Transport construction in Quebec: Bruno Marchand Legault suspects the government is looking for “excuses” to delay the Caisse de Dépot process

Mayor Marchand suspects that the Legault government is looking for “excuses” to postpone the launch of the Caisse de Dépot et Placement (CDPQ) infra mandate, which is responsible for thinking about the best construction transport network for Quebec.

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For a month, the exact date on which CDPQ Infra’s six-month mandate will begin has been at the center of a behind-the-scenes battle.

On Friday morning, from Montreal, Jean-Marc Arbaud, president and CEO of CDPQ Infra, released this sentence: “We have the mandate and we are waiting for the studies. There are also those who have transferred. We are waiting for all the studies and from there, we can start executing the mandate.

The announcement clearly displeased the Quebec mayor, who was in Montreal for a meeting of the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ). “The government must stop finding excuses to postpone the start of the mandate,” Bruno Marchand confirmed in a statement sent by the ministry. Newspaper.

Confidentiality Agreement

“Ministry of [des Transports] We were told to whom to send the documents only on 28th November. Since then, more than 200 papers have been circulated. The following requires the prior signing of a confidentiality agreement, for which we are still awaiting validation from the Ministry. The city will not be responsible for any delay in this regard,” we can also read in the statement.

The technical submission submitted on August 24 by the only consortium still running to build the tramway appears to have a problem. The municipality paid $14 million to commission the report.

Called to comment, Claude Villeneuve, leader of Quebec First, said, “If the CDPQ has the document in hand, let them get to work. At some point we will be cheated. It doesn’t help that the CDPQ infra appears to be a serious and reliable partner in this situation.

A summit between Prime Minister Legault and Mayor Marchand took place on November 8. It was then that Mayor Marchand’s Plan B for the tramway was officially rejected and CDPQ Infra was given a six-month mandate.