The Parti Québécois (PQ) will withdraw Quebec from the federal government’s high-speed rail (TGV) project if it comes to power in October, believing that priority should be given to maintaining aging infrastructure.
In a statement, the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, argues that he cannot “justify to Quebecers that their money be invested in a pharaonic project” when priority infrastructure urgently needs to be renovated.
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Based on estimates from the Bloc Québécois, St-Pierre Plamondon values the project at “potentially $200 billion” and suggests that Quebec’s share would therefore be around $40 billion.
The PQ leader argues that a potential PQ government would demand that Ottawa pay these sums “unconditionally” so that it could invest them in infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, schools and public transit.
While Quebec’s asset maintenance deficit amounts to more than $40 billion, St-Pierre Plamondon argues that Quebec could renovate “almost all” of its aging infrastructure by receiving its share of the funds that will be allocated to the TGV project.
St-Pierre Plamondon points out that some studies already warn that the future high-speed rail line may have little impact on road traffic. He argues that the project “is highly likely to be a huge financial fiasco.”
The high-speed rail project, led by the Crown corporation Alto, is planned to connect Toronto to Quebec City, with several stops in Ontario and Quebec cities. Construction of the first segment, between Montreal and Ottawa, is scheduled to begin in 2029 or 2030.
Currently, Alto estimates that the project will cost between $60 and $90 billion, but some experts believe this forecast is unrealistic.
Furthermore, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon asserts that the public consultations conducted by Alto to determine the exact route are “opaque.” He points out that many farmers are worried about “seeing their fields cut in two.”
“Everything is happening as if we want to go as fast as possible before we realize the mistake and the financial fiasco we are heading towards,” the PQ leader denounced in his statement.
He also accuses Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of being “more concerned with leaving a legacy project than with the public interest.”
With this statement – which will “not necessarily be popular”, by his own admission – St-Pierre Plamondon adds his voice to that of the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, who also opposed the current version of the project.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
