After the recent announcement by Prime Minister François Legault on a consultation on the third link, around fifteen organizations have come together to ask to make the Quebec tramway a reality before reopening the debate on the third link.
The organizations’ exit on Wednesday is linked to Mr. Legault’s announcement on the third link, indicated Yvon Charest, president of the “J’ai ma passe” campaign – which is one of the fifteen organizations which are unite.
“The reason why we decided to go out today is obviously after the complementary election of Jean-Talon. […] The Prime Minister said last week that it would be normal for us to talk about the third link every five years, well we find that the tramway needs to be talked about in the next five weeks,” argued Mr. Charest .
“Before thinking about the next interesting project, couldn’t we bring this project to fruition? “, he asks.
Among the organizations supporting the tramway, we find the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Quebec, the Conseil du patronat du Québec, Laval University and the Regional Environmental Council of the Capitale-Nationale region as well as several financial institutions, economic players and environmental organizations.
In a press release, they talk about the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) which came to fruition in 20 years. “Montréal cannot remain the only Quebec city with a structuring public transport network. “Not getting the tram to the point where we have reached would be a great collective failure,” we read in the missive.
“The tramway is in the final stages of its realization, with the imminent submission of submissions to the call for tenders. »
Mr. Charest underlines the importance of this argument. “We realize that there are a lot of projects that have taken a long time, so we must avoid making that mistake. If the government of Quebec really wants to make Quebec City a second metropolis, we must be consistent in our decisions.”
Expected increase in project cost
Organizations and businesses in favor of the Quebec tramway are concerned that the anticipated increase in the cost of the project will suspend its development.
The City of Quebec announced this summer that it was pushing back to November 2 the date on which consortia could submit their document for the cost of the infrastructure component. The mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, then recognized that the price of the tram would surely exceed estimates of 4 billion.
According to tram supporters, the current public transportation network — which is limited to buses — has reached its limits for years. They believe that the Quebec tramway is necessary to achieve environmental objectives and for the attractiveness of the region.
“We know in advance, it’s no secret that costs will have increased,” admitted Mr. Charest.
He fears that the increasing costs of the tramway will be pointed out without taking into consideration the benefits.
“If there is no question of accepting any price for the construction of the tramway, it must be remembered that postponing the decision will only increase the cost of the project,” indicates the press release which calls for the leadership of decision-makers to continue the public transportation project.
“Yes, the costs are going to be higher, but all the costs of all the projects have been higher [ces dernières années]. So when we open the envelopes on November 2, we must keep in mind that inflation has entered the debate,” declared Mr. Charest.
He indicates that the tramway will connect the north and south shores to Quebec City, because it is planned that there will be transit from buses to the tramway.
In addition, the tramway would also respond to a crying need for housing, because real estate developers in the Quebec region are waiting to see if the project will be suspended or not.
“With its economic vitality, the number of cars which has increased, its growth potential in interesting sectors, with the lack of housing which could be filled by the 1.5 billion real estate projects which are just waiting for that, I think that that would be a really beneficial decision to say that we are moving forward with the tramway,” maintains Mr. Charest.
The companies and organizations that advocate for the tramway also point out that it is the most advanced large-scale public transport project to date. Around 400 million have already been invested in preparing for its implementation.
The total cost of the tram has not yet been revealed. The provincial and federal governments have committed to funding 51% and 40%, respectively, of the project cost. The rest of the bill will go to Quebec City.