Quebec Bridge: Dead End estimated at 4 million

Tongues are loose on the Quebec bridge file. Thursday, Radio-Canada revealed the existence of an agreement between Canadian National and Ottawa to ensure the purchase of infrastructure by the federal government.

The transaction was blocked by Quebec, which has the right of first refusal as the main tenant of the bridge.

According to new information confirmed by Radio-Canada, the Legault government has objected to its annual rent estimate of $4 million.

of Peanut

A source familiar with the matter believes Quebec’s opposition is incomprehensible at this advanced stage of negotiations.

Quebec is playing with the future of critical infrastructure to save Peanut!she exclaims.

As the main lessee of the Quebec bridge, the Ministère des Transports (MTQ) pays an annual rent of $7 million to Canadian National (CN).

Every day, approximately 33,000 vehicles use the heritage infrastructure to cross the St. Lawrence River.

However, a binding agreement NC And yet MTQ Expires next month and needs to be renegotiated.

The federal government wants to take advantage of this window to buy the bridge and increase Quebec’s rent to ensure the longevity of the structure.

According to several sources, Ottawa needs an annual rent of between 11.2 and 11.7 million dollars per year.

In 2020, the federal negotiator on the file, Yvonne Charest, signed a report estimating the cost of renovation work on the Quebec bridge at $784 million.

Inflation is liable, the bill will be much higher after 2 years.

Quebec sticks to its guns

On Thursday, Treasury Board Vice President, Jonathan Julian, He shot red balls By denying the offer to spend in the direction of Ottawa Over 350 million To the Government of Quebec.

This declaration adheres to the originality, but fails to mention that the loan is amortized over a period of 25 years with an annual index fixed at 2%.

With inflation at 8%, who can deny a 2% index? asks our source.

On Saturday, Director of Communications in the Office of the Minister of Transport, Jean-Francois Del Torchio, did not contradict the figures obtained by Radio-Canada.

In our case, the Liberal Party of Canada is honoring its election commitment, which is to reclaim the Quebec Bridge and maintain it.He said in a written statement.