Angered by the federal government’s refusal to fund the third link project, Lévis MP Bernard Drainville broke ground on the Trudeau government by urging it to take care of the Quebec Bridge before turning to the tunnel .
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“I think we need to listen to the population in there a bit. She has waited a long time for the third link. And if you look at the aging of the two infrastructures, I think some openness would be good instead of the closure that I’m currently seeing. I would also like to say to Mr Duclos: would it be possible for the federal government to regulate the Quebec Bridge Act that it has committed to regulating?
The Minister of Education and Member of Parliament from Lévis made this statement on Friday on the sidelines of the inauguration of the reception hall at the Parc de la rivière Etchemin in Lévis. He was doing so in response to federal minister and Quebec MP Jean-Yves Duclos, who the day before had closed the door on all funding for the Quebec-Lévis tunnel, a project the federal government is considering as a highway future funding framework infrastructure.
Mr Drainville said he was still confident. “The federal government is still expected to co-finance the third link.”
He recalls that the project includes a share of public transport and said he is willing to increase it. “If we need to add public transport, for example the planned time slots, then we will expand it.”
“Political Blockade”
For the mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier, Mr Duclos’ position is nothing more than a “political impasse”. In particular, he says that Ottawa decides without having seen the studies that have to be presented in 2023. “How can a government that must be responsible for Quebec’s requests conclude that it’s over? Let’s await the studies that the Quebec government has promised for 2023 to find out where the project will go and then we can discuss it. We think it looks more like a political impasse. In my opinion it is a game between the two governments and we see that it is not consistent.
He claims that the project includes a portion of public transportation and that Ottawa should at least fund that portion. “That’s the bare minimum that’s required.” The mayor of Lévis continues to refer to the bus service as “the subway under the river”, which is incorrect as they are essentially buses that will run on motorways. A subway train runs on rails at a special location with high frequency. When reminded that the latest version of the project has less space for buses than the previous version, with lanes not reserved all day, the mayor replies: “We’ll see when the studies come out. […] We’ll see the version that will come out. There’s been so much movement over the past few years, we’ll see.
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