Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir The consultation launched by Quebec “aims to obtain an overview of the needs and concerns of the population in terms of mobility” in the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches regions.
Five months after resurrecting the idea of a third link between Quebec and Lévis, the government of François Legault finally put its consultation on mobility in the region online. Among other things, he surveys the population on the construction of an “additional link exclusively for road transport”.
The consultation, which will take place over less than a month, until March 22, “aims to obtain an overview of the needs and concerns of the population in terms of mobility” in the Capitale-Nationale and of Chaudière-Appalaches. A survey by the SOM firm will follow in mid-April.
“There are obviously mobility issues between Quebec and Lévis, and more generally between the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches regions,” underlined the MP for Lévis and minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, in a press release on Tuesday. “This citizen consultation will allow the population to express themselves, and will help us learn more about what concerns people in their daily lives. »
The consultation contains several questions on the daily mobility habits of residents in the area. She mentions in particular “the construction of new road axes”, but also the creation of a third link solely dedicated to public transport.
Even if it is mainly aimed at people in the greater Quebec region, the document can be filled out by residents from all over Quebec… up to several times. No mechanism has in fact been put in place to prevent a user from responding more than once in different tabs.
“It was essential that the consultation was easy to access and simple to complete. Creating an account, with personal information, such as an email, can be a hindrance and take more time. We wanted to avoid making access more complex,” explained the office of the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, in a text message on Tuesday. The SOM survey “will make it possible to confirm or refute the trends,” he added.
Doubts about the process
Questioned about the survey on Tuesday, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, expressed doubts about the validity of the process. “I am not able to say where this consultation fits into the current process. […] I am also not able to say how we are going to look for elements of a vision for the future,” he said. “It’s sure to have a survey where you write down the first three letters of your postal code and which you can do repeatedly…”
According to the verifications of the Devoir, it is possible to respond to the survey by entering a postal code which is not at all linked to the administrative region selected at the beginning of the questionnaire.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is already studying mobility needs in the Quebec region. It intends to propose a public transport project by June and will also analyze the need for a third link. This mandate was entrusted to him after the government's rejection of the Quebec City tramway project.
From Quebec, Tuesday, the minister responsible for the National Capital, Jonatan Julien assured that the consultation would “feed the thinking” of CDPQ Infra. “It’s certain that we will benefit from consulting people,” he said. On the social network
“The major consultation promised by [François Legault] the day after his defeat in Jean-Talon ultimately amounts to an online consultation, far from meeting the expectations of transparency and commitment,” wrote the transport spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec.
After abandoning the idea of building a third inter-river highway link in the spring of 2023, the government of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) changed its tune at the beginning of October. Since then, it only excludes a bridge or a tunnel dedicated mainly to cars seeing the light of day.
“There is no question of losing Quebec definitively”, proclaimed Prime Minister François Legault last year, after his party bit the dust in the Jean-Talon by-election .
In a statement on Tuesday, solidarity MP Etienne Grandmont once again condemned the government's decision. “The 3rd link is dead and buried and it is the CAQ which holds the shovel. “It’s not a consultation that comes 10 years late that’s going to change that,” he said.
“It's good to consult the population, but we wonder where this consultation is coming from at this time, and what purpose it will be used for when the government has sent CDPQ Infra the mandate of mobility and transport in the region”, added PQ elected official Pascal Paradis.
With Alexandre Robillard