SHERBROOKE | Disappointment at the abandonment of the third road link now appears to be a thing of the past for several CAQ MPs, who don’t expect François Legault to suffer in his confidence vote on Sunday.
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“We were disappointed, it was a decision that disappointed the people of Quebec on the south coast, but the bond of trust.” [avec le chef caquiste] is everything there. It’s more than trust itself,” said Capitale-Nationale Minister Jonatan Julien on the sidelines of the opening of the CAQ National Congress in Sherbrooke.
At the end of the morning, the gravedigger of the highway component of the Quebec-Lévis tunnel project, Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility Geneviève Guilbault, met and indicated that “to date, no one” among the activists gathered at the convention has come to her to discuss it.
“I know that the Third Left’s decision had a strong impact on many people, especially in the Capitale-Nationale, in Chaudière-Appalaches […] [C’est] “It’s very likely that people will tell me about it,” she said.
For the Deputy Minister of Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, Martine Biron, the Congress is an opportunity to “look ahead”.
“Everyone is in a good mood. I think it’s time to stick together… [L’abandon du troisième lien routier] It’s a pragmatic decision, a word we like at CAQ,” said Ms. Biron.
While some voters are “not happy” in their constituency, others told me, “I voted for the CAQ, but I didn’t necessarily vote for the third link,” she stressed.
Tram, more than a third connection
Caquiste MP for Jean-Talon, Joëlle Boutin, believes the impact of her government’s “responsible choice” on the third link has not been the same everywhere.
“In my county, the project was a little less popular. It doesn’t affect Jean-Talon… I feel more like there is an impact on the South Shore. People are disappointed, that’s for sure. Maybe the way it was done, too,” she remarked.
In Jean-Talon, a project that includes the Quebec bridgehead, “the streetcar is a project that is more important to citizens than the third link,” she admitted.
Beauce and public transport
Beauce-Nord deputy Luc Provençal, who had warned that there would be “few” delegates from his riding attending the congress, paraded in front of the journalists.
One of his predecessors, former ADQ member Janvier Grondin, warned that not much would change for the Beaucerons with the new version of the third link project, dedicated exclusively to public transport.
“That’s not going to solve the problem,” said the man who represented voters in Beauce-Nord from 2003 to 2012, initially under the Action Démocratique du Québec banner before moving to the Coalition avenir Québec at the end of his tenure last semester .
PHOTO DOMINICK MENARD – QMI AGENCY
“You will leave your car in Lévis, you will take the tunnel to get to the other side, but what will you do on the other side? […] There’s no one who’s going to do that,” he dropped.
Still, Mr. Grondin believes abandoning the third road link was “a wise decision” given inflation and the increase in the bill for the project, which would ultimately have exceeded $10 billion to be “completed to $20 billion,” he said.
“People get a little disappointed when they don’t make a campaign promise,” Grondin admitted.
Legault “optimistic”
“I’m optimistic that the majority of CAQ members will be happy with the decisions I’ve made,” Prime Minister François Legault said on the eve of the unveiling of his vote of confidence, the first since 2014.
PHOTO DOMINICK MENARD – QMI AGENCY
“Every day I try to make the best decisions in the best interests of all Quebecers. That there are some Quebecers, then even some CAQ activists, who are not happy with certain decisions, well, that’s normal,” commented the Chief Caquiste in a press conference.
– In collaboration with Rémi Nadeau
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