec, Geneviève Guilbault, had accused Jean-Yves Duclos in recent days of taking on the role of playing the role, by publicly supporting Mayor Marchand’s plan B without guaranteeing federal funding for a project now estimated at 8.4 billion. Remember that Quebec was to finance 51% of the project, Ottawa 40% and the City the remaining 9%.
Minister Duclos assured that a new federal infrastructure program would be able to cover these amounts.
“I continue to offer the government of Quebec and the City of Quebec my full collaboration to help establish a modern transportation network worthy of our national capital,” assured the federal MP for Quebec Thursday morning.