The government of Quebec is blocking the agreement concluded between Canadian National (CN), owner of the Quebec bridge, and the government of Justin Trudeau concerning the purchase of the infrastructure between Quebec and Lévis.
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The Quebec Bridge, built more than 100 years ago, requires major work.
“The federal commitment is clear, it recovers the bridge and takes care of its maintenance. And there, I hear that the government of Quebec by whim makes sure that it does not work! We want it to work, but the commitment that the Government of Quebec has made is to pay the price. It’s $ 200 million in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan (PQI) over 10 years, ”supports in an interview with TVA Nouvelles, the CAQ minister and MP for Charlesbourg, Jonatan Julien.
The Legault government pays the Canadian National for the use of the Quebec bridge. “We want the federal government to come to an agreement with CN, but the problem is that Yvon Charest [le négociateur au dossier] negotiates, and it is the stakeholder who will assume 50% of the costs of this agreement, it is the Government of Quebec. We say: No. We have our commitments on the apron and the right of use. That the federal government assume its commitments and acquire [du pont de Québec]“says Minister Julien.
“The Champlain Bridge, the Victoria Bridge, does Quebec assume half of the repair costs? Well no! It’s a bad agreement that he offers us, ”judges Jonatan Julien.
The federal minister for the riding of Quebec, Jean-Yves Duclos, is not of this opinion, he welcomes the agreement reached between the federal government and the CN as well as the work of the negotiator Yvon Charest. He disagrees with the blocking of the Legault government.
“The Government of Quebec would like to block this agreement. It would be disturbing if that were the case. Apparently because one would think that blocking the agreement on the 1st link in the Quebec region, the Quebec Bridge, could favor the arguments in favor of the 3rd link. Above all, it would deprive the Quebec region of very significant funds that the Canadian government could make available to our region to restore and perpetuate an absolutely essential infrastructure, ”says Jean-Yves Duclos.