Quebec opposition parties aren't buying the government's story that it wasn't aware that the option of a third link exclusively for public transit was being studied before the last election campaign.
Radio-Canada revealed Thursday that the transport ministry had requested an analysis of the project on June 30, 2022, a few months before the election.
Interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay believes that François Bonnardel, then transport minister, was aware.
"I don't have the proof, but I personally don't believe so," he said in a press scrum Thursday morning. "You can't be the CAQ's transport minister in 2022 and not be aware of what's going on with the third link in your department."
PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé thinks it is certain that the current minister, Geneviève Guilbault, had also been informed of the scenario.
The abandonment of the third highway link, a flagship promise of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, continues to haunt the Legault government. Guilbault said that the pandemic and telecommuting have reduced traffic between Quebec City and Lévis. As a result, a tunnel for cars is no longer justified, she said.
Since the announcement, many facts have undermined the credibility of the minister's explanations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 4, 2023.
