The decline in support for the tramway project does not shake the Legault government, which still has the firm will to put it on track by 2028.
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Asked to react to the results of a survey released on Monday, the office of the Minister of Transport, François Bonnardel, reiterated that “the tramway is an important element of the Réseau express de la Capitale, which includes a tunnel linking the city centers of Quebec and Levis.
“We will continue to work with the City of Quebec to provide the Capitale-Nationale with a structuring public transit network. We salute the mayor’s desire to intensify his communication efforts with the population,” said Minister Bonnardel’s press attaché, Claudia Loupret.
The federal government is slow to follow suit
Before the holidays, Prime Minister François Legault had shown himself open to assuming part of the cost overruns then estimated at $600 million.
A source in high places, however, suggests that the federal government is slow to follow suit.
In Ottawa, another source maintains that the federal government has not yet received an official request from the Quebec government.
Reactions to City Hall
An ardent defender of the tramway, the leader of the opposition to the town hall, Claude Villeneuve, deplores for his part that the detractors of the project take up so much space in the public space.
“The biggest drama of this project is that there are just people who find it difficult to say who talk about it. We lack positive leadership,” he said. The inventory, planned this morning by Mayor Bruno Marchand, is timely, according to the head of Quebec 21, Éric Ralph Mercier.
“The mayor has set the bar very high with his 10 improvements. [Il] has the burden of proof to show that this is the right project for Quebec”.
The head of Transition Quebec, Jackie Smith, concludes for her part that the project has “not been well communicated in the past”. She pledged to redouble her efforts to show the benefits.
The mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier, for his part reiterated his unreserved support for the project on Monday.
– With the collaboration of Taïeb Moalla and Stéphanie Martin