(Ottawa) The mayor of Lac-Mégantic, Julie Morin, no longer wants “the murderer” to circulate in the downtown area of her municipality. And she says she is “scandalized” to see that the Trudeau government is beginning to tack on the route of the rail bypass, which has already been the subject of a host of environmental, geotechnical and other studies.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The years go by and the obstacles continue to arise before starting the construction work of this famous 12.5 km bypass in Lac-Mégantic, five years after a solemn promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to carry out this project. , which would turn the page on the tragedy of July 6, 2013.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Julie Morin, Mayor of Lac-Mégantic
As proof, we are now talking about the possibility of building a half-bypass, following pressure exerted by the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) in Estrie, among others. This idea, “which is not an acceptable option” for the mayor, was recently presented to the offices of two ministers of the Trudeau government: the Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, and the Minister of Agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau. .
Concretely, this proposal would consist of using the route selected for the section from Nantes to the Lac-Mégantic industrial zone, then leaving this zone by joining the current railway line which passes north of the Mégantic sports center and crosses the river Boiler on the existing bridge, the daily reported on Saturday The gallery. It would also avoid the construction of 5 km of railways in agricultural and forest lands in the Frontenac region.
Determining phase
These negotiations occur at the very moment when the study of the route of the project is entering a decisive phase: Transport Canada has just launched public consultations on the impact of the route on drinking water and wetlands.
In the spring of 2021, six months before the federal election, the Trudeau government nevertheless maintained that construction work on the bypass should begin no later than the spring of 2022. And commissioning was planned for the end of 2023 at the latest. .
In an interview at The PressMayor Morin says she feels like she is participating in a marathon that never ends because we are constantly pushing back the finish line each time we approach it.
Ten years later, yes, there are people who feel better. But there are still people who are not sleeping and who are still traumatized. There are still people who look forward to the day when the murderer will no longer pass by their house. That, there are those who forget it.
Julie Morin, Mayor of Lac-Mégantic
She recalled that 1,263 buildings in Lac-Mégantic are currently located less than 500 meters from the railway, or 82% of all buildings on its territory. And today, the trains that cross downtown Lac-Mégantic are longer than ever and still carry hazardous materials. “The trains are getting longer and longer. Sometimes it’s more than 5 km and it takes 20 minutes to cross a level crossing,” she said.
A letter sent to Justin Trudeau
In order to prevent the project from being further unduly delayed, while the 10e anniversary of this tragedy that killed 47 people is looming on the horizon, Mayor Morin sent a three-page letter to Justin Trudeau on Monday.
In this letter, of which The Press obtained a copy, she urges the Prime Minister to carry out the project as promised five years ago “without compromise and without additional delays being added without valid reason. We have already waited too long. »
“Even today, despite all the efforts deployed, the project is dragging on and this affects the entire community. […] Recently, I was informed that a half-bypass project had been presented to some of your ministerial offices. I find it inconceivable that we even lend an attentive ear to this kind of project, when we are so advanced in the process, that these options have been cut off,” says Ms.me Morin in his missive.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Scene of devastation in downtown Lac-Mégantic in July 2013
“In this context and for all that the people of Lac-Mégantic experienced on July 6, 2013 and in the years that followed, it seems to me completely unacceptable for the government to think of a half-measure project, which would not meet in no way to the basic premise, that of getting the train out of the city center and moving it as far away as possible from urbanized environments, ”she continues in this letter.
But according to the president of the Union of forest producers of southern Quebec (SPFSQ) within the UPA-Estrie, André Roy, the construction of a half-bypass is an alternative option that is essential. “It would require less construction of new tracks, it would save hundreds of millions of dollars for Canadian taxpayers. It is so logical, what we are proposing, that one wonders where it blocks, ”he told the daily. The gallery at the end of the week.
A Billion Bypass?
The bill for the rail bypass project in Lac-Mégantic continues to rise and is now approaching a billion dollars, according to information obtained by the mayor of Nantes, Daniel Gendron, from a “trusted source” at Transports Canada. The total cost of the 12.5 km stretch of track would now be $950 million. The increase in the cost of materials and the scarcity of labor would largely explain this significant increase, according to Mr. Gendron. “The mayor of Frontenac had the same figure as me, in front of a witness, he said, and it has not been denied. It will be recalled that in the last federal budget, unveiled in April, the provisions made by Ottawa “for the construction of the bypass, the dismantling of the existing one and the implementation of environmental measures” suggested that the bill had reached 395 million, up 300% on the 133 million forecast when the project was announced by Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Philippe Couillard in Lac-Mégantic in May 2018.
Jacynthe Nadeau, The gallery