Quebec tramway on the menu of François Legault’s meeting with the head of Alstom

Photo: Carmen Jaspersen Archives Agence France-Presse “We have every confidence in the authorities to carry out this project,” said Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, commenting on the Quebec tramway project.

Michel Saba – The Canadian Press in Saint-Ouen

Published at 6:40 a.m.

• Quebec

On the second day of his economic mission to France, Quebec Premier François Legault visited the offices of Alstom, where he elbowed boss Henri Poupart-Lafarge over the Quebec City tramway project and the jobs he wants for the province.

“I guess he wants the call for tenders not to be renewed, for the old one to exist,” Legault said Wednesday morning upon his arrival at the rail manufacturer's global headquarters in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris.

Government lawyers are trying to determine whether Quebec should relaunch the call for tenders that was won by Alstom for the tramway project worth more than half a billion dollars. “There is no clear answer,” Mr. Legault repeated to reporters.

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The Prime Minister noted that he wants to “develop the business together.” The day before, he had specified that he wants to “talk about projects with jobs in Quebec.”

When pressed by journalists, Mr. Poupart-Lafarge finally said that Alstom is “very happy, very honoured to have been chosen by the city of Quebec for this tramway.”

“We have every confidence in the authorities to carry out this project,” he said.

At the beginning of their meeting, Mr. Poupart-Lafarge noted that the Prime Minister’s visit “underscores the importance of our Quebec roots, and underscores the importance of our activity in Quebec, even today — many factories, many engineering centres.”

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The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is Alstom's largest shareholder with 17.5% of the shareholding. Mr. Legault also mentioned that it “hurt him a lot” when Bombardier Transport was sold to Alstom given that he had “great ambitions” for what was a Quebec flagship.

The railway manufacturer has three sites in Quebec, where it employs a total of 2,000 people. The only place where Alstom could build a tramway is at La Pocatière, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. The Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville site is used for research and development, including engineering, design and electronic signalling. The Montreal site is administrative and commercial.

At midday, Mr. Legault will speak at an “economic lunch” at the official residence of the new Quebec delegate general in Paris, Henri-Paul Rousseau.

In the mid-afternoon, he will meet with the president and CEO of Ubisoft. Then, in the evening, he will hold a reception at a Paris hotel.