COPENHAGEN | After Bruno Marchand had shown himself very benevolent the previous day for a third connection reserved exclusively for public transport, after leaving a presentation in Malmö, where such a project is being carried out, Bruno Marchand thought it appropriate to return to his comments and retreat.
It’s still surprising to see how much the Quebec mayor walks on eggshells when it comes to the third link. Since coming to power, the mayor of Quebec, even if he had every reason to oppose it, has been very reluctant to speak out.
No doubt anxious, among other things, to regulate his relations with the CAQ government, with whom relations have been good for several months and with whom he is negotiating the cost of the tram, he repeats the wait for studies and data. He is rightly concerned about the resulting urban sprawl.
A few months ago, however, the mayor began saying that heavy structuring transport was needed. He went a step further in Sweden on Saturday, showing broad support for reserving the Québec-Lévis tunnel for public transport.
However, while the texts reflecting his comments, including mine, were online since early evening (Copenhagen time), he decided to go back at 12 noon the next day. However, if he had felt unfairly treated, he would have had several opportunities to claim it earlier.
An inspiring project
As a reminder, Bruno Marchand spent Saturday in Malmo, Sweden, where the city council gave a presentation on the history of this city, which is considered a global model for sustainable development.
In particular, there was talk of a tunnel project worth around 6.4 billion Canadian dollars (four billion euros), which is around twenty kilometers long and will be reserved exclusively for public transport. There will be a subway there. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2028 and end in 2035.
This infrastructure will be added to the Oresundsbron, a 16-kilometer bridge tunnel that has linked Malmo to Copenhagen, Denmark for the past 23 years. As Stefana Hoti, the city planner chosen for Malmö’s city planning, explained to us, discussions are ongoing about possibly removing the four car lanes that exist there, in order to keep only the lanes used by the train.
Ms Hoti explained that “it costs less and less if you don’t build for cars” and that there hadn’t even been discussions about putting car lanes in the new tunnel.
At the end of the meeting I ask Bruno Marchand what he thinks of the Malmö tunnel project for a subway. He replies that he “thinks it should inspire us. »
Then the mayor was asked if the Quebec government shouldn’t do the same and take inspiration from this city (Malmö) that will build a subway line exclusively for its next tunnel.
Mr Marchand replied verbatim: “Government will find inspiration where it looks. If we want to respond to ecological issues, to mobility issues, if we want to increase the flow of travel, public transport is an excellent solution and we have been campaigning for this for a long time in the tunnel, not only partially reserved lanes, but always reserved lanes , to transport a lot of people, we firmly believe in that. »
The first elected then added: “After that it’s up to the government to show the costs, the impact it’s having, the cost it’s paying for it, but the trend is global. The development trend is also global (…)”.
But this afternoon, Bruno Marchand told journalists he had rather said “that it needs public transport that has high capacity in the third connection. For the freeway part, I don’t get involved. »
The mayor also stated that “with the motorway part, the government will decide what to do with it (…) I don’t know about the project, so I certainly won’t position myself for the project (…)”
Amazing turn
However, I spent the evening from Saturday to Sunday in the same place as the mayor, with a good part of the Quebec delegation. The journalists were also present this morning for a guided bike tour of the city of Copenhagen which he took part in, which lasted three hours. His Deputy Chief of Staff was present at all of these events.
However, no one, including the mayor, saw fit to say a word the day before about his position on the third link, which was widely reported as of early Saturday night. If it really had contained errors or if the remarks had not been precise, I think we would have hurriedly tried to rectify the situation.
It seems that the mayor of Quebec continues to walk on eggshells as far as the third link is concerned. A position that is becoming increasingly untenable, especially since he vigorously defends development and sustainable transport, which includes public transport, cycling and walking. He’s also vehemently promoting and convincing of it, which has been very convincing since arriving in the Nordics on Thursday.
I wrote this week that it will take bold elected officials to enact major changes in travel in cities. It is essential for Bruno Marchand to make reservations and be quick if he is to present his ambitious and promising vision that can inspire many people in Quebec, including young people. Quebec badly needs it.