(Québec) The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) has hidden information from voters about the third link, argues solidarity deputy Sol Zanetti. He was referring to the government’s claim that it was unaware that the option of a transit-only third link was under consideration before the last election campaign.
Radio-Canada revealed Thursday that the Ministry of Transport had requested an analysis of this scenario on June 30, 2022, a few months before the elections. However, the office of the Minister of Transport at the time, François Bonnardel, cannot clearly assure whether he knew.
Mr. Zanetti does not believe it. “They knew that before the last election. They were planning things and they kept us in the dark, and that’s the thing that shocks me the most, whether or not we agree with the highway tunnel or not,” the supportive MP thundered Thursday. morning at a press briefing.
“We had the right to know and today the CAQ is paying the price for its lack of transparency,” he added.
The leader of the official opposition, Marc Tanguay, believes that François Bonnardel was necessarily aware. “I don’t have the proof, but I, personally, don’t believe it,” he said in a scrum Thursday morning. You cannot be Transport Minister of the CAQ in 2022 and not be aware of what is happening regarding the third link in your ministry. »
According to PQ Pascal Bérubé, who was a minister in the past, it is certain that the current Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, had also been informed of the scenario.
“The first thing you learn is ministerial responsibility. The second is that the deputy minister will ensure that any major information, and one might think that this is a major file, will be brought to the attention of the minister. So unless she was willfully blind, withholding information, or making selective assertions, the minister knew,” he argued.
The abandonment of the third highway link, a flagship promise of the CAQ, continues to haunt the Legault government. Minister Guilbault said that the pandemic and teleworking have reduced traffic between Quebec and Lévis. Result: a tunnel for cars is no longer justified.
However, since this announcement, many facts have undermined the credibility of the Minister’s explanations.
