With a meeting every two weeks, Jonatan Julien wants to maintain a constant channel of communication with Mayor Bruno Marchand. He’ll want to convince him on the third link, although the file is primarily Geneviève Guilbault and doesn’t close the door on a phase two for the tram.
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The new minister in charge of the Capitale-Nationale has his head in the sand: he and the mayor of Quebec “will not agree on everything”, Mr Julien admitted in an editorial interview with Le Log.
“I have a liking that it works in Quebec,” the former elected municipal official summed up. And to avoid disputes – there were several between his predecessor Geneviève Guilbault and mayors Labeaume and Marchand – Jonatan Julien wants to rely on maximum consultation.
Specifically, Messrs. Julien and Messrs. Marchand will provide updates on the projects every two months, a privilege Mayor Gilles Lehouillier will not have, although Lévis is also part of the territory of the National Capital Commission of Quebec.
” He [M. Lehouillier] will work with Bernhard [Drainville] ” Said Mr. Julien, referring to the Caquiste MP for Lévis, who is also the minister in charge of Chaudière-Appalaches, in addition to the portfolio of education.
Two big cases
Not surprisingly, Mr. Julien expects transport issues to take up media space.
The minister admits that the third link and the tram are two “major issues for the economic development of the region”.
He also believes that the City of Quebec is “on track” to advance support for the streetcar project, and he promises to “do everything possible” with Mayor Marchand to continue in that direction.
During the interview, Mr. Julien himself mentioned a possible phase two for the tram.
Ten to fifteen years after completing the first phase, “someone might say: look at how the city has developed, […] Maybe we could possibly do a phase two,” the minister launched, citing the example of the Lebourgneuf cluster.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” he said, noting that in his ride through Charlesbourg, where the tram will not run in phase one, the current Métrobus offering “is working well.”
improve mobility
Although he too wants to “see the data” that Mayor Marchand is waiting for to make a clearer decision on the third link, according to Minister Julien it is already certain that a tunnel between Quebec and Lévis will improve mobility, in favor of the socio-economic one Development of the Greater Quebec City Region.
“I don’t feel like a third-rate messenger,” warns Mr. Julien, however. The new Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, “she is clearly the bearer of the files,” he indicated.
“FULL OF CHALLENGES” FOR THE CHAMPLAIN MARKET
Archive screenshot
The idea of recreating Champlain Market in place of the current Traverse station in Old Quebec (photo) “is super interesting,” but in a flooded area, it brings its share of “challenges,” notes Jonatan Julian.
The project, illustrated in a video presented by the CAQ during the election campaign, includes a public square, a large market, a restaurant, a terrace.
The obligation, recalls Mr. Julien, is to set up a project office to assess feasibility. That will be done, said Mr. Julien.
But “if the project office tells us: That doesn’t make sense”, a decision is made accordingly.
“NO INTEREST” IN PURCHASING THE QUEBEC BRIDGE
Photo Archive, Stevens Leblanc
No offense to Ottawa, in addition to the $200 million Quebec has already set aside to repair the Quebec Bridge’s road deck, the CAQ government refuses to do more to help the federal government become its owner.
“200M$ on the apron, that’s not nothing,” remarked the new Minister in charge of the Capitale-Nationale, Jonatan Julien.
” [Au gouvernement du Québec] we have no interest in owning the Quebec Bridge,” he said, recalling that it is up to the Trudeau government to honor its promise to buy the bridge from CN.
“It would be nice if he would realize his commitment,” said Mr. Julien.
FOR MORE ANIMATED PARKS
Archive photo, Louis Deschênes
Thrilled by the success of the Mosaïcultures in Bois-de-Coulonge Park over the summer, Jonatan Julien hopes the Commission de la Capital National du Québec (CCNQ) will consider other ideas to revitalize the parks.
Between June 24 and October 10, nearly half a million spectators admired the Mosaïcultures (photo), a success that also benefited the shopkeepers of Maguire Avenue.
“A useful park is great fun, but a park that the community takes ownership of is fantastic,” the minister said in an interview.
The possible merger of the CCNQ with the secretariat of the Capitale-Nationale is no longer in sight, he confirmed.
Phase IV of the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain is “a priority”, says the minister
The fourth and final phase of the Samuel De Champlain promenade is “more complex” to implement and remains “clearly a priority” for the CAQ government, affirmed Jonatan Julien, Minister in charge of the Capitale-Nationale.
After some difficulties, the National Capital Commission of Quebec (CCNQ) was expected to deliver Phase III of the Samuel De Champlain boardwalk between the Sillery and Gilmour shores normally by summer 2023.
Dispel any doubt
In an editorial interview granted to the Journal, Mr. Julien seemed intent on dispelling any doubt as to his government’s true motivation for conducting the final phase in the East Coast sector.
In its regional platform presented during the election campaign, the CAQ undertook, among other things, to improve the development of the sector from the Dufferin-Montmorency motorway to the Estimauville sector, complementing the planning of the Promenade Samuel-De Champlain IV.
In a 2015 report, the CCNQ presented a series of viewpoints that could be developed along the river between the port area and the Île d’Orléans bridge.
Mr Julien seems concerned about the “complexity” of certain “sections” of Phase IV in the port area. “The port is being challenged,” said Mr. Julien.
Paved in the pond
Last spring, his predecessor, Geneviève Guilbault, threw a stone in the pond by claiming on the fringes of the budget inquiry that the CAQ had made “no formal commitment to conduct Phase IV” of the 2018 walk.
It was this that led Ms Guilbault to be dubbed “the worst minister of the Capitale-Nationale” by the leader of the official opposition at City Hall, Claude Villeneuve.
She then had to rectify the situation by pointing out that, as Le Journal wrote at the time, “there was never any question of abandoning the Samuel de Champlain Promenade Phase IV project.”
However, back in 2019 CAQ sources had told our Parliament Office that Phase IV would wait for clearer projects on the third link – then at the tip of Île d’Orléans – and Quebec’s port of Laurentia.
In a recent response to a request for information, the CCNQ confirmed that “the Phase IV project did not produce many concrete actions”.
Very little information is still available apart from a summary update of a 2015 report, several parts of which have been redacted.
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