What is the Legault government playing? This is the question that comes to mind when we consider the last signals sent by the Prime Minister and his team about the structuring network of Quebec.
The Legault government has placed major public transit infrastructure projects at the heart of its economic recovery plan.
It has also made transportation electrification the center of what it has called “the largest environmental project in the history of Quebec”.
And yet, when it comes to the Quebec tram, the cornerstone of its structuring transportation network which is part of this green current, the Legault government gives the impression of rowing against the current.
He would like to slow it down that he would not act otherwise …
It started with the Prime Minister, who expressed his reluctance to support the new version of the project, without ambiguity.
It was understandable, but such exchanges should have taken place in private.
It was then noted that the government seemed unopened with an accelerated timetable for its achievement. This is what the City wanted, with the aim of having everything settled by the elections in the fall of 2021.
Linked to third link
Then, we learned this week in our pages that the government had commissioned a ridership study to “better understand the impact of the third link” on the project.
It should be remembered, but many unknowns persist with regard to the third link.
No costs or funding are yet attached to it. This is far from the case with the tram, for which $ 419 million was disbursed in March by the government of Quebec.
The Quebec caucus, which never seemed very warm towards the project, would he have found an attentive ear in the government?
Or should we see another manifestation of the strained relations between the CAQ and Régis Labeaume and his team? Is the political game taking precedence over the common good?
Meanwhile, in Montreal, public transit projects under study abound: a link between Montreal and Laval, another to reach east and west of Laval, and a network that would connect the southwest and the city center. There are also plans to extend the REM.
The mayor of Montreal also welcomed the important shift in terms of sustainable mobility on this occasion.
En route
In Quebec, various polls have indicated that support for the project has decreased. But when planning the planning and development of a city and a region for the future, we must look far beyond.
Admittedly, the new version of the structuring network reveals a project whose scope is diminished, with the abandonment of the trambus for budgetary considerations. However, we are far from a bad project, which remains structuring and therefore promising for development.
The good news is that three companies have responded to the call for qualification.
With such competition, and a context favorable to a reduction in costs, the project will benefit from a certain budgetary flexibility. Flexibility, however, must also animate the government if it wishes to see the project come to fruition.
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