Marois tours Lac-Mégantic as new businesses open
Downtown core decimated last July
LAC-MÉGANTIC — Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche came out on Friday to greet Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois at the invitation to the opening of Bolduc Chaussures and the new SAQ outlet, the first two businesses to open in Lac-Mégantic’s new downtown shopping district.
But Roy-Laroche, who in the past has contributed to both the PQ and the Quebec Liberals, declined to give interviews and would not say whether she supports Marois politically.
This was the second campaign visit by Marois to LacMégantic, where she hopes PQ candidate Isabelle Hallé, who was director-general of the Chambre de commerce de la région de Mégantic, can dislodge Liberal incumbent Ghislain Bolduc.
“I need her,” Marois told shoppers. “You have a good candidate. She is committed.”
The downtown core of Lac Mégantic was largely destroyed and the remaining area is still off-limits, because of soil contamination, after the July 6, 2013 disaster when a runaway tanker train, filled with volatile Bakken crude oil, rolled into the town core, caught fire and exploded, killing 47 people.
Last August, Marois and Roy-Laroche announced a $16.2-million commitment to build a new shopping area in the lakeside town of 6,000, with a temporary rail link between the Lac-Mégantic industrial park to the eastbound Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway line.
The rail line has been in operation since Dec. 18, allowing particleboard maker Tafisa Canada, the town’s largest employer, to resume rail shipments to customers in Canada and the United States.
A new bridge across the Chaudière River is being built to connect the two parts of the town, with more commercial buildings under construction across the river. The old bridge, adjacent to the contaminated zone, remains closed.
The decontamination cost is estimated at $190 million, with the federal government agreeing to pay half.
Town media relations officer Karine Dubé said Lac-Mégantic also wants government assistance to build a new rail link, bypassing built-up areas.
And a consultation with Lac-Mégantic citizens is underway to decide what to do with the old downtown area.
Emmanuelle Fredette, who heads Commerce Lac-Mégantic, a merchant’s group, said 19 businesses will be moving into the newly built commercial area “between now and June.”
“The work is going well,” Fredette said. The stores have to be fixed up, counters and display areas installed. Plans also call for installing loudspeakers to play music, injecting “dynamism and life.”
The merchants and staff of businesses shut down by the disaster have received help in the form of social assistance, Red Cross aid and help from Quebec’s public security department, which have consequently assumed the costs related to unoccupied buildings.
“Some had insurance for loss of income,” Dubé said. “It wasn’t easy, but there was help.”