Tramway: Minister Gilbolt sends the ball back to Ottawa

While Quebec Mayor was waiting for the green light to take the tramway project to the next level, CAQ Minister Genevieve Gilbolt returned the ball to the federal government, which, according to her, was officially committed to financing. The cost exceeded.

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Since the beginning of the week, Mayor Bruno Marchand has publicly put pressure on the Legalt government to adopt the necessary decrees to launch calls for proposals for future rolling stock and infrastructure for the future tramway. .

But there is a bone: a revision of the share of the cost of the project, which cost approximately half a billion dollars according to the final evaluation.

“We have to do things in order,” the minister in charge of the Capital-National region said on Thursday, recalling that the Trudeau government was still not officially committed to paying 40% of the total bill for the project other than a third party. , As provided in the contract reached before the cost explosion.

Budget discipline

Although Federal Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has come forward with “more than one word in the media,” Quebec has not yet “succeeded in putting it properly or officially in writing.”^Me Gilbolt.

“It is important for us to be able to solve the problem of sharing high costs. You understand that this is an element of budget and monetary austerity, so we’re on it, ”MNA left for Louis-Hebert.

“We look forward to the formalization of the federal commitment,” she summed up before transferring a little heat to Ottawa.

“Negotiations between the city of Quebec and the Ministry of Transport are ongoing and we hope to be a little stronger with the federal government,” Ms.^Me Gilbolt.

No official request

On the Ottawa side, however, our sources indicate that to date, no official request for additional monetary assistance has been aired by the Quebec government.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc recalled recently in response to a request by Transport Minister Franకోois Bonnardell for a meeting on the issue.

The Trudeau government, which has always supported the Tramway project, wants to manage it as soon as possible, assuring a well-versed federal source in the matter.

– With Jean-Michel Genoese Gagnon

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