It is impossible not to completely agree with Mayor Gilles Lehouillier when he states that because of the CAQ’s lack of transportation vision, the region is still immersed in total ambiguity and mired in debate. sterile that never ends.
Whether we agree with him or not on the merits of the third highway link project, the mayor of Lévis has been calling for its creation between the two banks for years.
The CAQ government has made promises to him many times, backed down, came back, and promises again to achieve the famous link. A link which could however also be reserved for public transport, since all options are open, as announced by Minister Geneviève Guilbault before the Holidays.
The result is that the mayor is furious – one would be furious for much less, and that he no longer believes the government. By the way, does anyone still believe it?
Confusion et chaos
“We are still in the most total ambiguity and we are going to sow further confusion and chaos,” denounces Gilles Lehouillier in an editorial interview. The Liberals, before the end of their reign, arrived at the end of their mandate with five corridors. We are going to experience the same film except that instead of being in black and white, it will be in color.
It is true that before the CAQ came to power, the Liberals had chosen to study several corridors. Upon its election, the CAQ announced that only the eastern corridor would be studied. We therefore had to wait six years, after numerous reversals by the government, to arrive at exactly the same point.
Gilles Lehouillier also does not believe the CAQ government when it expresses, as the minister responsible for the region, Jonatan Julien, did this week, that it is moving forward and that it will build the tramway.
The mayor finds it pathetic to see Mayor Bruno Marchand forced to struggle in public to defend the project and demand commitments from the federal parties.
-It is as if the Government of Quebec had itself removed itself from priority planning, even though this responsibility falls entirely on it by virtue of its powers, he rightly notes.
But as Quebec prefers to maintain vagueness on the subject of transport projects, it no longer assumes the leadership that belongs to it. This is not going smoothly for the region, obviously.
Where is the plan?
When we read the experts and, very recently, the conclusions of the CDPQi report regarding the third link, it is clear that such infrastructure does not represent a solution to the congestion problems on the north shore or on the bridges.
This congestion would be inappropriate, at best, which would have the effect of further extending the time motorists are stuck on the 40 in Quebec.
Other solutions must therefore be considered to reduce congestion, such as alternating lanes on bridges, as the MP for Jean-Talon, Pascal Paradis, mentioned in an interview.
It would be very understandable if the government also chose to base itself on the opinions and reports of experts to decide not to carry out this pharaonic project, to use the expression of the solidarity elected officials, Étienne Grandmont and Sol Zanetti. But whether he goes one way or the other, it is his duty to be clear about his intentions and outline his regional transportation plan.
Instead, the CAQ persists on the path of electoralism, and it will surely remain so until the next Quebec elections. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Lehouillier will still be there to fight, which I very much doubt.
