Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
The Coalition Avenir Québec government has forced yet another delay in Quebec City’s project to build a tramway system, leading some to wonder if it’s the end of the line for the current plan.
Premier François Legault informed Mayor Bruno Marchand at a Nov. 8 meeting in the premier’s National Assembly office that he was rejecting the $8.4-billion plan the mayor had presented the week before.
Instead, the premier has tasked the infrastructure wing of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ Infra) to “study over a six-month period the best project for a structured transport system for Quebec [City]. Quebec deserves a transport system worthy of a great capital.”
At a Montreal press conference two days later, Legault said, “What I want first of all is a beautiful, structured transport project that will please people,” whether that be a “tram, a metro or light train.”
He said, “We are asking experts from the Caisse de dépôt to evaluate the Quebec tramway project, which went from $3.4 billion to more than $8 billion, to look at other possible projects.”
In announcing the revised cost of the tramway project last week, Marchand had also said the city would take over the management of the infrastructure construction of the tram line, since no private bidder was able to meet the financing or deadline conditions.
Marchand said the city had the in-house expertise to manage the project and has handled the preparatory work for the tramlines so far.
CDPQ Infra has just completed its first major undertaking, Montreal’s 67-kilometre Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM), a suburban commuter train project for which construction began in 2018. The premier said he had spoken with the head of the Caisse, but as of this writing, according to media reports, no mandate letter had been sent to the pension manager.
Upon leaving the meeting with Legault, Marchand told reporters, “I had a very good discussion with the premier, where we both spoke face to face, alone, he and I, where I presented the plan for the city to carry out the structuring transport project that is the tramway. This is not the option he will choose. Obviously, I’m disappointed.”
Two days later, Marchand, appearing at an announcement with Jonatan Julien, minister for infrastructure and the national capital region, told reporters “all questions related to this project will be redirected to the minister. You may ask me 50 questions, but in the coming months, I won’t answer them. It’s a government decision – they took the ball, they will respond, they will lead the process and we will talk about it again.”
Opposition Leader Coun. Claude Villeneuve, whose Québec D’Abord party ran on a pro-tramway platform, was present at the same announcement. He said, “It is humiliating for the mayor, and through that, it is humiliating for all the citizens of Quebec, the sequence [of events], what we are experiencing, to have the project withdrawn. This is a very hard blow for everyone. Whether we are for or against the tram project, it is certain that it is not a party [the CAQ] for Quebec [City]. I try to imagine [former mayors] Jean-Paul L’Allier, Andrée Boucher or Régis Labeaume putting themselves in that situation, and I don’t believe it.”
Despite the apparent freeze and takeover of the tramway project by the Quebec government, work continues. City spokesperson Miriam Bard-Dumont told Le Soleil, “The project office is continuing to carry out the preparatory work as planned in the various contracts awarded to suppliers.”
It was unclear what the consequences of the Quebec government’s action might have on the contract with Alstom to build the cars for the tramway, mostly at its plant in La Pocatière. The contract called for manufacturing to begin in 2025.
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Mayor Bruno Marchand, right, is shown at a press conference with Jonatan Julien, minister for the capital region, at a news conference two days after the Caisse announcement.
Photo from Radio-Canada