QUEBEC CITY – Éric Duhaime went Wednesday to a member of the anti-tramway group Québec deserves better, on René-Lévesque Boulevard, to denounce the expropriations linked to the tramway project.
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The tramway “stinks of the life of the world”, launched the conservative leader, citing the expropriations that are necessary along the route and the changes that will be made to automobile traffic as an example.
On the City side, it is indicated that a large majority of acquisitions concern strips of land. “The project provides for 31 total acquisitions and 251 partial acquisitions,” explains Bruno Marchand’s press attaché, Thomas Gaudreault.
In addition to these 282 lots, 136 easements are subject to the acquisition process. Of this number, approximately 8% will be the subject of an expropriation process, according to the City.
To date, 13 cases have been filed in court, and two of them were subsequently settled by mutual agreement. “The 11 others continue to be the subject of discussions, and no process has yet been presented to a judge”, specifies Thomas Gaudreault.
Election stake
Éric Duhaime wants to make this project an election issue, and he hopes that the people of Quebec who are against the tramway will give their vote to the Conservative Party of Quebec.
“It is the eleventh day of the electoral campaign, and we have not heard from the deputies of the region on this subject. If they don’t want to talk about it, we’ll talk about it, the rest of us, ”launched the former radio host.
He reiterated that he considers that the project has no social acceptability, relying on the SEGMA – Le Soleil – FM93 poll which revealed yesterday that only 33% of citizens support the project in its current form.
However, the proportion of people in favor of the tramway climbs to 48%, if we add the 15% of people who said they were in favor of the project, but not in its current form.
If they are brought to power, the Conservatives promise to put an end to the tramway project. Instead, they would set up a pilot project for free public transit in order to assess the real needs of the people of Quebec in this regard. Éric Duhaime estimates that this project would cost $80 million.
“Calls all night”
At the beginning of his speech, the Conservative leader returned to the desperate video of his candidate in La Peltrie, Stéphane Lachance, who was anxiously looking for a citizen affected by the expropriations and ready to appear with the Conservative Party of Quebec to come and hold a press briefing on his land.
“It allowed us to have the best location in town to hold our press briefing. It made my phone vibrate all night because there were people who wanted to welcome us to their land.
Éric Duhaime claims that “ten people” came forward before the video was removed from social networks.
The event finally took place at the home of Jean-Pierre Du Sault, a figurehead of the anti-tramway Quebec movement deserves better. Mr. Du Sault assured that the exchanges between him and the municipality are taking place in a cordial manner, but he considers that the “several tens of thousands of dollars” offered to him for a strip of his land are insufficient, as he will continue to pay taxes on the whole lot.
During the press conference, a motorist honked his horn for a long time, preventing Éric Duhaime from speaking for several seconds.