MONTREAL - The Ville Marie tunnel will be fully reopened Saturday following the near-catastrophic roof collapse five days earlier, Transport Minister Sam Hamad announced Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois criticized the Quebec government for its handling of the collapse and called for increased transparency.
"Jean Charest prefers to do public relations for his northern plan than deal with emergencies here in the south of Quebec," Marois said at a news conference Friday.
"We must respect Quebecers' ability to read and understand reports," she said, adding that all road maintenance reports be made public.
Marois also said the Transport Ministry should do a better job of controlling and evaluating projects.
She urged Charest to form a permanent committee that would coordinate road and highway plans between all levels of government. As well, she reiterated her party's longstanding demand for an inquiry into the construction industry.
Responding later in the day, Hamad said that every one of Marois' suggestions had already been acted upon before she suggested them.
"She came late to this situation," said Hamad, referring to the fact that Marois had been away on holiday.
"She contradicted herself... she said we blamed the workers and wanted to hold a commission on them. But we said it's a work-related accident, and that means it could be engineering, conception, supervision or the construction site responsible. We'll see later who was responsible."
Hamad did not say what time the tunnel would reopen.
