Matane officials at a symposium in Brittany blame the disorganization of the Department of Transport for missing their flight at Montreal Airport and instead spending 17 hours in their car there and back.
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“After 3:30 a.m. in a traffic jam, we saw our plane flying overhead,” Sainte-Félicité mayor and Matanie prefect Andrew Turcotte said in frustration.
Mr. Turcotte was due to travel to Bigouden, Brittany, to learn about the results of a research project on coastal resilience being carried out jointly by the University of Quebec at Rimouski and the University of Brest. He was to be accompanied by the Director of the Engineering and Environment Department of the City of Matane, Jérôme Caron.
But after a seven-hour drive to Montreal on Saturday, the duo got stuck in a massive airport traffic jam, missed their flight and returned to Matane, rather than staying in the cursed metropolis.
- Listen to the live broadcast of the Dutrizac – Dumont meeting every day at 7 a.m. above QUB radio :
No mall
“We didn’t want to give Montreal a penny anymore. We ate and then left,” raged Mr Turcotte.
He says he left Matane around 9am on Saturday morning to arrive at Pierre-Eliott-Trudeau airport a good three to three and a half hours before his 7pm scheduled flight.
Nothing indicated a diversion or work, neither on the freeway nor on Google Maps, he denounces.
“We even drove to Quebec 511 and there was no sign of any obstructions or construction. We really looked into what was going on to understand why we didn’t move…” he says.
“It’s still Montreal airport, it’s not a mall,” he adds, frustrated by the disorganization of the Quebec Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility (MTDQ).
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY ANDREW TURCOTTE
waste of public money
Jérôme Caron also blames the MTDQ for having lost the plane tickets paid for by the UQAR research chair, which he says is a “waste of public money”.
“The ministry said two days late that we had to avoid the area to get to the airport. “If we had known on Friday, we would have arrived at our destination,” castigated the community worker.
The MTDQ advocates maintaining the infrastructure and evaluating all closure scenarios.
“There is information that is sent to elected officials. There were meetings of technical committees,” said spokesman Martin Girard on communication problems.
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