CAQ attacked for $46-million third link contract
Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
The awarding of a $46-million contract for the “third link” Quebec City-Lévis bridge project by the Quebec government is drawing fire from the National Assembly and Quebec City Hall.
The contract, which first came to light in a report in La Presse, was awarded in February to an international consortium called Parsons- Artelia-Hatch. It “includes professional support to determine the route and type of infrastructure,” according to Quebec transport ministry spokesperson Nicolas Vigneault.
“These elements are essential for the tendering phase, which will allow the selection of partners such as the project builder and designer,” Vigneault said.
There were four consortia bidding on the contract.
In addition to the latest contract, some $36 million has already been spent since 2018 on developing plans for the third link.
Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault is expected to give an update on progress of the project next month and announce a chosen route by the summer.
A downtown-to-downtown crossing has been ruled out; the other options being examined are two routes to the east towards Île d’Orléans, and two to the west towards the existing Pierre Laporte and Quebec bridges.
While Lévis Mayor Gilles Lehouillier, a longtime advocate of a third link, welcomed progress on the project, critics denounced it as an affront to Quebec City’s proposed tramway system.
The awarding of the contract for the bridge comes in the wake of recent cuts or delays in existing Quebec City transit projects, such as a network of dedicated urban transit lanes, a highway overpass and reconfiguration of approaches to the bridges.
Transition Québec Leader, mayoral candidate and Limoilou Coun. Jackie Smith said in a statement, “I thank Ministers Geneviève Guilbault and [Minister for the Capital Region] Jonatan Julien for demonstrating that all the money for Quebec City’s transportation goes to the third link. This project is not good for Quebec City. We’re tired of being taken for fools.”
Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy said on X, “While Quebec’s credit rating is downgraded and vermin and rodents are taking up residence at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital [in Montreal] … the CAQ is getting out its chequebook for the third link.”
Meanwhile, Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand has staked out a more prudent stance on the third link project. He told reporters before last week’s council meeting that he is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I dare hope that Ms. Guilbault, when she proposes her route, will say, ‘Here’s how it improves [transit].’ They’ll have time to show us that for the citizens of Quebec City, it’s a win-win situation, that it’s not just a win-win situation for the citizens of Lévis.”
Other mayoral candidates have taken a position in favour of a new bridge. Québec d’Abord and Opposition Leader Claude Villeneuve gave his conditional approval to the project. During a media scrum at the National Assembly earlier this month, Villeneuve said, “I commit to acting as a partner in its implementation if it meets the needs of the people of Quebec City.”
His conditions would be that the bridge would not impede ship traffic on the St. Lawrence River, that it would integrate with Promenade Samuel-De Champlain and the urban boulevard on Autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency and that it would not add congestion on Highway 40 westbound.
Former provincial Liberal minister Sam Hamad, who jumped into the mayor’s race on April 6, has said he is opposed to the current tramway plan but is open to the building of a new bridge.
There remain many steps ahead before construction would start on a new bridge. Once the route is chosen, a designer and builder of the project would not be selected until next year and a contract not signed until 2027.