Quebec Tramway: an announcement probably Monday

Everything indicates that the highly anticipated announcement of a final agreement on the Quebec tramway will take place this Monday, December 16, the Journal has learned.

According to sources who requested anonymity, the announcement of this agreement will be made in Quebec in the presence of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, and senior executives of the Caisse de dépôt et placement of Quebec Infra (CDPQI).

On October 9, the Legault government and CDPQI made public a mandate letter to move forward with a portion of phase 1 of the CITÉ de la Caisse plan, namely a 19 km tram line, from Le Gendre to Charlesbourg , at an estimated cost of $5.27 billion.

It was agreed that a final agreement between the parties must be initialed before December 15 to confirm everything. In recent weeks, Minister Guilbault and Mayor Marchand have expressed optimism regarding the conclusion of such an agreement before this deadline.

Two separate agreements?

According to our information, two separate agreements would be announced on Monday. The first would be signed between the government of Quebec and CDPQI, while the second would take place between the government and the City of Quebec. At this stage, it is not yet clear whether the overall financial package for the megaproject will be fully clarified next Monday.

In October, the mandate letter from the Quebec government mentioned a financial participation of 20 to 30% to CDPQI in the tramway. The final agreement is supposed to specify the level and terms of this participation. This will allow us to know how the Caisse will succeed in making this investment profitable, which will likely exceed $1 billion.

We also know that the Caisse will not ensure the operation of the tramway, once it is put into service. It is likely that the government and CDPQI will formally confirm on Monday that the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) will be the operator of the tramway.