third link

CAQ to hold info sessions on ‘third link’ as details leak

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

CAQ to hold info sessions on ‘third link’ as details leak 

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peteblack@qctonline.com

Residents will have an opportunity to learn more about options for the “third link” at information sessions recently announced by Transport and Sustainable Mobility Minister Genevieve Guilbault, to be held on Feb. 26 in Quebec City and Feb. 27 in Lévis.

According to a press release, “Representatives from the ministry will be on site to provide information, gather participants’ impressions and answer questions concerning, in particular, the corridors under study as well as the current and future stages of the project.”

The session in Quebec City will be at the Travelodge Hotel on Blvd. Hochelaga, and the Lévis one at the Lévis Convention Centre, on Rue J-B Michaud. Both sessions run from 3 to 8 p.m.

The announcement of the sessions comes as information about the routes being studied leaks out. A Quebec Solidaire MNA said he has documents from a transport ministry whistleblower that the government favours a downtown-to-downtown tunnel. (See separate story below).

A Radio-Canada report, based on leaked documents, said bridges built to the east of the downtown areas of Quebec City and Lévis “would contravene almost all government guidelines on land use planning. Analyses by the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable (MTMD) reveal several points that are ‘incompatible’ if the option favoured by the Legault government comes to fruition.”

The study, which examined several possible “third link” scenarios, including two bridge routes to the east, the option initially favoured by Premier Francois Legault, indicated the project would involve “a significant encroachment on several forest areas, wetlands and more than 77 hectares of agricultural land on the South Shore, the equivalent of nearly 150 football fields.”

The report also revealed the two eastern bridge routes would “result in the demolition of several residences and apartment blocks along Sainte-Anne Boulevard and the demolition of around 10 residential properties on the South Shore.”

There is one positive element about a bridge to the east mentioned in the report obtained by Radio-Canada: It would “promote the attractiveness of the territories and the dynamism of the communities in addition to connecting industrial zones and existing employment centres. This is the only government orientation in regional planning compatible with both scenarios.”

In an interview with the Journal de Quebec, Guilbault said the leaks about bridge and tunnel studies are likely coming from people within the civil service  “who oppose the project, just like the three opposition parties.”

The opposition at city hall reacted to the latest CAQ controversy over its plans for a bridge or tunnel.

Official Opposition and Québec d’Abord Leader Claude Villeneuve told a city hall media scrum, “I look at the government’s conduct on the third link and I can’t help but draw a parallel with what Donald Trump is doing on tariffs … there’s a kind of chaos that’s created. It means that we only talk about that and we don’t talk about other subjects anymore.”

Limoilou Coun. and Transition Quebec Leader Jackie Smith said the recent revelations are “proof beyond any doubt that this project must be stopped. We must end the project and kill the third link.”

She said, “It is absurd that … Guilbault is so attached to a project that makes no sense. She is ready to force a third link down our throats in the east despite the expertise of her own department’s officials.” 

The minister, for her part, noted in the release announcing the information sessions, that “23 companies responded to the international call for interest launched on Oct. 11, 2024 … The number and reputation of the participating companies confirm that our project for a third link between Quebec City and Lévis is serious and credible.”

She added, “I invite all citizens of the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches regions who are interested to come and learn more about the steps we have taken and those that await us.”

Full details on the information sessions can be found on the website: Quebec.ca/troisiemelien. 

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Guilbault: 23 companies interested in third link project

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

Guilbault: 23 companies interested in third link project

Peter Black

peterblack@qctonline.com

Calling it “excellent news,” Transport Minister and Louis- Hébert MNA Geneviève Guilbault announced last week that 23 companies have responded to the “international call for interest” in the proposed project to build a third link between Quebec City and Lévis.

The minister convened a news conference on Nov. 27 to make the announcement, less than seven weeks after she had issued the call on Oct. 11. Companies had 30 days to submit a proposal to take part in the process.

Guilbault said 29 companies had requested the required documentation to prepare a proposal, and 23 of those officially threw their hats in the ring.

“Twenty-three companies is a lot,” Guilbault said. “When we look at this type of call for interest procedure, we don’t do it systematically in all projects, we do it occasion- ally in major projects … Of all the times we’ve made calls for interest, this is the time when the most companies have shown interest.”

The transport ministry has engaged consultants KPMG to “organize interviews between interested companies and representatives of the ministry. The results of these meetings will then be analyzed independently,” according to a news release.

Guilbault said that with the application process, “We were ultimately testing two things: interest in a project and inter- est in doing this project in a collaborative mode with the Quebec government, and the response was more than positive. I must tell you, obviously, when we launch these types of procedures, we do not know in advance what the result will be.”

Guilbault rejected talk of adapting the Quebec Bridge, recently repatriated by the federal government, as an op- tion for heavy vehicle traffic. “[D]espite everything I hear from the federal government … about the Quebec Bridge, the reality is that it is not an option for trucking, and we need a third link to ensure the security of freight transporta- tion in particular.”

The minister said she would report back on the results of the vetting process “in early 2025.”

Of the 23 interested companies, Guilbault said 65 per cent are engineering firms, 30 per cent contractors and the rest management firms. Some 13 of the companies are identified on the government’s publicly accessible tender website, although Guilbault only named two, Ingerop, a British-French firm, and Construction Demathieu & Bard, whose head office is in Saint-Jérôme.

If all goes according to plan, Guilbault hopes to see a contract to build the link signed in 2027, construction start the next year, and the structure open in 2034-2035. No budget has been set for the project.

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CAQ commits to ‘third link’ with call for ‘international interest’

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

CAQ commits to ‘third link’ with call for ‘international interest’

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

The Coalition Avenir Québec government is moving ahead with its off-again, on-again pledge to build a third link between Quebec City and the South Shore.

Transport Minister and Deputy Premier Geneviève Guilbault made the announcement on Oct. 11 of an “international call for interest” to parties to be considered as a partner in the development of the project.

Vowing that whatever option is decided will be “the best project at the best price,” Guilbault said if all goes according to plan a contract would be signed to build the link in early 2027.

Addressing a news conference in Complexe G following a technical briefing by transport ministry officials, Guilbault said the call for interest “marks an important step in the third link project, which will allow us to confirm the market’s interest in our project. I am convinced that we will arrive at the best solution to meet the fluidity needs of our citizens on both shores.”

The minister said the two principal objectives of the third link would be to ensure economic security for commercial transport in the event of the Pierre Laporte Bridge being closed and to reduce traffic congestion in the region.

Guilbault said the choice of which corridor the link would take would be decided by next summer, based on options identified in the report by the Caisse de depôt et placement Infra presented in June.

In a previous announcement of a third link proposal, the CAQ government had envisioned a bridge between the eastern ends of Lévis and Quebec City. A proposal prior to that envisioned a tunnel between the downtowns of the two cities.

Asked by the QCT how much influence politicians would have on the ultimate choice of a corridor, Guilbault said, “It’s too early to determine a specific corridor,” pending the submission of recommenda- tions from interested parties.

She also said having a bridge with enough clearance to allow for cruise ships to enter port in Quebec City or Lévis “would be taken into consideration.”

Transport officials and the minister did not exclude a tunnel as a preferred option, nor would they commit to the third link being used for public transit such as the tramway system.

Guilbault said in two years, after the next scheduled pro- vincial election, “we will be at a level of the evolution of the process [where] it will be irreversible.”

She said since all the op- position parties are opposed to the third link idea, the CAQ is the only one that is pursuing it. “People will realize we are actually doing it for real.”

Guilbault acknowledged the CAQ’s “credibility is at stake” with the third link project. “We have to demonstrate we are resolutely committed to the realization” of the project.

Opposition critics were quick to denounce this latest move by the CAQ. Liberal transport critic Monsef Derraji said in a statement, “It’s clear that this announcement is more about diverting attention from other issues than it is about genuinely advancing mobility in the greater Quebec City area. Should the CAQ lose power after 2026, this commitment could easily crumble. It all appears more like a campaign promise than a real solution.”

Québec Solidaire MNA for Jean-Lesage Sol Zanetti told reporters, “We will talk about it [the third link] for decades as the symbol of the promise of the electoral bauble that will never happen, that is irresponsible, that costs a lot, and that is useless.”

Parti Québécois MNA for Jean-Talon Pascal Paradis said, “There will be no project. It won’t happen. What we are being presented with today is a fabrication, a smokescreen.”

Guilbault would not commit to a price tag for the potential bridge or tunnel, saying it would be determined as the planning process proceeds. She highlighted the new collaborative approach the government is taking, saying, “[T]he government will work closely with the designer and the builder from the first stages of the project design.”

A series of calls for tenders will be launched in the spring “to obtain the professional services and support required throughout the project. A first call for tenders aimed at ob- taining consulting services in insurance and financial guarantees will be published in the coming weeks.”

The building of a third link was a CAQ promise in the 2018 election that brought the party to power. At the time, the party vowed that the project would be underway by the end of its first mandate.

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