Federal government to support railway bypass in Lac-mégantic
Federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau announced on Tuesday that the Federal government will commit “a substantial sum” toward the construction of a bypass railway line around the town of Lac-mégantic. The announcement fell short of revealing what that sum might be.
“The bypass project is a complex one, and one on which I have been working since I took up my duties as Minister of Transport,” Garneau said. “There still remains a lot of work to do with the Government of Quebec on cost sharing and with the municipalities on finalizing the route, which is why the exact amount of the federal contribution is still to be confirmed.”
Garneau said that his aim is to be able to give more detail in time for the fifth anniversary of the Lac-mégantic disaster in July.
“I have had three opportunities to go to Lac-mégantic to meet citizens, hear their concerns and see for myself the trauma they are living through,” the Transport Minister said. “For me, this bypass is much more than a railway infrastructure project. It is a social rebuilding project for the people of Lac-mégantic.”
Although the matter of a bypass has been the subject of consistent discussion within the community over the last four and a half years, it was brought back into the broader public eye last week after the acquittal of three former Railway employees in the trial stemming from the derailment and explosion that killed 47 people and destroyed the centre of the town in 2013.
Luc Berthold, the Conservative MP for Mégantic-l’érable, said that he is pleased that the advocacy work in Lac-mégantic has finally paid off with a concrete, if vague, commitment.
“I am happy there is finally something on the table.” Berthold told The Record, adding that he hopes there is not too much more time lost in the intergovernmental negotiations to which Garneau made reference in his statement. “Obviously we now have to wait for more detail,” the Mégantic-l’érable MP added, noting that this is the first concrete step on the matter in two years of the Transport Minister saying that rail transport safety is his highest priority.
Via his twitter account, Berthold praised local actors in the community for their advocacy work saying,
“The hard work of the population, municipal councils, the coalition, the transport committee, economic organizations and the mayor, Julie Morin, has paid off. Thank you to Minister Marc Garneau for his support.”
Marie Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and the Francophonie and Member of Parliament for the riding of Compton-stanstead, which borders that of Mégantic L’erable, chimed in on the issue Tuesday afternoon, underlining Garneau’s comments about “social rebuilding.”
“The trial brought up a lot of emotion in the community,” Bibeau said. “We really hope that getting the confirmation will help.”
Asked about the uncertainties of funding and timelines, the MP said that even though the feasibility study into the bypass is still underway, the government feels there is sufficient technical information available at this point to make a financial commitment. Although she acknowledged that the wait for action has already been long, Bibeau pointed out that the project is one that is being negotiated and planned between three different levels of government and thus results in a certain amount of delay.
“We understand how horrific it still is,” Bibeau said.