Bruno Marchand’s tramway project is in the dark. The Legault government does not want to know anything about a shared street on René-Lévesque, the scenario favored by the mayor of Quebec, which could increase the travel time of many motorists, learned The newspaper.
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According to our information, the long-awaited decree allowing the City to launch a call for proposals should be issued on April 6. But beware, it will be subject to new conditions.
At the CAQ, we believe that the latest developments in the tramway file are difficult to reconcile with the government’s vision of the Réseau express de la capital. The projects must benefit the entire metropolitan population of Quebec. They must also benefit both motorists and public transit users.
“It’s not true that the Quebec tramway will be done only for the inhabitants of Quebec City and to the detriment of motorists who leave the suburbs or the outskirts to get to downtown,” insists a source. well informed.
In the government, we have not digested the recent declarations of Bruno Marchand about the neighboring municipalities.
“We are not building a tramway for the people of Portneuf […] of Château-Richer [ou de] of Saint Apollinaire […] And if they are disappointed that maybe their time [de déplacement] lengthens, it will be like this because we are building a tramway for the inhabitants of Quebec”, argued the number one of the City, just a few days ago.
Boulevard Laurier is a vital economic artery for the greater Quebec City region and one of the main approaches to the bridges. Adding traffic to the already saturated queue to get to the South Shore is not the right solution, according to the government.
“The transfer of 80% of René-Lévesque’s traffic to Grande Allée and Laurier Boulevard is not acceptable,” we argue behind the scenes.
The main funder of the tramway project, the government considers it necessary to impose new conditions on the City, especially since social acceptability is not optimal. Last January, a Léger poll showed that support for the tramway peaked at 41%.
Citizens will also have the opportunity to position themselves on these new conditions of the CAQ in the general elections in the fall, underlines a source.
Let us recall that a document produced by the City of Quebec and recently unveiled by The newspaper announces “a significant increase” in traffic volumes and travel times on the Grande Allée if the scenario favored by the Marchand administration is retained.
The municipal administration anticipates that the number of vehicles on René-Lévesque Boulevard will be reduced by half and will drop from 12,600 to 6,400 daily. On the other hand, the City calculates that “79% of traffic flows leaving René-Lévesque Boulevard [seront] reassigned to the Grande Allée”.
Long live reactions
Tuesday afternoon, information from Journal had the effect of a bomb and quickly aroused several outraged reactions.
Claude Villeneuve, leader of Quebec first, thus affirmed that “the CAQ works so that this project is less good, so that there is less adhesion. They don’t want this project to happen.” According to him, “every intervention by the government in this file only adds delays and costs”.
Similar reasoning from the head of Transition Quebec. “It is clear that the government wants to kill the project,” thundered city councilor Jackie Smith. The latter regretted “this interference by the CAQ which decides to impose its will to encourage the completely obsolete model of ‘everything by car’. If the social acceptability of the tramway project is so low, it is because the CAQ keeps dismantling it”.
Mr. Villeneuve and Mr.me Smith both called on Bruno Marchand to “fight” for the success of the project and promised to stand with him in this fight.
Quebec 21, a municipal party opposed to the tramway, reacted by means of a press release. Reiterating that Boulevard “René-Lévesque does not meet the criteria of the City of Quebec to become a shared street”, Quebec 21 welcomed this “call to order of the Government of Quebec, the main funder of the project. “. According to the party, “Mayor Marchand will have no choice but to listen and collaborate with all the authorities involved”
In Ottawa, the cabinet of the Liberal minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, reacted by declaration. Without citing the Government of Quebec by name, the federal government nevertheless asserts that “delays entail additional costs and are harmful to the project. The best is often the enemy of the good. The dithering must stop. We must avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and move forward”.
Mayor Marchand will not react until the end of the afternoon, this Tuesday, when he will comment on the tabling of the Quebec budget.
– With the collaboration of Taïeb Moalla