Let’s admit that it’s good to see such words in this file which has dragged on for so many years.
We are still a long way from getting on the tram, but Wednesday’s confirmation of this CITÉ project agreement is an important step which confirms the will of the government which we have so often doubted.
Are all doubts cleared up? Oh no. A good deal of skepticism will always stick like an old spag forgotten in the pan.
But hey, let’s still look forward to this first step.
The “as soon as possible” written in the letter refer to the time to agree on the final terms of this agreement, i.e. December 15, 2024. It will happen quickly.
We will have to wait for this deadline where we will talk. Who does what between the CDPQ and the City of Quebec, what will be the schedule, the budgets, the stages?
Also, this great imponderable of the federal financial contribution.
Again on Wednesday, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault recalled that the sum of 1.5 billion reserved by Ottawa only covers 27% of phase 1, far from the 40% promised.
And I’m rambling, but let’s reiterate how a possible election of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives could blow everything up.
On this date of December 15, CDPQ Infra will also have to present a plan aimed at “the transfer of knowledge from the Quebec City Project Office and the identification of the resources required for the execution of this mandate”.
We should be delighted to see that the expertise and years of work of the Quebec City Project Office will not be lost.
Remember how many eyebrows were raised when we learned that 117 employees of the Project Office remained on the job even once the government took the project out of the hands of the Marchand administration and entrusted the analysis to CPDQ Infra in November 2023. January, we were talking about 7 million for the next six months.
The City of Quebec and the government have clearly done well to ensure that this expertise is preserved.
The leaders of CDPQ Infra during the presentation of their report in June. (Jocelyn Riendeau/Archives, Le Soleil)
Operated by the RTC, a good thing
The letter of understanding also confirms that unlike the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), the future tramway will not be operated by CDPQ Infra.
Officially, the letter does not say that this will be entrusted to the Capital Transport Network (RTC), speaking rather of an “operator designated by the stakeholders”. But everything indicates that it will be the RTC, if we trust the words of Minister Geneviève Guilbault.
And that makes sense.
It is difficult to think that the tramway, which remains relatively modest, especially in its first phase, could have met the profitability objectives requested by the Fund.
It is also essential that this future backbone of public transport in Quebec be designed based on existing and future buses and Flexibuses.
An accessible and integrated tram will make you want to get on it. And traffic will be the true judge of support for this project which still has many hearts to conquer.
The third link away
In conclusion, we can bet that the tram will not be alone in the news of the week for very long?
If the past is a guarantor of the future, the Legault government will not let progress on the tram go far without talking about the third link so fundamental in its eyes for “economic security”. And for his voters on the south shore.
The rumor circulating about the launch of an international call for interest for the third link very quickly seems inevitable.
After all, we should definitely not seem to favor the tramway. Even for a few days.
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