(Quebec) The mayoress of Montreal Valérie Plante was “delighted” with the Caisse de dépôt’s proposal on the REM project a week before killing the public transport project, the CEO of the financial institution is surprised. Charles Emond.
Posted at 12:15 p.m.
Updated at 1:39 p.m.
“I learned 10 days ago from the government that there was a call from the mayor that she wanted to do another project. The last conversation, two, three weeks ago with her, she was delighted with the written proposal that had been submitted to her. She had a place at the table,” said Mr. Émond on Tuesday during a rare press scrum with the media, on the sidelines of the study of the budget appropriations of the Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Émond says he is not at all bitter about the way things have happened. But he adds that the new project will have to give up the name “REM de l’Est”, a registered trademark of the CDPQ.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
Charles Emond
On Monday, Premier François Legault officially announced, along with Minister Chantal Rouleau and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, that CDPQ Infra was withdrawing from the development of the Eastern REM project, which is now under the responsibility of the government.
Mr. Émond points out that Mr.me Plante has every right to “change his mind to do another project”. But did she make that decision in the week-long interval between her “delighted” conversation with Mr. Émond and her call to the Prime Minister’s Office to end the project, where did she she rather lack of honesty? “I can’t read her head, she hasn’t called me back,” he said.
100 million for studies
The CEO also confirmed that the Government of Quebec will reimburse him a sum of nearly 100 million to compensate for the costs of CDPQ Infra, which will deliver in exchange all the studies it has carried out.
“We did not leave the REM de L’Est, we did not embark on the new project,” he said. He also learned that this “new project” would serve other regions, Laval and Lanaudière. “I don’t think you can call it torpedoing. She decided to go to another project. […] It cannot be called the REM de l’est, because it is a registered trademark of the Caisse,” he said.
More money in the PQI
Since the Quebec government will now be responsible for the public transit project, it will have to find room in its accounting books for its $10 billion budget. Finance Minister Eric Girard sees no problem with it.
“If it is necessary to add 10 billion to the Quebec Infrastructure Plan for any projects whatsoever, the next government, the next Minister of Finance will have the capacity to do so. Because the balance sheet is excellent,” he said during the study of the credits.
However, he does not want to announce today that the budget of the PQI will be increased since we are “before the elections”. But there is room to “significantly” increase budgets in the 2023 budget, he stressed. “There is no question of cutting in the PQI”.