In a notice of proposal tabled Tuesday during the municipal council meeting, the leader of the official opposition, Claude Villeneuve, calls for “respect for Law granting the status of national capital to the City of Quebec».
“It is proposed that the municipal council unanimously reaffirms its support for the Law granting the status of national capital to the City of Quebecand consequently, to the autonomy and increased powers which result from it for the City whose Prime Minister is honorary mayor and demands his respect from the government of Quebec”, explains the municipal elected official in his document presented to the Marchand administration.
Since 2016, he recalls, this law has made Quebec “the place of choice for welcoming foreign dignitaries, diplomatic meetings and government summits, as well as for major political meetings and important negotiations in which the government participates. of Quebec.
However, violations of the law have been noted recently, points out Mr. Villeneuve, when French President Emmanuel Macron was welcomed in Montreal, without a planned stop in Quebec, as recently as last week.
A recurrence also denounced many times by the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand.
The official opposition party is therefore asking that municipal elected officials in Quebec take a united position in favor of respecting the law.
“It is something fundamental for us that the municipal council speaks with one voice to recall that in our opinion, almost all diplomatic meetings should take place in the capital,” argued the leader Claude Villeneuve before his entry into the municipal council.
“Holding them elsewhere than in Quebec should be an exception and not a common practice.”
— Claude Villeneuve, leader of the official opposition at Quebec City Hall
The Legault government, through its minister responsible for the National Capital, Jonatan Julien, has already refused to commit to all important diplomatic meetings being held in Quebec, arguing that “in individuals, with particular agendas, which does not always lend itself to it.
The executive committee will analyze the proposal and make its decision at the next meeting of the municipal council.
Where is the contract with Alstom?
For a year and a half, the official opposition has deplored being left in the dark about the contract signed by the City of Quebec with the multinational Alstom.
In April 2023, the municipal administration reached an agreement with the French giant for the construction and maintenance of the rolling stock of the future tramway, at a cost of 1.3 billion over 30 years.
At the time, elected officials from the official opposition voted against the adoption of the agreement, denouncing in particular that they did not have in their possession the details surrounding the termination clauses.
While the Prime Minister of Quebec questioned the legality of this contract on Tuesday and raised the possibility of having to relaunch a call for tenders for this part of the megaproject, access to the documents signed with Alstom came back into question.
“Unfortunately, we were right to ask questions, because we are faced with a situation that is still uncertain, but which will most likely result in termination costs for the City of Quebec,” worried Véronique Dallaire during the municipal council meeting, elected from the opposition.
She and her colleagues reformulated “the official request” to be able to consult the rolling stock contract, in order to be aware of the potential impacts of its modification or complete termination.
“They refused to submit this contract to us. We are interested in reading it and we would like to be able to tell citizens what is coming.”
— Véronique Dallaire, municipal councilor of Les Saules—Les Méandres
“I reiterate: we are facing the largest infrastructure project in Quebec City, it is abnormal that only two of the elected officials in this room had access to the contract. In the circumstances of uncertainty in which we find ourselves, all municipal councilors should have access to it and should know what needs to be done for the coming months, financially in particular,” defended the trained lawyer.
According to the official opposition, no one besides Mayor Bruno Marchand and the president of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale, Maude Mercier Larouche, has to date been able to read the contract between Quebec and Alstom.
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