Austerity extends to infrastructure
After years of spending increases to repair Quebec’s longneglected infrastructure, the Liberal government is extending its austerity budget to its roads, hospitals, schools and public transit systems, cutting the level of expenditure this year and for the decade to come.
New plans for Montreal are minimal, with long- demanded projects like the Cavendish Blvd. extension, the lengthening of Highway 19 and major reconstruction of the Honoré- Mercier Bridge remaining in the “under study” category, which gives no assurance they will be undertaken.
Expansion work on the city’s Palais des congrès convention centre is one of the new projects added to the “under study” column for Montreal. Covering of the Ville- Marie Expressway in the downtown sector has been shifted to the planning stage, indicating it has been provided for under the province’s budget. Improvements to the Old Port of Montreal and Quebec’s port to allow the docking of cruise ships is to receive $ 77 million in funding.
The majority of infrastructure work will go to repairing existing roads, bridges and buildings, or continuing projects already underway. Maintaining the existing Turcot and de la Vérendrye interchanges, for example, is pegged at $ 400 million. Rebuilding the same interchanges will cost $ 3.7 billion.
The government’s plan to invest $ 9.9 billion in infrastructure in 2015- 16, a drop from last year’s amount of $ 10.1 billion, is in keeping with its pledge to follow a “stable path” of repair and reconstruction after seven years of playing catch- up, starting soon after Laval’s de la Concorde overpass collapsed in 2006.
“The government is adopting an even more disciplined approach to project selection while finding innovative ways to finance major projects,” said Treasury Board President Martin Coiteux.
“Innovative ways” refers to the government’s recent announcement it was putting provincial pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in charge of certain large- scale infrastruc- ture projects, with the expectation the Caisse will earn a return on its investment. These include installing a public transit system on the new Champlain Bridge and building the Train de l’ouest serving the West Island. Both projects are in the “under study” category.
“They are more than under study,” Coiteux said. “They are something that people have requested for years, and we will give the means to realize them. … There are projects every year that change status, and there will be some this year.”
Between 2015 and 2025, the government plans to spend $ 88.4 billion on infrastructure, with annual expenditure dropping to $ 8.6 billion a year starting in 2020.
The Liberals started clawbacks on infrastructure spending soon after they were elected in April 2014, including their own electoral promise to spend an additional $ 15 billion over a decade, because the province could not afford to borrow any more money.
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said he was satisfied with the bud- get, especially in its allocation of tax credits for the aerospace and multimedia industries, funding for cruise ship docking and immigrant integration, and additional money to provide 1,100 social housing units.
“I think Montreal showed it was right and the budget responded to the hopes of Montrealers,” Coderre said at the National Assembly in Quebec. Discussion to obtain special metropolitan status that will give the city more control over matters like immigration and social housing are ongoing and will bring further benefits, he said.
“I think in light of the tools we have in hand, we can engage in very good negotiations.”
Major Montreal infrastructure projects in the “in progress” category include:
Turcot Interchange reconstruction ( total cost $ 3.7 billion); redevelopment of the Dorval Circle ($ 342 million); maintaining the Honoré- Mercier Bridge ($ 226 million); replacement of the MR- 63 métro cars ($ 2.2 billion); building the CHUM superhospital ($ 3.6 billion); building the McGill University superhospital ($ 2.5 billion); Ste-Justine Hospital extension ($ 936 million); Jewish General Hospital extension ($ 378 million); renovations to Montreal’s filtration plant ($ 150 million); improvements to Montreal’s waste- water treatment plants ($ 148 million).
Projects in the planning phase include covering the Ville- Marie Expressway; building the Vendôme multimodal hub that will connect the métro station to the MUHC superhospital; creating reserved lanes between downtown Montreal and Laval on Pie- IX Blvd.; and the rehabilitation of the Alexandra Pier in the Old Port of Montreal.
In a statement Thursday, the MUHC welcomed the news that the Quebec government is committed to improve access to the Glen site, as well as the modernization of the Lachine Hospital.
“We are particularly pleased that the modernization of the Lachine Hospital is now listed in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan and that we will be able to initiate the preparatory work for the construction of modern facilities at this community hospital affiliated with the MUHC,” MUHC director general Normand Rinfret said. “We also welcome government’s commitment to launch the construction of the Vendôme station’s second passage, which will provide universal access to the new Glen site facilities.”
Projects under study, in addition to those already noted, include major repairs of the Metropolitan Autoroute; building an urban boulevard in the West Island to a planned 5,000- home residential development project in Pierrefonds; expansion of the Verdun Hospital; expanding McGill University into the Royal Victoria properties; and the replacement of the Olympic Stadium’s roof.