PQ MP Pascal Paradis closes the door to cars in a possible 3rd link between Quebec and Lévis, even if his leader maintains that he will have to take into account the work of the Caisse before presenting a new proposal.
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The deputy for Jean-Talon, Pascal Paradis, tried to put an end, on Saturday, to the vagueness that reigned on the question.
“The position of the Parti Québécois has absolutely not changed on this issue. Paul Saint Pierre Plamondon said it very clearly: on the motorway part, it is excluded. It was excluded in 2018, it was excluded in 2022, it was excluded during the campaign in Jean-Talon, it will be excluded in 2026,” declared the elected official from the Quebec region, on the sidelines of the National Council of the PQ, in Drummondville.
Pascal Paradis recognizes that the PQ will present a new project during the 2026 elections, but it will only include public transportation. “On the motorway part of a third link, our position has not changed and will not change,” he assures.
Vague
At a press briefing last Tuesday, the PQ leader nevertheless refused to reiterate his opposition to a third highway link.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon even affirmed that we will have to wait to know the progress of the work, in 2026, which will result from the recommendations that the Caisse de dépôt must present in June.
Shortly after his press briefing, the PQ leader clarified his thoughts on platform .
However, he added: “What we do not control is the CDPQ variable, as I explained in a press briefing. We do not know where the CDPQ will be in its process and what it will propose. If contracts are given and work is started, for example, how can we, as a possible responsible government, not take this into account?”
The vagueness of his position had earned the PQ leader columns and comments that called into question his convictions and his authenticity, his trademark since his arrival at the head of the PQ.
PSPP persists and signs
Saturday, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon assured that he and his MP are in tune.
“What the Parti Québécois is proposing, what it proposed in 2022, and it will be the same thing in 2026, is a collective transport project,” he said.
The PQ leader nevertheless adds that his proposal must necessarily take into account the progress of the work of the Caisse de dépôt.
“Obviously, this project will take into account whether or not the situation evolves in relation to the decisions of the government and the Fund,” he says.
What if the Caisse moves forward with a highway project? “We will respond – because there are a hundred possibilities that we do not know – we will respond with rigor and preparation based on the information we have, if such a hypothesis is ever confirmed,” he said.