Pointe-Claire mayor says REM won’t be derailed by provincial election
Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere says he is confident the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) will be built to the West Island despite opposition from some politicians and environmental groups.
“The REM won’t be derailed,” Belvedere said. “There is no momentum to derail it. They’re already starting to work on it in many locations, and they ’ve given out the contracts.”
Parti-Québécois leader JeanFrançois Lisée recently criticized the REM plan. Lisée unveiled his own “Le Grand Déblocage” plan that would increase the number of trains, tramways and buses for the Montreal area instead of building the REM system.
Some environmental groups have lined up against the REM, but Belvedere dismisses much of the criticism as election politics. The 2018 provincial election is set for Oct. 1. “They’re calling it the Red Line (after the Liberals cabinet ministers Martin Coiteux, Geoff Kelley and Carlos Leitão in the West Island), the Liberals and this and that. You know what? The West Island has been waiting for something like this for a long, long time,” the mayor said.
Belvedere is confident the 26-station, 67-kilometre REM will be completed to Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, no matter which party wins the next provincial election.
“It’s the Caisse de dépôt who’s doing it. Money has already been put aside. The work has started and the contracts have been signed. There is such a tight time line getting it started and there’s a reason for it: The (Caisse) wants this to go through.”
Belvedere is excited about the idea of linking the West Island to downtown, the airport, South Shore and elsewhere.
Pointe-Claire will be home to two stations. One station is to be located near Sources and Hymus Boulevards. A second will be built just west of Fairview shopping centre, north of Highway 40.
The REM said it will begin preparatory work along the future Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and airport branches in 2018. The prep work will involve the dismantling of the Doney railway right of way.